| Title | : | As in the Heart, So in the Earth: Reversing the Desertification of the Soul and the Soil |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1594770816 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781594770814 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 160 |
| Publication | : | First published August 29, 1996 |
• Uses a parable from the African oral tradition to provide a living testimony of what has been lost with the rise of modern technology
• Provides a vital account of the strong relationship between soil and soul and how this relationship can be restored
As in the Heart, So in the Earth is a strong indictment of a civilization that, while seeking domination over the earth, mutilates, tortures, and desacralizes it. For Pierre Rabhi ecology is inseparable from spirituality. He shows how the growing desertification of North Africa is a reflection of the “desert” that is claiming the hearts and souls of the inhabitants of the Western world--how dead soil is mirrored in our deadened souls--and how reconciliation with Mother Earth must be accompanied by relearning our ancestors’ reverence for the soil.
Using a traditional African parable grounded in the very wisdom of the earth, Pierre Rabhi seeks to initiate the reader into a time when the people that dwelled on this planet did so harmoniously and could converse easily with the land. Village elder Tyemoro recounts the gradual destruction of his village’s culture and all that has sustained it as the miracles promised by modern technology brought more harm than good. This same drama is recurring throughout the world, where indigenous value systems that have endured for millennia are torn apart by contact with modern civilization. Yet Rahbi offers hope--if those in the modern world will stop to hear the words of their ancestors who worked the land, for our destiny is linked irrevocably to that of the earth.
As in the Heart, So in the Earth: Reversing the Desertification of the Soul and the Soil Reviews
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Rabhi is a learned, passionate, lyrical environmentalist, calling for the lands of arid Africa and the Near East to be saved. Somewhat predictably, an American journalist responds, "An Arab ecologist? Thank God there's at least one!"
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I suppose I should note here that my review may need a "spoiler alert".
I'm not going hide it though.
Consider yourself warned.
SPOILER ALERT!
I was confused a bit as the book is written from the firsthand perspective and yet it is not the author as the protagonist. Apparently this is based on a traditional African parable. Whatever.
I'll probably never review anything that I give less than three stars to because I've learned to quit reading anything that feels like a chore or a bore.
Our hero is a scholar who makes periodic visits to an African village to document their language and customs. In the second chapter he is asked by a boy who has lost all his family and doesn't fit in if he will adopt him and take him away with him. This seems like a big deal at the beginning of the book. He doesn't answer the boy and he isn't mentioned for most of the rest of the story. At the end he tells us that he decided to leave him behind so he could be with his own kind. It seemed like kind of a cold sendoff for a book that's supposed to make you feel hopeful for the sake of humanity.
Not much else is offered for reasoning.
Otherwise, hearing the perspective of modern society coming in and trying to improve life for these villagers and basically ruining everything as told from the village is very powerful.
The middle of the book meanders into African creation myth and history that seems long winded in its telling and irrelevant to the story line.
The ending got to what I was anticipating. The author is an organic farmer who realized when he saw the ecological devastation in Africa that something more comprehensive was needed. He introduced biodynamic farming. This is a precursor to Bill Mollison's permaculture developed by the fascinating Rudolf Steiner.
I wish that the book had gone into more detail regarding their methods and results, trials and errors. But that's just the permaculture nerd in me.
It's probably enough for the average reader though.
This book can provide you with a valuable perspective of our modern society's failings and the path to saving our souls and soil. -
I read this at the suggestion of my French penpal. She recently secured a French version of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring and after we exchanged thoughts on it, she thought I might enjoy Rabhi's book. She was right. While it meandered a bit, I found Rabhi to be a most gentle and thoughtful human being and his love of the earth is grand to behold. As always for me, the translation from French to English made the prose most lyrical. Carson's book was penned it 1962 and this one in 1996 and still...we have far to go to preserve and honor this earth as our most earlier ancestors did.
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Beautifully written. The basics of life are simple and naturally explained. loved it!
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This book is simply poetic. As a gardener and plant lover of many years, I found Rabhi's words to be affirming, provocative and simply elegant. The greatest portion of the book consists of an African elder speaking about his community and culture. When reading it, it was as if I was sitting with that elder. The book is both educating and endearing at the same time, potent yet subtle in its approach to the many crises we face in these modern times. I'm so pleased that this book found me!
