Seeing Kinship in Nature: anthropomorphism vs. mechanomorphism
When we follow our natural inclinations (especially as children) and empathize with the living world around us, we're often told "not to project human emotions onto plants and animals.
But why not?
Does that create connection or disconnection within us?
If we're not assuming that the non-human world also feels, then we're assuming that it doesn't. And this perspective is rationalized by the assertion that "nature is a living version of a machine".
This is what I call "mechanomorphism" - projecting the machine metaphor on the livingness of the world.
This video contains a few thoughts on the issue.
And if these ideas resonate with you, then check out my plant communication mentorship program...
Learning the Lost Language of Plants
- Cultivate Clarity & Confidence in Communicating wth Herbs
~ A 6 Month Mentorship Program for Spiritual Herbalists, Permaculturists, and Nature-Based Artists ~
transcrition:
hello this is garliq with the livingmedicineproject.com and uh i wanted to talk in this uh in this video about anthropomorphism um if you're not familiar with what that is the term anthropomorphism tends to be used as an accusation often by the scientific community on uh folks like myself uh who see the world as as alive sometimes referred to as animistic so in this video i'm going to explore a little bit about why that's messed up and and what we can do and why we need to replace that so the first thing to consider uh is actually where i already started which is that that it tends to be used this term is as an accusation somebody points a finger certainly i get it a lot because i teach people how to talk to plants how to see the world as alive and that being an important part of the healing process uh and so but i aside from it being an accusation i also want to honor the uh the doubt that that comes um that that's expressing that's what i mean to say there uh however still i think that it's messed up because when you look at how people have where that accusation is usually flung uh usually directed towards non-western people and indigenous peoples um uh towards the pagans and the witches and the earth-based religions um and and usually yeah we're told we're anthropomorphic anthropomorphizing if we see emotion if we see uh kinship in the livingness of the world and and i just don't think that it's true uh i think that there is an issue with maybe it's the term anthropomorphism anthro meaning human that that first part of that word meaning human where when i see a tree when i see these these vines around me on the ground here as alive as uh intelligent i'm actually not looking at them through an anthropocentric lens i'm not looking at them as they relate to human i am seeing it's actually the other way around i'm seeing myself in them and i think this is a really important shift uh to start this process or to come back to this uh this place about how we can uh be humble and and show humility in our relationship with the living world and it really deepens our relationship with plants and so understanding that this the background the history of the use of this word actually stems from this colonial place because it's a threat to the ideas of human dominance which have scientific and religious roots is that humans are here to to terraform the world to change it as we will and and some of us call [ __ ] on that that the world exists not to serve humanity but that humans are simply one thread in the web of life and i think that's a really important place because of how it centers us in our relationship with the livingness of the world so yeah so let's name that as a colonial frame the other piece about that is that if we are not seeing the world as alive if we are not seeing the world as as animistic what's the alternative the alternative is that we're seeing the world as dead and uh from some of my other videos you might know that that's not entirely the case uh because the opposite of living isn't dead the opposite of living is or yeah the opposite of living is machine because life and death are part of the same cycle uh we can't have life without death and we can't have death without life so seeing where the science science uh perspective the scientific perspective the colonial perspective that tells us that the world is not animus is not animated is actually not telling us that it's dead it's telling us that it's a machine which means that there's another word that i learned from one of my teachers stephen bunner it's the opposite of anthropomorphism it's mechanomorphism it's turning the world into a machine it's seeing everything as a function within a machine and that is just not how life is it just really isn't so if we are not seeing the world as alive if we are not doing this process and i don't have another word that's better for anthropomorphizing except to see the world as alive to see it as kin uh and and related to us you know um these are our relations here all the web all of the the animals the birds the bugs the plants the mushrooms they're all part of the web of life they're all kin for us and if we don't assert that then we are accepting and and uh passively asserting or passively relenting to mechanomorphism to the insistence that the world is a machine that that life is actually just some sort of green machine and it's really important for who we are for the resource that we feel the connection that we can feel and the resource that comes from that when we remember we're a part of the web of life we need to call [ __ ] on mechanomorphizing the world it's really essential to our healing and it will change how you relate to the plants as you walk through the woods as you walk down the beach as you sit in your yard and follow an ant as it walks through the grass all of that can change when you realize humbly with humility that all of those parts of the web of life are intelligent and beautiful and have something important to offer and they are not there for us to simply dismiss and to to put them in the background so to sum up uh anthropomorphism needs a better word uh but it's really just about seeing the world as alive recognizing the truth of the world that's alive and it's really important in our decolonization work to be challenging that as often as we need to so thank you very much for listening uh if you like what i have to say uh subscribe uh click on the notification button there and you'll get more videos check out my website livingmedicineproject.com for other videos and blogs and stuff like that i would love to hear your feedbacks and comments about this sort of thing and participating in this dialogue so i'm garlic talk to you next time
hello this is garliq with the livingmedicineproject.com and uh i wanted to talk in this uh in this video about anthropomorphism um if you're not familiar with what that is the term anthropomorphism tends to be used as an accusation often by the scientific community on uh folks like myself uh who see the world as as alive sometimes referred to as animistic so in this video i'm going to explore a little bit about why that's messed up and and what we can do and why we need to replace that so the first thing to consider uh is actually where i already started which is that that it tends to be used this term is as an accusation somebody points a finger certainly i get it a lot because i teach people how to talk to plants how to see the world as alive and that being an important part of the healing process uh and so but i aside from it being an accusation i also want to honor the uh the doubt that that comes um that that's expressing that's what i mean to say there uh however still i think that it's messed up because when you look at how people have where that accusation is usually flung uh usually directed towards non-western people and indigenous peoples um uh towards the pagans and the witches and the earth-based religions um and and usually yeah we're told we're anthropomorphic anthropomorphizing if we see emotion if we see uh kinship in the livingness of the world and and i just don't think that it's true uh i think that there is an issue with maybe it's the term anthropomorphism anthro meaning human that that first part of that word meaning human where when i see a tree when i see these these vines around me on the ground here as alive as uh intelligent i'm actually not looking at them through an anthropocentric lens i'm not looking at them as they relate to human i am seeing it's actually the other way around i'm seeing myself in them and i think this is a really important shift uh to start this process or to come back to this uh this place about how we can uh be humble and and show humility in our relationship with the living world and it really deepens our relationship with plants and so understanding that this the background the history of the use of this word actually stems from this colonial place because it's a threat to the ideas of human dominance which have scientific and religious roots is that humans are here to to terraform the world to change it as we will and and some of us call [ __ ] on that that the world exists not to serve humanity but that humans are simply one thread in the web of life and i think that's a really important place because of how it centers us in our relationship with the livingness of the world so yeah so let's name that as a colonial frame the other piece about that is that if we are not seeing the world as alive if we are not seeing the world as as animistic what's the alternative the alternative is that we're seeing the world as dead and uh from some of my other videos you might know that that's not entirely the case uh because the opposite of living isn't dead the opposite of living is or yeah the opposite of living is machine because life and death are part of the same cycle uh we can't have life without death and we can't have death without life so seeing where the science science uh perspective the scientific perspective the colonial perspective that tells us that the world is not animus is not animated is actually not telling us that it's dead it's telling us that it's a machine which means that there's another word that i learned from one of my teachers stephen bunner it's the opposite of anthropomorphism it's mechanomorphism it's turning the world into a machine it's seeing everything as a function within a machine and that is just not how life is it just really isn't so if we are not seeing the world as alive if we are not doing this process and i don't have another word that's better for anthropomorphizing except to see the world as alive to see it as kin uh and and related to us you know um these are our relations here all the web all of the the animals the birds the bugs the plants the mushrooms they're all part of the web of life they're all kin for us and if we don't assert that then we are accepting and and uh passively asserting or passively relenting to mechanomorphism to the insistence that the world is a machine that that life is actually just some sort of green machine and it's really important for who we are for the resource that we feel the connection that we can feel and the resource that comes from that when we remember we're a part of the web of life we need to call [ __ ] on mechanomorphizing the world it's really essential to our healing and it will change how you relate to the plants as you walk through the woods as you walk down the beach as you sit in your yard and follow an ant as it walks through the grass all of that can change when you realize humbly with humility that all of those parts of the web of life are intelligent and beautiful and have something important to offer and they are not there for us to simply dismiss and to to put them in the background so to sum up uh anthropomorphism needs a better word uh but it's really just about seeing the world as alive recognizing the truth of the world that's alive and it's really important in our decolonization work to be challenging that as often as we need to so thank you very much for listening uh if you like what i have to say uh subscribe uh click on the notification button there and you'll get more videos check out my website livingmedicineproject.com for other videos and blogs and stuff like that i would love to hear your feedbacks and comments about this sort of thing and participating in this dialogue so i'm garlic talk to you next time