Written Language As a Powerful Tool for Tackling Our Environmental Crisis

Samantha Grant

Patton College of Education, Ohio University

REC 4800: Wilderness Literature

Bruce Martin, Ph.D.

December 8, 2022

Abstract

This paper explores David Abram’s unique approach to human connectedness with nature through the lens of ecopsychology within his work, The Spell of the Sensuous. In order to prove the written word as a means for farthing the environmentalist movement, it highlights the value that Abram’s approach adds to this conversation by drawing upon themes within feminist philosopher Mary Daly’s book, Websters' First New Intergalactic Wickedary of the English Language, Anne Zavalkoff’s article, “Dis/Located in Nature? A Feminist Critique of David Abram,” and Paul Wapner’s book, Is Wildness Over?. Ultimately, this paper seeks to point out the connective themes throughout these various works and how we can use this to our advantage when looking at the broad scope of the environmental crisis.

Keywords: language, David Abram, wilderness, environmentalism, literature

David Abram is a fascinating figure within the realm of wilderness literature as he is not primarily a nature writer like earlier figures such as Muir, Olson, and Dillard, he is a philosopher. While all of these previous contributions have been truly invaluable to the evolution of ecological literature, Abram’s new approach to explaining our animalistic connections with the natural world provides a touchstone to how we lost our sensuous bearings and a tangible means to regaining our wildness. This new perspective allowed an opening for a shift in attitude throughout the Western environmentalist movement as it highlighted the very power that is held within the written word.

Within the first chapter of Abram’s work, The Spell of the Sensuous, he takes us on a journey to discover when he realized there was a disconnect between humans and our natural sensuous bearings. He describes a time earlier in his career when he worked as a magician throughout rural Asia. He spent much of this time actively observing the cultures in which he was emersed and the involvement of the nonhuman world within these systems. Abram describes becoming enamored with various insect life during this time. We can clearly see a shift in his understanding of the nonhuman world as he observes spiders and states, “they were my introduction to the spirits, to the magic afoot in the land. It was from them that I first learned of the intelligence that lurks in nonhuman nature, the ability that an alien form of sentience has to echo one’s own, to instill a reverberation in oneself that temporarily shatters habitual ways of seeing and feeling, leaving one open to a world all alive, awake, and aware” (Abram, 1996, p. 19). Abram begins to realize with this there is a multitude of senses and experiences left untapped within the modern Western human experience that largely focuses on technological advancement and capital gain. With this, we have lost a sense of wholeness.

To highlight Western disconnectedness, Abram calls upon examples of sensuous connections within various Indigenous cultures. He specifically begins to observe language as a means of connection. For many of these cultures, the connection between their language, rituals, and stories and the natural world is undeniable and inseparable. Abram states, “according to Ogotemmêli, an elder of the Dogon tribe of Mali, spoken language was originally a swirling garment of vapour and breath worn by the encompassing earth itself. Later this undulating garment was stolen by the jackal, and animal whose movements, ever since, have disclosed the prophetic speech of the world to seers and diviner” (p. 87). This direct connection between spoken word and the very earth systems that sustain life fostered the intentional use of language. In this scenario, words hold great power and have the ability to directly impact natural earthly cycles. The natural world was perceived as not only living, breathing, and feeling but also as capable of understanding. This understanding of the natural world is lost within the Western modern world as language becomes industrialized and disconnected from natural processes. But why? Abram continues, If perception, in its depths, is truly participatory, why do we not experience the rest of the world as animate and alive? If our own language is truly dependent upon the existence of other, nonhuman voices, why do we now experience language as an exclusively human property or possession?” (p. 91). Spoken language alone can not be responsible for our shifting perception and dissociation from the natural world.

Abram believes that the primary reason for the disconnect between humans and the natural world is the creation of the alphabet. Abram comes to this conclusion by first examining language in its broader context. He states, "language as a bodily phenomenon accrues to all expressive bodies, not just to the human. Our own speaking, then, does not set us outside of the animate landscape but — whether or not we are aware of it— inscribes us more fully in its chattering, whispering, soundful depths" (p. 80). He understands that although we have historically identified complex language as a uniquely human characteristic, it still can connect us to our physical experiences and natural surroundings at an almost primal level. The Aboriginal peoples of Australia participate in a custom called Dreaming in order to recall stories related to their ancestral history. Dreaming involves rehearsing and performing songs that are directly associated with the physical landscape they are passing through. Each landscape has a song and story connected with it that is also connected with the person themselves. Abram explains this further, “language here is inseparable from song and story, and the song and stories, in turn, are inseparable from the shapes and features of the land” (p. 172). Abram then focuses on the alphabet because it removes this primal nature of language. Abram states, "with the phonetic aleph-beth, however, the written character no longer refers us to any sensible phenomenon out in the world, or even to the name of such a phenomenon (as will the rebus), but solely to a gesture to be made by human mouth" (p. 100). The alphabet shifted humans from a language of sounds and pictures that related to our lived physical experiences to ones that did not necessarily reference any tangible objects, sounds, or experiences. This leads to prime conditions for abstract thought, which can lead to this disconnection from our own bodies and primal natural environment. This abstraction of language only served to further instill an idea of human specialness and thus difference from the nonhuman and sensuous world.

A section from Abram that continues to illustrate the loss of our sensuous bearings in relation to the written word is in chapter 7 when Abram discusses the connection that speech and breath can have with the divine and the natural world. To illustrate his point, he discusses the lack of vowels in the Hebrew writing system as he writes, "while consonants are those shapes made by the lips, teeth, tongue, palate, or throat, that momentarily obstruct the flow of breath and so give form to our words and phrases, the vowels are those sounds that are made by the unimpeded breath itself . . . And breath, for the ancient Semites, was the very mystery of life and awareness, a mystery inseparable from the invisible rauch—the holy wind or spirit" (p. 243). This omission of vowels also made Hebrew documents ever-changing and living as they could be interpreted in a variety of ways, thus making the sensuous connection very present. Abram notes a shift in sensuous bearings when Greek scribes introduced vowels into the alphabet. The written text of the Greeks could no longer be ever-changing as Abram writes, "by transposing the invisible into the register of the visible, the Greek scribes effectively dissolved the primordial power of the air" (p. 252). This led to the idea of the psyche, where the mind could now be independent of the body and the sensuous world.

Abram suggests to renew our bond with the natural world, we must scale back and let go of control. Our ambition has made us lose sight of our sensuous connections and blind to the damage we have caused. Abram discusses the movement of people that have begun this reconnection as he writes, "they know well that if humankind is to flourish without destroying the living world that sustains us, then we must grow out of our adolescent aspiration to encompass and control all that is . . . Sooner or later, that is, technological civilization must accept the invitation of gravity and settle back into the land, its political and economic structures diversifying into the varied contours and rhythms of a more-than-human earth" (p. 272).

But is the simple creation of the alphabet enough to explain our disconnect from the sensuous? Was there not a greater deep-seated need for control that shifted our language away from the nonhuman world? In an earlier work, Websters' First New Intergalactic Wickedary of the English Language, feminist philosopher Mary Daly argues that our loss of sensuous bearings stems from the patriarchy and patriarchal language. It is not simply the written word itself that has led us astray, but the misuse of the written word. In this case, the written word is seen as an extremely powerful tool with the ability to be utilized for positive change. Daly calls women to action to reclaim the written language from the hands of the patriarchy as she states, “The Call of the Elemental Mediums is the Call of the Wild, summoning us beyond the foreground, the elementary world. It is an unremitting Howl, warning those muted and stranded in the State of Possession and mystified by its media to leave the land of the dead . . . Elemental Mediums Howl to silenced Soothsayers to shout down the lies of “authorities.” They call to housebound/ housebroken Gossips to get off the phone, get away from the phoneys, and once again Gossip Wisdom from the stars” (Daly, 1987, p.11). Patriarchal language is so enshrined within the written word in the West because it is a means of control. Daly continues, “the sadorulers are driven to destroy women, animals, trees, air, water– whatever they are able to touch. They are obsessed with substituting elementary artifacts for Natural be-ing. Clearly, such an agenda must include the destruction and replacement of Elemental words, that is, words that Name Elemental reality. For the phallocrats fear all reminders of Elemental powers with which they fail to cooperate” (p. 240-241). Daly goes one step further than Abram by laying out a broad framework of language that may better serve genuine connections within the matriarchal community. She reimagines a dictionary in which words now connect with natural elemental mediums. For example, her new definition of rage follows as such, “transformative focusing force that awakens transcendent E-motion; Passion that unpots the potted passions and melts down the potted ones; Passion which, when unleashed, enables Furies to sever our Selves from the State of Severence, breathe Fire, and fly into freedom” (p. 91). For Daly, our primary means to regaining our connections with the sensuous world is to reclaim our language from the grip of the patriarchy that aims to control all aspects of natural earthy functions.

In her article, “Dis/Located In Nature?,” Anne Zavalkoff utilizes Mary Daly’s writing as a means to critique David Abram’s claims in The Spell of the Sensuous. Zavalkoff acknowledges the radical tendencies of Daly’s writing and how her broad claims can often minimize the complexities of the feminist movement and patriarchal issues but utilizes her writing to illustrate how written language can encourage reconnection with the natural senses. Zavalkoff finds Abram’s claims that our disconnection from nature is due simply to phonetic writing quite hard to support as she states, “I question whether the severing of a deep human participation in the natural world in a necessary result of the development of phonetic writing. Is it the very nature of alphabetic text which disrupts a profound human connection with nature, or is it the ways in which people interact with language which are far more problematic?” (Zavalkoff, 2004, p.126). Zavalkoff believes that Daly and Abram’s claims share a lot of similarities but their primary division appears when they discuss the future potential of the written word. Daly focuses on the positive potential of language and the possibilities of its reclamation while Abram highlights the evil potential of the written word and how it has led us astray from our sensuous bearings. Zavalkoff states, “While Abram maintains that a continued involvement with phonetic text is likely to further people’s detachment from nature, Daly claims that people must become even more deeply and critically involved with all words to reverse their disengagement” (p. 130). For Zavalkoff, Daly’s “dynamic” use and interpretation of written language brings into question Abram’s theories about the inclusion of vowels in writing leading to stagnant, un-living documents and abstracted thought.

While Daly and Abram take very different approaches, they are essentially arguing the same thing, they are just using different language and approaches in order to arrive there. Could the patriarchy and other oppressive behaviors and systems perhaps originate from this human need for the control mentioned by Abram that we have allowed to overtake our psyche and society? The Spell of the Sensuous is often interpreted as Abram being against the creation of written language. This perspective is understandable as Abram’s tone often appears harsh as he deeply analyzes and critiques all aspects of the written language. While Abram’s opinion of literacy can sometimes appear critical, he is ultimately arguing a point very similar to Mary Daly's. We have become complacent with the written word, leading to its misuse. We have allowed the human voice and psyche to control, dismiss and destroy all other aspects of communication within the sensuous world. If anything, the written language holds great power as it has the ability to decide our connectedness with the natural world, both authors believe that there is magic within language. It is unfair then to assert that Abram continues to condemn phonetic text throughout the entirety of his work. Denying and condemning literacy would not serve to reconnect us with nature as Abram states, “for those of us who care for an earth not encompassed by machines, a world of textures, tastes and sounds other than those that we have engineered, there can be no question of simply abandoning literacy, of turning away from all writing. Our task, rather, is that of taking up the written word, with all of its potency, and patiently, carefully, writing language back into the land” (Abram, p.273). Abram understands that this reconnection will not and should not come through abandoning the alphabet but that we can use our writing and our words in a way that interacts with the land and the sensuous world that we are inevitably a part of. Daly’s ability to reimagine and reinvigorate written language supports Abram’s call to action and proves that we are capable of writing the language back into the land. If we disregard this point within Abram’s work, we cannot grasp the full potential of his claims and their ability to add something of value and invoke change within the environmentalist movement.

         In a much more recent work, Is Wildness Over? Paul Wapner emphasizes human society’s attempt to control all aspects of life in an attempt to avoid all wildness. We have flung ourselves into the very wildness we have fought so hard to avoid, and there is no way of getting out of it now. In this work “wildness” is essentially equivalent to the sensuous and more-than-human connections described by Abram. Wapner’s approach to explaining our forced disconnect from the wild is much more broad and synthesizes key aspects of both Daly and Abram’s assertions. Wapner makes it very clear that he does not have a solution for climate change, biodiversity loss, ozone depletion, etc. The damage has been done. He does, however, highlight a couple of key responses we could have now that wildness is upon us. Wapner specifically points to rewilding in which we must let go of control, accept some discomfort, and become less extractivist. Wapner admits that this will be difficult, but what other option do we have? Wapner states, "rewilding will not solve global environmental problems. It cannot guarantee physical well-being or even survival. Nonetheless, it offers a key and necessary strategy. It advocates for greater climate mitigation, ecosystem preservation, and the humbling of human life so that other people and creatures and the living planet itself can thrive in concert with significant human presence" (Wapner, 2020, p.125). We can either continue fighting wildness, a fight that we will ultimately lose, or we can let it into our lives and perhaps find greater purpose and understanding within our world.

Regardless of each author’s means of explaining our disconnection from the natural world, it is clear that we are in agreement that there is a link missing. Abram, Daly, and Zavalkoff prove through their work that the written word holds an undeniable power. With that power is required a level of restraint in order to deny the human habit of complete control and all-knowing comfort mentioned in Wapner’s writing. When writers such as Abram and Daly are willing to reimagine the written word, a valuable change in perspective is established within the environmental community. These daring approaches hold the power to create entirely new disciplines, such as Abram with the field of ecopsychology. These approaches inspire the reader in less abstract ways. They call them to tangible action and amplify the voices of those who have been unheard and oppressed for long enough. No one person will hold all of the answers to our environmental issues or how we reconnect with nature. The more daring work we put out into the world, critique, and question, the more common threads and ideas we can find that will shape a more equitable future.

References

Abram, David. The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language In A More-Than-Human World. Vintage Books, a Division of Penguin Random House LLC, 1996.

Daly, Mary, and Jane Caputi. Websters' First New Intergalactic Wickedary of the English Language. HarperSanFrancisco, 1987.

Wapner, Paul. Is Wildness Over? Polity Press, 2020.

Zavalkoff, Anne. “Dis/Located in Nature? A Feminist Critique of David Abram.” Ethics and the Environment, Spring, 2004, Vol. 9, No. 1, Indiana University Press, 2004.

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