The spell of the sensuous review. The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More 2022-10-12
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The Spell of the Sensuous is a book written by philosopher and cultural critic David Abram. In it, Abram explores the role of the senses in human perception and experience, and argues that our modern, industrialized society has lost touch with the sensory richness of the natural world.
According to Abram, the sensory world is not simply a backdrop to human experience, but is an integral part of it. Our senses enable us to engage with the world around us, and our sensory experiences shape our understanding of the world and our place within it. However, Abram argues that modern society has become increasingly disconnected from the sensory world, as we increasingly rely on technology and abstract thinking to understand and interact with the world.
One of the main arguments of The Spell of the Sensuous is that our reliance on technology and abstract thought has led to a loss of connection with the natural world, and that this loss has had serious consequences for both the environment and for human well-being. Abram suggests that our disconnection from the natural world has contributed to environmental degradation and climate change, as we have lost touch with the interconnectedness of all living beings and the natural systems that sustain them.
Additionally, Abram argues that our disconnection from the sensory world has had negative effects on our mental and emotional well-being. He suggests that our reliance on technology and abstract thought has led to a disconnection from our own bodies and from the present moment, leading to feelings of alienation and disconnection from the world around us.
Abram suggests that we can reconnect with the sensory world and re-establish a sense of connection with the natural world by engaging with our senses and cultivating a deeper appreciation for the sensory experiences that are available to us. This may involve activities such as mindfulness meditation, sensory awareness practices, or nature immersion.
Overall, The Spell of the Sensuous is a thought-provoking book that offers a unique perspective on the role of the senses in human experience and the importance of cultivating a deeper connection with the natural world. It is a timely reminder of the need to reconnect with the sensory world and to appreciate the rich and complex sensory experiences that are available to us in the natural world.
The Spell of the Sensuous
Abrams describes the healer's role in shamanic cutures existing at the edge of society, constantly nourishing the border between human beings and the other beings — the animate and seemingly inanimate creatures of nature. Abram spent time with shamans, sorcerers, and healers in order to study the relationship between folk medicine and magical techniques, while funded by a research grant and inspired by his own experience as a sleight-of-hand-magician. Actually, I had hoped to see a more precise model for this improved rapport with nature. Abrams is incredibly adept at rolling language, the landscape, magic and sexy breathing life into. By focusing only on what our perception reveals to us, Abram makes the case difficult to grasp and accept at first that the past corresponds to that which lies beneath the ground the past being that which has created the present and refuses its own presence and the future corresponds to that which lies beyond the horizon the future being that which offers the present and withholds its own presence.
childhealthpolicy.vumc.org: Customer reviews: The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More
I have long loved this book. It is definitely worth a read, I hope you enjoy it. Pollan begins to analyze when being environmentally aware of your actions became virtuous, noting writers from the Wall Street Journal to the New Yorker. Then comes the coda and, a few pages before the end, he says, basically, "This might be true and it might not and what is true anyway? These laws boil down to being as ruthless, selfish, manipulative, and deceitful as possible. He then goes on to say that "oral, indigenous" cultures realize this, while literate cultures have forgotten this because written language separates us from nature. I had the wonderful opportunity to meet David Abram on a number of occasions while living in Santa Fe. This is one of the most scholarly treatments of the of human disconnect from Nature I have read.
Book Review: The Spell of the Sensuous by David Abram
It is split that creates so many of the large and complex problems we are dealing with today. Most of which have little direct association w the thing they are describing. Indeed, I'm not sure if I've ever read a book that has left me with quite so much to think about. Third: Even once that relationship has been arrived at, we are going to need to be able to reference "truth" as we currently understand it to pursue other important goals, such as human equality. It introduced me to a lot of ideas which at first glance seemed strange, but on further thought made such sense that I wondered how for so long I had thought differently. It is thus somewhat clear why many indigenous stories seem empty or weak - abstracted from the land that is a crucial character in all of them, why would you expect them to be good stories? I want some of what you are smoking! This is the vision that the Anthropocene is leaning towards because no one in my generation or generations younger than me is being taught to see nature as a right. But then in a somewhat complicated argument, Abram goes on to argue that humans increasingly abstracted themselves from nature through language, transforming nature into something that was external because we were no longer integrated with it.
Review of The Spell of the Sensuous by David Abram
. We have created a closed-loop system that values the creations and language of humans. Despite his denial, the book nevertheless has the feel of a "return to nature" as his thesis is that we become impoverished when nature becomes "less. Simultaneously our written language was developing from pictures to phonetics, which Abram sees as a further abstraction. This is not an easy book to review.
He argues that our senses were no longer involved in their more primal synaesthetic participation with the landscape, but were now converging towards written letters purely symbolic representations of exclusively human-made sounds. This statement begs the question: If human disease is that which goes against the breath, how are we going against the breath? Winner of the International Lannan Literary Award for Nonfiction Animal tracks, word magic, the speech of stones, the power of letters, and the taste of the wind all figure prominently in this intellectual tour de force that returns us to our senses and to the sensuous terrain that sustains us. It is a mistake to regard the land as inanimate, unable to perceive us and respond to our presence. As we have evolved, the way we understand the world around us has changed. But my words, no matter how poetic or successful at describing some part of a scene or mood must fail to express the entirety of the scene. But it was serendipitous to run into him of all people in places like movie theaters, bars, and book stores all over town, as if he was some sort of little gnome turning up in odd places to remind me of something. Otherwise, it is a very challenging book not in an academic sense, necessarily but because it really does involve a monumental shift in how you look at the world.
A particular curiosity of mine concerns perception, and how it alters the way we experience, so I was delighted to see the book began with that aspect. On almost every page I found soul-level nourishment. It began innocently enough, with pictographic characters that constantly called their readers' attention back to the living world around them. He believes that once we are one with the …show more content… Abram believes environmental Why Bother Michael Pollan Summary 1040 Words 5 Pages I strongly side with the act of changing our habitats for the sake of helping the environment. The first chapter, about Abram's experiences as a sleight-of-hand magician in Nepal and Indonesia, is lyrical and gorgeous. .
The Rift Between Us, the Earth : THE SPELL OF THE SENSUOUS: Perception and Language in a More
As he talked he performed sleight of hand tricks with coins and other such shiny objects, which was a very good way to get anyones attention. It is also is a book that is remarkably different from chapter to chapter. He has brought us out of the limited philosophical scope of Western tradition, and combined the most relevant insights it has produced with the wisdom of happier cultures. Ritual is a way of offering homage to the earth, of showing appreciation and gratitude; but it is not only, or even primarily, for the earth, as Helen Payne quoted in Abrams, p. I enjoyed this book in its descriptions of varied indigenous beliefs, and Abram's own experiences on the sentient earth. This book is like nothing I've ever read.
How, then, did humans come to sever their ancient reciprocity with the natural world? It is simple arrogance to believe that the only relationships which matter are human ones, that our relationships to non-humans have no consequences for our sense of self or our ways of thinking. How about you say that, and I throw rotten tomatoes at you for doing so. David Abram is, in my mind, the principle philosopher of the modern age. After all, maybe they were just stories that properly enlivened his senses. To some, the environment could mean nature while others may consider it to be an entire ecosystem.
Analysis Of The Spell Of The Sensuous By Peter Singer
Coincidentally, the ancient Greek philosophers such as Socrates and Plato began a quest to find the true objective reality, a realm of perfect forms. Most importantly, his philosophy and scholarship engages the most pressing issues and provides us a felicitous route back to a healthy relationship with the land and with each other, and to an ultimately fulfilling way to live. Whether he is speaking about Native Americans or the Ancient Greeks he explores their culture from the viewpoint of how they relate to the land and air. However, the speaking world around us became overshadowed by the internal and abstract rational mind, as epitomized by Western philosophy and modes of thinking. The Spell inspires experimentation, which is more than I can say for most works of philosophy. Their thinking trended toward exploring the ways in which we do not, in fact, think alone but can only think in relation to our physical circumstances let us amend that to say our "natural circumstances.
