To the extent that each person can feel like a naturalist, the old excitement of the untrammeled world will be regained. I offer this as a formula of re-enchantment to invigorate poetry and myth: mysterious and little know organisms live within walking distance of where you sit.
Splendor awaits in minute proportions. -
E.O. Wilson

Friday, August 20, 2010

"One Touch of Nature Makes the Whole World Kin."

This Sunday we will explore our circles using the sense of touch.

Recent scientific studies have shown that our sense of touch profoundly affects how we view the world and influences our thoughts and behaviors. Textures, shapes, and weights can influence judgments and decisions. For example:
• People sitting on hard, cushion-less chairs are less likely to compromise in price negotiations than people sitting on softer chairs.
• Interviewers holding a heavy clipboard are likely to think job applicants take their work more seriously than if the clipboard is less weighty.
• People judge others to be more generous and caring after they have briefly held a cup of warm coffee rather than a cold drink.

Physical concepts such as warmth, hardness, and roughness are among the first feelings infants develop and remember, and are critical to how young children and adults eventually develop abstract concepts about people and relationships.

How might we deepen our relationship with the natural world we live in by touching it with more curiosity and intentionality? By being more aware when it are touched by it?

It will be my last Sunday with you out on the Path. I hope to see you there. Sparrow will conclude the summer outdoor Church in the Woods series on August 29.

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