As in the Heart, So in the Earth
Reversing the Desertification of the Soul and the Soil
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
The world’s leading expert on reversing soil desertification shows how ecology can flourish only when spiritual elements are present
• 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.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Told entirely as a parable about a fictional African village undergoing crisis through the intrusion of modern agricultural methods, this odd volume, translated from a French work of 1996, marries ecology, agriculture, and spirituality in an unconvincing mix. Rabhi, a French-Algerian agroecologist, narrates the volume as a fictional anthropologist mining the untold history of the "Batifon" community, located somewhere in generalized North Africa. The story reads like a genuine ethnography, complete with local customs, history, and a sagacious village elder, Tyemoro, who passes on wisdom and lore. The lessons point towards the need for harmony between humans and nature to prevent desertification. The Batifons prove less interesting to read about than a real community, as the relationships here are less Rabhi's point than the ecology. And it's hard to latch on to a fictional elder's disquisitions on, say, composting. No doubt much of this book is the result of Rabhi's sustained and important work in Saharan African agriculture, but the form and language of the book limit its effect.
