Perceptual Intelligence: Gathering Deep Knowledge

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July 18, 2022

a project of ServiceSpace

The hunter-gatherer did [their] shopping in the natural world...Success depended upon the ability to accurately read the innumerable variables which each season, day and hour presented.

- Rupert Ross -

Perceptual Intelligence: Gathering Deep Knowledge

"One cannot know a forest by walking it only once. It takes several full cycles of the seasons, and regular explorations during that time, preferably daily, to even begin to know a place. Where are its berry trees and when are the berries ripe? Where are its meltwater ponds in the spring? Where is the nearest raccoon den, and how often do you normally see them out and about? When do the maple trees change colour for autumn? When will there be a mast year for acorns? Such are the habits of landscapes. It takes many years to get to know them. Some people may get a head-start in this process, benefitting from the guidance of grandparents, local elders, and other community leaders; though as observed earlier, the climate crisis can disrupt the old familiar cycles of nature, rendering this kind of ancestral knowledge less helpful. This kind of relationship with the earth rests upon what I call perceptual intelligence." Brendan Myers shares more in this excerpt from his book "The Circle of Life is Broken." { read more }