As in the Heart So in the Earth: Reversing the Desertification of the Soul and the Soil

Description

"As in the Heart, so in the Earth" is a strong indictment of a civilisation that, while seeking domination over the earth, mutilates, tortures, and desacralises it. For Pierre Rabhi, ecology is inseparable from spirituality. He shows how the growing desertification of North Africa is a reflection of the "desert" that is claiming the hearts and souls of the inhabitants of the Western world - how dead soil is mirrored in our deadened souls - and how reconciliation with Mother Earth must be accompanied by relearning our ancestors' reverence for the soil. Using a traditional African parable grounded in the very wisdom of the earth, Pierre Rabhi seeks to initiate the reader into a time when the people that dwelled on this planet did so harmoniously and could converse easily with the land. Village elder Tyemoro recounts the gradual destruction of his village's culture and all that has sustained it as the miracles promised by modern technology brought more harm than good. This same drama is recurring throughout the world, where indigenous value systems that have endured for millennia are torn apart by contact with modern civilisation. Yet Rabhi offers hope - if those in the modern world will stop to hear the words of their ancestors who worked the land, for our destiny is linked irrevocably to that of the earth.

Pierre Rabhi was born in Kenadsa, an oasis in southern Algeria, and grew up in France. He is a consultant on agroecology for many international organizations, including the World Bank, and is a specialist in reversing the process of desertification. The author of several books, As in the Heart, So in the Earth is his first to appear in English. He lives and farms in the Ardeche region of France.

"Pierre Rabhi is calling us urgently towards an act of reconciliation with the Earth and his own life is an exemplary model of it." * Yehudi Menuhin, violinist, conductor, and winner of the Nehru Peace Prize * "From the moment we were told that we were to have dominion over the Earth, we have done nothing but destroy it. Pierre Rabhi superbly shows how this is also mirrored in our souls." * Rahasya Poe, Lotus Guide magazine, Nov/Dec 2007 *