
BRIEFLY NOTED: THE ABSTRACT WILD. Jack Turner. University of Arizona Press. First published September 1, 1996. Paperback available on Amazon.com $16.47.
Another inspirational book for this project is a truly great one by Jack Turner, a man who cherishes "the company of ecological fundamentalists who cannot abide the modern world," and a writer "concerned with preserving the authority of wild nature, or, more precisely, the authority of its presence in our experience and, hence, in the structure of our lives." Turner's indispensable book beautifully elucidates the path toward these goals. "Dig in someplace," he writes, "allow the spirits of your chosen place to speak through you."
In my view, simply looking can also be a language if we learn to look with wise attention and reflect on what we see with love and compassion. Then perhaps we can follow Turner's lead and "speak in a language that extends the 'common good' to what is common to all life--the air, the atmosphere, the water, the processes of evolution and diversity, the commonality of all organisms in their common heritage."