Abstract
A co-operative inquiry was established to explore the experience of a panpsychic world of sentient beings rather than inert objects, a world in which mind—sentience, subjectivity, and the will of self-realization—is a fundamental aspect of matter, just as matter is a fundamental aspect of mind. The nature of worldviews, the fundamental basis of our perceiving, thinking, valuing, and acting, is addressed and a brief outline of living cosmos panpsychism offered. The inquiry asks, could we humans, through intentional engagement, relate to the rivers as beings, subjects, or other-than-human persons in their own right? How might we engage with the rivers through personal relationship, ceremony, and invocation? What are the possibilities for reciprocal communication? In short, how might rivers speak?.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 376-384 |
| Journal | River Research and Applications |
| Volume | 38 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| Early online date | 19 May 2021 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 31 Mar 2022 |
Funding
The authors wish to acknowledge the contributions of human and other-than-human participants in the inquiry process: Andrea Montgomery Di Marco, David Manzi-Fe, and David Peters; and the respective rivers we worked with: Avon (UK), Fowey (UK), Glen (UK), Severn (UK), Plessur (Switzerland), Kisiskâciwanisîpiy (Canada), and Tah-la-lu (Canada). Jean Boulton, Margaret Gearty, Heather Green, Laurie Guimond, Constance Jones, Owain Jones, Freya Mathews, Andreas Weber, and Sandra Wooltorton offered helpful suggestions to drafts. We also appreciate the extensive comments made by the anonymous reviewers.
Keywords
- co-operative inquiry
- experiential inquiry
- living cosmos panpsychism
- ontopoetics
- Panpsychism
- worldviews
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Environmental Chemistry
- Water Science and Technology
- General Environmental Science