An Unnatural Order: The Roots of Our Destruction of NatureLantern Books, 2004 - 319 pages First published by Simon & Schuster in 1993 and then by Continuum in 1998, Jim Mason's An Unnatural Order has become a classic. Now in a new Lantern edition, the book explores, from an anthropological, sociocultural, and holistic perspective, how and why we have cut ourselves off from other animals and the natural world, and the toll this has taken on our consciousness, our ability to steward nature wisely, and the will to control our own tendencies. Jim Mason writes: "My own view is that the primal worldview, updated by a scientific understanding of the living world, offers the best hope for a human spirituality. Life on earth is the miracle, the sacred. The dynamic living world is the creator, the First Being, the sustainer, and the final resting place for all living beings--humans included. We humans evolved with other living beings; their lives informed our lives. They provided models for our existence; they shaped our minds and culture. With dominionism out of the way, we could enjoy a deep sense of kinship with the other animals, which would give us a deep sense of belonging to our living world. "Then, once again, we could feel for this world. We could feel included in the awesome family of living beings. We could feel our continuum with the living world. We could, once again, feel a genuine sense of the sacred in the world." |
From inside the book
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Page 5
... and the persistence and encouraging spirit of my agent , Julie Fallowfield . Much of the credit must go , too , to my editor , Dominick Anfuso , whose enthusiasm and guidance carried me through the tedium of research and writing . His help.
... and the persistence and encouraging spirit of my agent , Julie Fallowfield . Much of the credit must go , too , to my editor , Dominick Anfuso , whose enthusiasm and guidance carried me through the tedium of research and writing . His help.
Page 24
... Spirit . Something in the Western culture allowed , through the magic of words , the cruel business of conquering two continents , their peoples , and their ecosystems to be carried out as a spiritual mission ordained by God . New ...
... Spirit . Something in the Western culture allowed , through the magic of words , the cruel business of conquering two continents , their peoples , and their ecosystems to be carried out as a spiritual mission ordained by God . New ...
Page 25
... spirits . ' These had to be honored in order to insure oneself against harm , and before appro- priating natural ... spirit , and thus he did not have to fear the resistance of an opposing will in nature ; the Bible seemed to ...
... spirits . ' These had to be honored in order to insure oneself against harm , and before appro- priating natural ... spirit , and thus he did not have to fear the resistance of an opposing will in nature ; the Bible seemed to ...
Page 27
... spirit , and the next life are regarded as exalted , glorious , and desirable . Expelled from the garden , Adam and Eve go out into the world and bear children . The first , Cain , becomes a " tiller of the ground , " a planter or ...
... spirit , and the next life are regarded as exalted , glorious , and desirable . Expelled from the garden , Adam and Eve go out into the world and bear children . The first , Cain , becomes a " tiller of the ground , " a planter or ...
Page 42
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Contents
| 11 | |
| 21 | |
Before Agriculture A World Alive and Ensouled | 50 |
Animals The Most Moving Things in the World | 91 |
Agriculture A New Relationship with Nature a New World Order for Living Beings | 118 |
Misothery and the Reduction of Animals and Nature | 158 |
Misogyny and the Reduction of Women and Female Power | 186 |
Racism and Colonialism Dominating Lands and Others | 210 |
Rituals of Dominionism Then and Now | 242 |
Beyond Dominionism | 269 |
References | 299 |
Index | 310 |
Other editions - View all
UNNATURAL ORDER: The Roots of Our Destruction of Nature?fully Revised and ... JIM. MASON No preview available - 2021 |
Common terms and phrases
according Africa aggression agrarian agriculture American Amerinds ancestors ancient animal domestication animals and nature anthropologists beasts began behavior believe breeding cattle centuries civilization complex diet domestic animals domination dominionism dominionist early earth Enkidu Europe European evil evolution exploitation farmers farming feelings female power forager Gerda Lerner herd herder culture Homo sapiens sapiens horses human sexuality human society hunters hunting husbandry ideas Joseph Campbell killing kings kinship land Lewis Mumford living world look male Mark Nathan Cohen Marvin Harris meat Middle East mind misogyny misothery modern mysterious myth native noted numbers obsession patriarchal Paul Shepard plant popular population pornography primal region religion ritual rodeo role sacrifice says Serpell sexual slaves social species spirit story Sumeria supremacy symbolized tend things tion tradition tribal tribes values villages warrior wealth West's Western wild women worldview wrote
Popular passages
Page 57 - And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered.
Page 279 - Men have gained control over the forces of nature to such an extent that with their help they would have no difficulty in exterminating one another to the last man. They know this, and hence comes a large part of their current unrest, their unhappiness and their mood of anxiety. And now it is to be expected that the other of the two "Heavenly Powers," eternal Eros, will make an effort to assert himself in the struggle with his equally immortal adversary.
Page 54 - You ask me to plow the ground! Shall I take a knife and tear my mother's bosom? Then when I die she will not take me to her bosom to rest. "You ask me to dig for stone! Shall I dig under her skin for her bones? Then when I die I cannot enter her body to be born again. "You ask me to cut grass and make hay and sell it, and be rich like white men! But how dare I cut off my...
Page 30 - And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas; and let fowl multiply in the earth.
Page 112 - N the beginning of all things, wisdom and knowledge were with the animals,1 for Tirawa, the One Above, did not speak directly to man. He sent certain animals to tell men that he showed himself through the beasts, and that from them, and from the stars and the sun and the moon should man learn. Tirawa spoke to man through his works, and the Pawnee understands the heavens, the beasts, and the plants.
Page 234 - The older they get the worse they become. About the age of ten or twelve years, they seem to have some civilization, but later they become like real brute beasts.
Page 224 - But it wasn't the jungle blacks brought with them to this place from the other (livable) place. It was the jungle whitefolks planted in them. And it grew. It spread. In, through and after life, it spread, until it invaded the whites who had made it. Touched them every one.
Page 31 - And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field: upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life...
Page 30 - Christianity, in absolute contrast to ancient paganism and Asia's religions (except, perhaps, Zoroastrianism), not only established a dualism of man and nature but also insisted that it is God's will that man exploit nature for his proper ends.
Page 40 - I am come in very truth leading to you Nature with all her children to bind her to your service and make her your slave.