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What's in a name?
"The Urban Pantheist" as a title occurred to me sometime in the late nineties. I was emerging from time spent as a wiccan or perhaps eclectic neopagan and had rediscovered the word "pantheist" and decided that it more accurately captured my beliefs. At the same time, I was connecting with nature in a way that I hadn't since I was a boy living in a house in the woods. It struck me that to love nature in the city was remarkable, but that it was something that needed to happen, and that I probably wasn't the only person who was discovering it. I used the title for five issues of my zine, published between 1998 and 2003, before finally admitting to myself that it was now just my blog title. (Unless I find another great project to attach it to.)
For a time, I considered the title "The Urban Naturalist," but rejected it for a couple reasons. First, I didn't know enough about nature to comfortably call myself a naturalist, but to call myself a pantheist, all I needed to do was believe in a self-creating universe. I also discovered, as I looked for books about urban nature, that there already was a book called The Urban Naturalist, by Steven Garber, a New York based biologist. (This book is pretty useful, but dry, and is starting to become obsolete. It needs a revision badly, but I doubt that Dover does such a thing, since their domain is the public domain, specializing in two dollar copies of Mark Twain and such.)
One of my newish lj friends,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
futurebird, is currently working on a book called The Urban Naturalist, but her perspective is largely social/humanity based, and looks very interesting (if she wants, she can comment with a better description than mine, or you could follow the links and read some of it). It will not be confused with Garber's book, despite the fact that they are both based in NYC.
In 1985, British goth singer Danielle Dax used the phrase "Urban Pantheist" in two contexts. In an interview, she basically said that what we used to call hippies are now urban pantheists. And for some album art, she used a series of her own paintings, which were titled "Urban Pantheist." So far as I can tell, this is the earliest use of these two words together. (This is the kind of baiting statement I like to make in order for other people to contradict me, and in so doing, do my research for me.)
About a year ago a self-described "urban folk singer" from Melbourne Australia, named Rachael Byrnes, wrote a song dedicated to a friend, entitled "The Urban Pantheist." You can listen to it here, or if you prefer songs in written format, you can look at the lyrics (which differ very slightly from the audio version) here. She sings rather languidly, a welcome contrast (in my mind) to the punk-influenced nasal snarl popular among female singer-songwriters I usually hear. I'm rather a dope when it comes to picking up symbolism, but while the song seems to be a love song written for a friend, it also bears a strong message of loving the earth, and listening to nature. (Unless I've gotten it totally wrong. I can just about grasp the blunt-instrument environmental message of Soundgarden's "Hands all Over."
Now I'm not sure if I should continue to use the phrase "The Urban Pantheist" to refer to myself and my projects. Partly because I've drifted even further away from strictly spiritual interests more toward ecology and biology. An early draft of a business cardcottonmanifesto designed for me, she used the phrase "urban naturalist" to describe me, which is more accurate than ever. The nature walk group I founded is called "Urban Nature Walk," which I think is potentially more useful than the other titles. (By useful I mean helpful in creating interest and curiosity while accurately describing what I do.) For the foreseeable future, this blog will continue to be called "The Urban Pantheist." Until such time as I am born again, and judge pantheism to be a heresy against the One True God. Just kidding. Maybe.
Here, because lj abhors a text-only post, is the bark of an apple tree, growing on a city street.
For a time, I considered the title "The Urban Naturalist," but rejected it for a couple reasons. First, I didn't know enough about nature to comfortably call myself a naturalist, but to call myself a pantheist, all I needed to do was believe in a self-creating universe. I also discovered, as I looked for books about urban nature, that there already was a book called The Urban Naturalist, by Steven Garber, a New York based biologist. (This book is pretty useful, but dry, and is starting to become obsolete. It needs a revision badly, but I doubt that Dover does such a thing, since their domain is the public domain, specializing in two dollar copies of Mark Twain and such.)
One of my newish lj friends,
futurebird, is currently working on a book called The Urban Naturalist, but her perspective is largely social/humanity based, and looks very interesting (if she wants, she can comment with a better description than mine, or you could follow the links and read some of it). It will not be confused with Garber's book, despite the fact that they are both based in NYC.In 1985, British goth singer Danielle Dax used the phrase "Urban Pantheist" in two contexts. In an interview, she basically said that what we used to call hippies are now urban pantheists. And for some album art, she used a series of her own paintings, which were titled "Urban Pantheist." So far as I can tell, this is the earliest use of these two words together. (This is the kind of baiting statement I like to make in order for other people to contradict me, and in so doing, do my research for me.)
About a year ago a self-described "urban folk singer" from Melbourne Australia, named Rachael Byrnes, wrote a song dedicated to a friend, entitled "The Urban Pantheist." You can listen to it here, or if you prefer songs in written format, you can look at the lyrics (which differ very slightly from the audio version) here. She sings rather languidly, a welcome contrast (in my mind) to the punk-influenced nasal snarl popular among female singer-songwriters I usually hear. I'm rather a dope when it comes to picking up symbolism, but while the song seems to be a love song written for a friend, it also bears a strong message of loving the earth, and listening to nature. (Unless I've gotten it totally wrong. I can just about grasp the blunt-instrument environmental message of Soundgarden's "Hands all Over."
Now I'm not sure if I should continue to use the phrase "The Urban Pantheist" to refer to myself and my projects. Partly because I've drifted even further away from strictly spiritual interests more toward ecology and biology. An early draft of a business card
cottonmanifesto designed for me, she used the phrase "urban naturalist" to describe me, which is more accurate than ever. The nature walk group I founded is called "Urban Nature Walk," which I think is potentially more useful than the other titles. (By useful I mean helpful in creating interest and curiosity while accurately describing what I do.) For the foreseeable future, this blog will continue to be called "The Urban Pantheist." Until such time as I am born again, and judge pantheism to be a heresy against the One True God. Just kidding. Maybe.Here, because lj abhors a text-only post, is the bark of an apple tree, growing on a city street.
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you neglected to mention that naturalist is a synonym for nudist.
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html trouble
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joke or jinx...? be careful! :)
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I truly believe that all that is really required to be a "naturalist" is a deep and abiding obsession/passion for the natural world, in all its brilliant, madcap, dizzying manifestations. Oh - and a desire to share that knowledge, too.
And if that ain't YOU, I don't know what is.
So say it LOUD and say it PROUD: I'M A BLOODY URBAN NATURALIST AND FARK ANYONE WHO SAYS OTHERWISE!!! XD
Go get 'em, tiger!
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Heard in the movie Syriana last night: "If man is made in god's image, then god is seriously fucked up."
my song
(Anonymous) 2006-10-12 01:14 am (UTC)(link)I just read the blurb above about my song. Thanks for that!! It was lovely to read your interpretation. I guess I could refer to the song as a love song, not to anyone in particular, but to the "she" which is everything. I decided in this song to refer to it as She because it annoys me how people always say God is a "he" God to me is everything. The mystery of all things. That's what the song is about. Many thanks Rachael http://rachaelbyrnes.blogspot.com
Re: my song
I'm glad to learn that the "she" in the song is that She.