Saving Evolution
Medicine

The wonder is that by bringing all that you are to what you do, you will undoubtedly create a unique meaning and purpose and vision to pursue, and find ways to do so. The emerging paradigm is already coalescing around principles that are human scale, biocentric, evolution-friendly, and circular (as in circular economies). They are […]

Until a century ago—very recent in light of the two-and-a-half-millennium history of Hippocratic medicine—most doctors worked in small communities in which they represented an important resource. That is, doctors would come with a wide social network, broad education, and ongoing contacts with outside centers of learning. At the time of the Lunar Men, the group […]

You might expect that the natural history that the Greeks developed over two millennia ago would first have been finished and then been rendered obsolete by industry and technology. Nothing could be farther from the truth. For some ailments, the natural history has been constructed as etiogenic (causal) models of early phenomena; this is particularly […]

I remember medical school classmates and other colleagues who went into medicine for reason of the suffering and death of others, perhaps a parent who was ill or died young, and who were true blue in their motivation to serve patients. I also saw people who were trapped by massive loans, fear of lawsuit, fear […]

To know where you are in evolutionary time, view the universe from a biocentric perspective. Placing your awareness at the core of your body, you can examine it from within and go on to consciously immerse your body in the larger aggregated bodies that give you life: the bodies of your species, your habitats, your […]

While I was in Australia, I went to see a preview book launch by Barry Jones, one-time Science Minister and polymath politician, for his autobiography. He mentioned that some historians see the world as changing in 200-, 400-, 500-, and 2000-year cycles. The mathematical view of these cycles would be fun, but beside the point. […]

“Oh Canada… part of you pours out of me In these lines from time to time, Oh, you’re in my blood like holy wine” – Joni Mitchell The vision of a Doctors of Life International group that would comprise counselors for care and cure of habitat diseases inclusive of all species—including sapiens—comes down to the […]

“The cure for soul loss is in the mist of morning, the grass that grew a little through the night, the first warmth of the morning’s sunlight… walking in a world infused with intelligence and spirit.” – Linda Hogan, The Radiant Lives of Animals In the July/Aug 2020 issue of Smithsonian Magazine, Lindsay Stern gently […]

I love thee to the level of every day’s Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light. – Elizabeth Barrett Browning In Plants, People, Planet, Stevenson et al. reflect on efforts to plan urban ecosystems, and conclude that: “Ultimately, multiple ecosystem services must be considered (and measured) to optimize their delivery.” They also point out that […]

“Lead pollution levels from the Middle Ages preserved in an ice core taken from the Colle Gnifetti glacier in the Swiss Alps reflect political upheaval in England. [When] a new monarch was secure, there were usually major building projects [that] produced more pollution.” – Jason Urbanus in “History in Ice”, Archaeology, July/Aug 2020 Deep time […]

“We are moving in wider circles, we are opening our circle.” – Rising Appalachia When the two sisters who comprise Rising Appalachia sing their song “Wider Circles,” they speak of starting from the center and moving outward, and trace with their hands an outward spiral that grows ever larger. I imagine them starting biocentric ways […]

I love thee with a love I seemed to lose With my lost saints. I love the with the breath, Smiles, tears of all my life; and, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death. – Elizabeth Barrett Browning You probably know someone who you kept intending to visit but couldn’t seem […]

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight. For the ends of being and ideal grace. – Elizabeth Barrett Browning As with Leaves of Grass, the loving lilt of Songs from the Portuguese touches the unity of life in time, the exalting expression of […]

“The sad truth is that many scientists believe they have the sole method for understanding the workings of the natural world. [Artist Jackie Brookner] has discovered more about moss establishment on rock than any scientist I know.” – Robin Wall Kimmerer in Gathering Moss We late moderns have come a long way. Public education that […]

I had moved from my home in Southern Oregon to see if my worsening health might be due to allergies. After moving, I felt better and safer, but the problem that had bothered me came with me: it was not a result of allergy. Worse, I broke my right fibula and then ruptured my Achilles […]

Ed. Note: In the post below, Jenny Miller of stopndd.org shares activities for children that can offset “nature deficit disorder” as framed by Richard Louv in Last Child in the Woods. Outdoor time in healthy habitats can also benefit pregnant women and children who are suffering exposure to chemically contaminated environments, as recommended in the […]

It’s Down to You and Me and Everyone We Know What would you do to save life on earth? Are you more angel, or more demon? Are you more selfish, or more altruistic? Do you know your own character, abilities, and possibilities well enough to craft a personal solution to a species-wide problem to which […]

Emergence “On the whole, the ‘subduing of the wilderness,’ most agreed, was the foundation for future profit.” – Andrea Wulf in The Invention of Nature Countering the super-specialization and reductio ad absurdum of the end of the modern era is emergence. Like the thesis and antithesis construct created by Hegel and extolled by Walt Whitman, […]

Chemical Fantasies “The US agriculture giant Monsanto and the German chemical giant BASF were aware for years that their plan to introduce a new agricultural seed and chemical system would probably lead to damage on many US farms.” – Carey Gillam in The Guardian I make it a point to avoid thinking about Monsanto and […]

The Untapped Power of Narratives for Living Futures “This, it seemed to me, was not merely premonitory but a dream that actually did something… a dream, in short, that was an act of learning.” – Oliver Sacks Many human tools for thriving have been neglected as the old, dark enchantments that brought us to the […]