ReRoot

There are many books now calling for a recovery of the indigenous wisdom that everything is alive, conscious and interconnected. A new development, though, is experimental and fieldwork on the nature of intelligence in plants, fungi and trees using techniques such as molecular imaging that renders communication and signalling pathways visible. The default scientific position is mechanistic, highlighting only human intelligence, as brilliantly analysed by Predrag Slijepcevic – see my review in the science section. However, as this first book points out, ‘we are learning to see with new eyes, using new modalities, to extend our very limited senses.’ (p. 8) Plants, trees and fungi are interactive nodes in a cooperative network that shares resources and is a single whole. We are also such nodes, but our assumption of being separate from and superior to Nature blinds us to this reality and realisation. For humans too, ‘balance, harmony, and cooperation are the keys to survival.’ These mutually supportive ecosystems are now well-documented, but the point is for us to draw conclusions that apply to ourselves. One fascinating example comes from dying Douglas firs, ‘who dump all their reserves into the larger community.’

Our task is to rediscover our place in nature and act accordingly, using a more holistic perception and tuning in to the oneness of life. The Gaia hypothesis and the work of physicists like David Bohm affirm the primacy of wholeness and creativity. Nature can also heal us, not only through plants, but also through walking, forest bathing and healthy eating. We can develop an outlook of biophilia rather than mechanophilia (love of machines). Other research agendas indicate our inherent capacity for empathy, generosity, sharing and kindness – Polich discusses the work of Nicolas Christakis and Monica Gagliano. This helps us to tell a new story about ourselves, one of partnership rather than domination, balancing our assertive and integrated capabilities. World religions are now elaborating ecological philosophies, for instance Laudato Si, the 2016 Encyclical by Pope Francis. The archetype of the tree of life is also widely distributed.

I agree with Polich that we can learn to see with a greener, humbler lens, and a good start would be to implement the principles of key documents such as the Earth Charter. Cosmologists like Brian Swimme and Thomas Berry convey a new story of an emergent, conscious, creative universe, which will be familiar to many readers. Polich’s final chapter is entitled Restoring, Rebalancing, Regreening. Such policies would actually follow from a radical shift in mindsets, priorities and behaviours, but it is not yet clear how this can happen when the mindset of those in power remains unaltered. Their ‘solution’ is to impose the one-size-fits-all Agenda 2030 on the world population by decree – their mentality is one of mechanical uniformity rather than Nature’s unity in diversity that works harmoniously with natural capacities for regeneration and healing. There are, however, some remarkable developments reported, for instance the planting of up to 400,000 trees a day by means of drones – though one has to ask how these saplings will be nurtured. I was sceptical about Polich’s metaphor involving a new contractual relationship, and prefer the notions of partnership and indigenous reciprocity involving a balance of give and take.

Louise Marra offers a more personal and immediately practical approach, inviting readers to become part of a process of reconnection with Nature, a process of rerooting through the intelligence of trees in our own places. We first need to slow down, to rethread, to weave new strands, restoring ourselves and our relationship with the natural world in the process, taking us into the true flow of our being. Louise shares her own story and origins in the Maori and Celtic cultures, people who have not become disconnected from Nature and their bodies. She suggests that our attention needs to go to the flow of life, beginning with our breathing. Her experience and invitation are that trees are available for relating, healing and re-sourcing, for being together. She suggests personally connecting with a particular tree in your locality, and explains a step-by-step process for doing so.

Louise reminds us that trees are living beings, verbs in the process of ‘treeing.’ They can communicate with us, if we are ready to listen. Finding your tree is a process of mutual attraction; they need what the author calls ‘soft noticing’ within a context of interbeing. In connecting with your tree, you are also connecting with yourself, becoming present and sensitive to larger and gentler rhythms. Gradually, we can find time to pause during the day and connect to our tree as well as visiting it. Louise notes that trees are good at grief, and can act as portals to being, and even to doing nothing. Her book is profoundly engaging, wise and timely – and indeed both these books are invitations to re-perceive and reconnect to our inherent wisdom.