an exploration into the use of goethean science as a methodology for landscape assessment: the...

ELSEVIER Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 63 (1997) 145-157

Agriculture Ecosystems & Enwronment

An exploration into the use of Goethean science as a methodology for landscape assessment: the Pishwanton Project

Margaret Colquhoun 1 The Life Science Trust, Kirk Bridge Cottage, Humbie, E. Lothian, EH36 5PA, UK

Abstract

Landscape comes about through the stream of a complex interplay of past and future events, some natural, some less so. Whatever is done or happens in the landscape (industrial or agricultural, architectural or natural) consciously or uncon- sciously seems to take on the character of that place leaving the landscape with, or adding to it, something of its essential being. This active expression in landscape was known in the past as the 'Genius Loci' ('spirit of the place'). In our modern age of multiple systems analysis it is just this factor which appears so elusive to our experience and description of ' value' in landscape assessment.

A sequence of landscape studies (based on the Goethean scientific method) over the last few years has led to the development of a technique of landscape assessment which combines the more usual analytical approach with an acknowledgement of the Genius Loci.

This paper explores the journey into the study and appreciation of landscape as a possible method for use in landscape assessment within diverse environmental situations. © 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.

Keywords: Goethean science; Methodology; Landscape assessment; Southern Scotland

I. Introduction

It is of the very nature of humanity to alter the complex of living things wherever man is found. Man must be considered as part of the natural history of the earth 's su r face . . , he can make the desert bloom, or ult imately fill an oceanic island with the beauty of bird song, and equally he makes deserts as spectacularly as any horde of locusts. (Fraser Dar- ling, 1947)

Tel.: 01875 833 654.

The fact that mankind has played such an influen- tial role in the transformation of nature and thus the creation of landscape has been recognised for a very long time and has been extensively written about and acted upon especially in the last 200 years. Sir Frank Fraser Darling, in his book "Natural History in the Highlands and Is lands" , and other works, describes and attempts to assess the impact and influence of human habitation, agriculture and other activities on the land to the north and west of Scotland in a colourful and descriptive way. Many people regard his work today as 'unscientif ic ' because he describes how he experiences nature as a human being, leading us to the puzzling question of inner and outer landscapes and their correspondence.

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146 M. Colquhoun // Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 63 (1997) 145-157

Fraser Darling also involves us in the history of the places and gives the reader a clear picture of the life of a land. Land, which is clearly also embedded in a time process, has been caught for us in an imaginatively but highly accurate pictorial way at a particular moment in its development. All these aspects belong to landscape.

One might ask after all this the question "What is landscape actually?" There are probably as many different definitions as there are landscapes, but one which I feel is particularly apt in this instance was that stated by W. Vos, where all three of the above aspects are included in one sentence: "Landscape is a characteristic spatial arrangement of land units" (Vos, 1994).

Julian Huxley has described the process of development or evolution of landscape as occurring in three different sectors: "The first is inorganic - the cosmic process of matter. The second is biological - the evolution of plants and animals. The third is psychological and is the development of man's cul- tures" (Julian Huxley quoted in Fairbrother, 1970).

In the Oxford dictionary the definition of 'landscape' is: "Picture representing, art reproducing or actual piece of inland scenery". This does not help us greatly for what on earth is 'a piece of scenery'? Is it the trees, rocks, plants, clouds, buildings, rivers, bridges and all the other things we see scattered around the world from our particular point of view? Is it the weather, the seasonal round, the ever-changing play of light or transforming clouds, or is it something more? It seems to be much more than all these physical and temporal factors--something 'in between', an organising or gathering together of the parts and yet including them--something that is impossible to summarise and yet ' i t ' is directly tangible, accessible, characteristic and very important to every human being who has connected himself or herself to a piece of this earth we call place or landscape.

So how does one begin to study, let alone assess the value of and help to develop, something which is (a) of the nature of a picture, (b) is not a static picture but one that is always changing before our eyes, (as we walk towards it, in or through it and is never the same this week as it was last or will be next month) and (c) that seems to have to do with all the physical things that meet our eyes and yet is an

invisible in between something that encompasses all of them?

This invisible, ever-transforming and yet decid- edly obvious characteristic of a place is something that has been formed through the stream of a complex interplay of past and future events--all that evolved and developed there since the earth began in interplay with the ideas of those who transformed the land in the past and those who have intentions to change it the future. It was given the name in the past of the 'Genius Loci'.

Until rather recent times, all but the most inacces- sible parts of the world have been shaped and beauti- fied by human activity in recognition of the Genius Loci in harmony with nature and according to the needs of both. There are many pictures of such landscapes, one of the main characteristics they have in common being the presence of people in action. The harmony that we experience in the landscape paintings of Constable, in pastoral novels and in nature writings of the last century is now, in the main, only to be found framed and hung in art galleries or buried in books in our day. Those islands of real live landscape for which we, as city dwellers, hunger are often so filled to the brim with tourists today that there is little chance of our truly 'experiencing' the p lace- -or they are 'fenced o f f to keep people out in case we destroy that to which our ancestors were a party to creating! In our obsession with conserving the past we seem to be afraid to try new things in case we get it wrong! What has happened to our capacity to read, and thereby co- create, with nature that was so aptly described by W. Marshall in the 18th century as "the Art of assisting nature (which) is all our own"? What sort of science can do justice to all this?

It was with these questions and concerns that a group of us embarked on a series of studies of landscape to try and develop a methodology to approach the problem of how we really 'see' landscape today and to assess it out of an understanding of its process of development in order to be better able to plan and eventually co-create a more harmonious and 'land-appropriate' future. In other words to be as responsible as we could possibly be for what should happen on a particular piece of land in the 1990s. The work began with a group of farmers who wanted to look at their land in a new way. This response to a

M. Colquhoun / Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 63 (1997) 145-157 147

definite question has led to the development of the process described in this paper which has been used in the past years with some considerable success as an appropriate methodology for assessment and decision-making in landscape issues in Russia and Amer- ica and all over the British Isles, not least in the siting and design of Prince Charles' sewage system! The methodology used here builds firmly on that described by Jochen Bockemiihl (Bockemiihl, 1992) working in Switzerland and Bas Pedroli in the Netherlands (Pedroli, 1989) and others.

2. Materials

2.1. In practical terms-- the Pishwanton Project

We began with the question of how to bring about the marriage of a place, emerging from its past, and the ideas for change, reflected in ecological, human and other needs, coming essentially from the future; how to create something here and now with nature which will take a piece of land or place into its future in a healthy manner and at the same time will

allow its development to connect with its past in a real way.

The aim of the study at Pishwanton was to research into and develop the method of landscape assessment which would lead in a clear and conscious way to an experience of the Genius Loci (including all the usual analytical methods used in ecology today) out of which we could then create a leading meaningful ecological, architectural and agricultural design for that place.

We used the site at Pishwanton Wood because there was a real question as to whether this place would be suitable as a home for an agriculturally based centre for Goethean science and art. In the summers of 1991, 1992 and 1993 we organised workshops to study the 60-acre site in southern Scotland. In the first workshop seven people took part, 12 in the second and seven in the third from a wide range of professional backgrounds and inter- ests. The initial process of assessment is the most relevant to our agricultural question so I will focus mainly on this half of the process and bring in occasional examples from other projects where the landscape was studied in the same way. I will also

Fig. 1. Pishwanton Wood from the nor th-eas t - -an undulating wooded skyline seen across acres of barley monoculture.

148 M. Colquhoun / Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 63 (1997) 145-157

leave out the details of the decision-making and design process.

2.2. The place

Pishwanton Wood (Fig. 1) lies at the foot of the north-facing slopes of the Lammermuir Hills some 20 miles east of Edinburgh. It is approximately 200 m above sea level and lies on the edge of the Southern Upland Fault which divides Lowland Scot- land from the Southern Uplands. The underlying rock is Old Red Sandstone overlain by a variety of glacial deposits including boulder clay. Although called 'woodland' the site is topographically highly varied and includes a wide range of habitats such as open marsh, bare hilltop, wooded valley, steep, shel- tered slopes, exposed and protected burns, plantation and scrub with expansive and enclosed views in sudden and strong contrast with one another. The diversity of aspects with hilltop, valley bottoms and steep and shallow slopes in all directions of the compass, together with the multiplicity of soil types provides for a remarkably varied flora representing in microcosm the historical flora of southern Scot- land; e.g. mixed mature, natural woodland, both

deciduous and coniferous, mature birch stands and vigorous birch regeneration on both heath and mire ground flora, damp alder wood flora and rich wet- land and bog areas containing many medicinal plants.

It has, in living memory and probably for many generations before this, been a worked wood. The surrounding area has been well-populated in the past by a farming community. East Lothian is renowned for its rich soil and fine climate for agriculture. In earlier times part of Pishwanton may have been used as some sort of ceremonial site, certainly a burial place. A stone cyst was found there earlier this century and half a mile to the south is a very large early Celtic 'hill fort', of which there are many others in the surrounding area scattered along the shelf of the hill foot of the Lammermuirs.

Today Pishwanton wears an air of neglect. From the distance it is a rather shabby hill top, fringed with wind-blown trees and rough ground sporting two very rusty corrugated iron sheds (Fig. 2). Nearer we find ourselves beside a dense plantation of pines and old mixed woodland (a place of peace and shelter in a wind-swept landscape) which opens out into a warm, sunny clearing (Fig. 3).

Arriving by car some time is needed to drink in

.

-: ~ ~ : ?~,.'.~:'-~' .. f

F ig . 2. P i s h w a n t o n W o o d f r o m the w e s t - - a n e g l e c t e d h i l l top w i t h a r a g g e d f r i n g e o f w o o d l a n d .


P . - ~ L .

Fig. 3. Pishwanton 'central bowl'--a warm haven in all weathers.

the peace and to inwardly prepare oneself for the exercise upon which we are about to embark.

3. Methods

3.1. Goethean methodology as used in the study of plants and landscape

Now a few words on the Goethean scientific approach in g e n e r a l - - a method that might be described as 'making conscious the obvious' . Goethe

was Germany 's most famous poet. Living 200 years

ago he was horrified by the current attitude to nature that required its ' torture' or destruction in order to

study it. His own efforts to understand the world of

plants, rocks, clouds, animals and colour led him to

develop a means of 'seeing' things which was dic-

tated by the objects of study themselves. Goethe said of his own approach to nature: "That

which has been formed is immediately transformed again, and if we would attain in some measure a

living comprehension of nature, we must ourselves

remain as mobile and plastic as the example nature presents to us" (J.W. yon Goethe, 1749-1832).

Taken seriously this means that we have to look at nature, or landscape in the various ways which

accord with our experience on the three levels or

qualities of landscape as defined by Huxley at the

beginning of this paper and subsequently further detailed above. Goethe led the way in developing

such a means of studying and 'seeing within' which

then allowed him to create a landscape garden 'as if

nature had done it herself'. (He even had a sculpture

of the Genius Loci erected in his garden in Weimar!) The methodology which Goethe won for himself,

and indeed for the rest of humanity, he found had

already been described in works by Spinosa on the three kinds of knowledge. These are summarised from Rudolf Steiner' s introduction to Goethe' s scien-

tific works (Steiner, 1883-1897) in Table 1 as

Spinosa described them for general human knowledge, as Goethe used them in his method of scien-

tific research and as we can use them today as levels

of looking.

To attempt this journey with landscape seemed an

Table 1 The levels of knowledge according to Spinosa and Goethe

Level Spinosa Goethe + today's terminology

1 This level is highly appropriate for the That which upon hearing or reading Exact sense perception world of physical things, separate parts certain words we recall certain things It might be described today as 'seeing in a landscape or a plant and form mental pictures of these things the "is now'"

which are similar to the things themselves. Out of sufficient mental pictures of the characteristics of the things we form general concepts for ourselves.

At this level we 'live' inbetween the physical parts with a more fluid type of alive thinking which connects all the parts of a living whole together in a way in which we recreate inwardly their development in relation to one another This is the level at which we experience an intangible deep feeling of what meets us in a landscape--or touches us in its essence out of the whole

We advance from an adequate picture of the real being of certain attributes of God to an adequate knowledge of the being of things (Scientia Intuitiva).

Exact sensorial fantasy This could be called today 'seeing "becoming" or "relationship"'

Knowledge in beholding This could be described today as 'seeing "being'"

150 M. Colquhoun//Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 63 (1997) 145-157

adequate way to proceed given the nature of (a) the stages in development of landscape and (b) the three levels of experience of landscape detailed above• The physical level we experience as those facts such as trees, rocks, rivers, lakes and rainfall. The second, temporal level has more to do with the landscape as it changes through time and also as we 'live into' the relationships between the parts. The third level becomes apparent only after working our way through the other two when the idea of the place, the Genius Loci, starts to speak to us. A fourth level of knowing on this journey would then be to put all these three levels together and out of a state of 'becoming one with' (or 'being the being') the place we are able to develop an assessment or decisions leading to action.

This method of procedure was further reinforced by finding that it is the same journey which was recommended by Rudolf Steiner at the turn of the century to develop oneself in the direction of becoming capable of intuitive perception, a faculty neces- sary, he wrote, in his introduction to Goethe's scientific works if one wants to study organic nature. "An organism can only be apprehended through an intu-

itive concept" (Steiner, 1883-1897). A hundred years later in the November 1991 issue of Land- scape Design, Dot Bowring emphasises the necessity for landscape designers to develop the faculty of intuition in order to approach landscape and judge out of a "deeper level of being" than that of personal likes and dis l ikes-- ' ' to evoke that rather nebu- lous quality of Genius Loci" (Bowring, 1991). It still seems to be 'in vogue'!

4. Results and discussion

4.1. The exercise and its beginning

One of the most important steps in the whole exercise of meeting a landscape is that of becoming open to the first impression. This can only (in the- ory) happen once! We walk, in silence, round the whole place. This takes 2 h or more. Each person tries to become as open and aware as possible, to look, listen, feel and generally open his or her soul to this first encounter--both with the place as a whole

i

Fig. 4. A 'mood map' of impressions after meeting the place for the first time.


and with the differentiated areas and their boundaries within the whole. Afterwards we record our experiences from memory in whatever way seems appropriate. For some people colour is the most appropriate tool. The colours used represent the inner mood of the place and may or may not be the same as the outer physical colours. We often record these as a 'm ood ' map (Fig. 4).

The next day these experiences, shared briefly, produce highly varied responses flavoured by who we are as individuals: " I t ' s an island in a sea of modem agriculture but at the same time it has bits of everything in it - i t 's a world in i tself", " A rich little hi l l" , " I t ' s been influenced on many levels by mankind but everywhere one can witness nature's healing response" , " I t ' s a place of peace and healing but i t 's been raped" , " A variety of places all within one place abounding in potential but each one seems somehow incomplete" , "Dramat ical ly lush growth but it feels precarious. A little interference could destroy the abundant l i fe" , " I t ' s longing for healing and redemption".

Within our first impressions of a place (or person) are often hidden great depths which only reveal

themselves again after a long joumey through the different levels of its being. Jochen Bockemiihl, whose work and writings have more than inspired this work, calls this experience an 'intuitive precon- ception' ("Intui t ive Vorgriff") . (Bockemiihl, 1986, 1992). Once we start to look more closely at the facts the first impression fades only to reappear more solidly as a consciously won intuition at the end of the journey.

In some places it has been helpful to let people talk out all their existing wishes and visions for a place so that they become freed to see it again 'as if for the first t ime' .

4.2. Meeting the 'is now' - - the physical- - Level 1

We begin this stage by rebuilding our walk from m e m o r y - - t h i s time not based on our soul impressions but by recording all the facts we know and can remember about the place as it is today. Some of this has already been mentioned above. General facts are shared such as height above sea level, aspects of slopes, orientation in the points of the compass, prevailing wind direction, rainfall, soil types, under-

..........'\

m ~

| larch p laml ion I bkch wood I norlhe0'n slq~e down I d e y ef malure w w s r Ilale ,~ndley

b we, l~m mound Dleww I~o

,8bpo t~mN~ t ~ m u ~ c e m ~ pine weed

iwlm:

kl on ~ f~Ja~l slop~ ~Idow

Fig. 5. A factual map of the different sub-areas of Pishwanton Wood--created from memory by 12 people on the day following a silent walk.


lying geology and such essential basic information. At this stage it is also useful to make a map. First we construct a general one of the whole area together (Fig. 5) and then smaller areas are surveyed by individuals or groups of people in more detail.

For this part of the process we divide the whole place into overseeable areas trying to cover as many as possible of its diverse aspects with the people who are available. One year we focused more on the central area, the next time, with more people, we went into the periphery with a focus on ecological aspects and the third year we only studied those areas which had obvious agricultural or horticultural potential. The choice of an area may be through a person being drawn to a particular place, or even experiencing antipathy towards it, or someone having specialist knowledge about something or it may be quite arbitrary such as the need to fill a gap or to survey boundaries or footpaths throughout the whole area. How it is divided will also depend on the question or problem of the place and people involved

with the landscape. People work as individuals or as small groups and we try to overlap areas so that each sub-place is seen from another place. By this means we become intensely aware of the boundaries, and thereby the integrity, of the different sub-areas we are studying and of how these relate to the whole.

At this stage the aim is to collect as many physical phenomena, details and facts as possible in the time available by measuring the area (in paces), charting trees, shrubs, rocks, artifacts, noting species, size, colours, forms and so on. We also draw the place from without and from within looking out, record sounds, smells, temperatures--anything we can experience with our senses. Records are in the form of maps, diagrams, lists, annotated and coloured sketches. Figs. 6 and 7 show examples of two areas at this stage. Soil types, plant and animal species lists, rainfall, wind, etc. all belong in this category of information collection and should be done several times at intervals throughout the year.

At each stage of the process we share our find-

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C~rasdum ~ a n u m Rum~x n c ~

Thin aru m a mosac ~ ~n~-I~v~d ~ wire Pote¢~la ~ d G allure, ~ d tussock~ coets~r gmssas sue es M¢inia, De~d~errlp~ll elle,,~ito~, Hol~s Ima~J s

(1) Dry gra ss~am d-woedy.dislurbed

IHc~cus mnmus P~mmm lr~cedme i DeClV@S glom~ata Ac~o rn~Qm t Lo~um p~enno Tri~k~rn tepees

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l , f i t " , e " ! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _ .- ~ . . " ~. .i (i~41 l ~ , gll

\ ; , i , , . . . . . , /.( ; . . . . . . . . . . . . % 7 ~ n u t l c i l l " ~% , . I l l ~ l i t F~,181 I:~d c I l u s Dominant % i . ,

/ ~ l t r ~ l m u m o¢oratum F~e~u~l~ - . ~ D~Ch o( ~ a i ~ ,

Pontl iv~s F ~ "~, . . . -~ . ., ' - - - - Dee:~ ~mpla ~ e spilo.saOcc e~el ~ " , ~ r " - \ - . . - " "% . - "

V i i ~ l l i i F/A i t d l l ] l . . . . . . . . . . I r ~lt~R~ ~elliss l idl ' l lmulaQf$1Um pelulb~ F FF ~ ~ x ~ ~ (4) Fill marsh m t im t hollow behm{~ stream b~nk

ioth[za fu s 0 C ou-secImn of th*, mar~'1 x ,~ • 1¢ Rutnex ~ceb~o D~ci~, c h , ' ~ , ,~InclIS ilctlt~orus

Ang~ic e sytYest~ s 0 =ncus , ~ - ~ ~ ~ i i ~ i l ~n tll~ulu$ I l l lmula MOIInl~ ~: ulilonl p lit ' ~ ~ GRI ~J

I 'D l i ~ Z ~ . . I - - i "~. I # Armlmlihllt~lltlixl~l ~p~oolumsli

F ~ rnen~l p Sk~ing m~s~ d l i # ~ . ~ Phnlns mundm~cel

(5) G ~ ~rdb-elong b~lks c~ cl~c~ of ~ m

O/li~s s~pnrlus 0 Bn:,~m Rulms Inal~ws F I ~ r n l l .

Wlh H~JS l a ~ s ~ i l llolr~ntn t ~ l t l lvi i l l O ~ n l r o i l t~m~losn Un l~ diaca Stn~ys ~tlvntica

Type (1) ~ d ~ m ~ ~ p ~ t ~ the ~

Fig. 6. The western marsh--plan and species lists for the different areas.

M. Colquhoun / Agriculture, Ecosystems and Enuironment 63 (1997) 145-157 153

ings. Sharing the physical facts takes the longest as does the collecting of them. In some places a large map is created between us with considerable detail. Future plans can then be attached to this as overlays in the design process.

4.3. 'Liuing into the becoming'--in time and relationships- Leuel 2

The next step is to study the time processes of the place. How have our places and indeed Pishwanton

as a whole come to be what they are today? The formative processes of geological and ancient times can only be guessed at. More recent evidence such as ordered lines of trees and stumps, old bridges, marks of tracks or fences, droppings of grazing animals and the history recorded in the shapes of trees or land forms, the downwind spread of plant species and nature of plant communities give firmer evidence in a variety of time spans.

Consultation of old maps can often confirm findings read in ancient tree stumps or the residual flora

", . ' ~ A- Alder trees A ..', _..~ " ~ T . S . (2) H- Hawthorns

; . .

;, ~T.S (1)

T.B. (1)

~. ~'x ~"~'J~ Alder

~. . / - c) ~ Gorse

G-shaped channel. Vertical banks eroding. Substrate covered in silt in pool area• Water flowing swiftly & channel straight• Channel almost completely covered over by vegetation.

TS. (2)

Gorse

Bracken Junicus . . . . .

Eroding ~ - - ~ Bank _ .~,,=~==,._= i . .

Substrate stones-silted up in quieter stretches.

Channel more open en slower flowing. Bank eroding normally on one side.

T.S. (3)

Large aider ~ :

Hawthorn f - / J ~ d~ - , . ~ " ~ ~ Alder

Channel meanders slightly toward east corner of Pishwanton. Forming, cutting & depositing edges.

Fig. 7. Dumbadon Burn--a sequence of transects from west to east.


of an erstwhile wood; e.g. the southern slopes above the western marsh reveal a species list typical for an alder wood. There are no signs of trees there now apart from some ancient alders along the burn side but an old map from last century shows this slope to have once supported a separate wood which disap- peared at the beginning of this century. (Fig. 8 shows copies of two maps from 1865 and 1910.)

An area of young reseeding birch with scattered large tree stumps of both soft and hard wood species throughout has obviously once been a large and varied mature wood, much longer ago a raised bog forming peat and perhaps before that a small glacial lake! Dating the felling suggests a post first world war clearance. The young birches have arisen since

then, the oldest being some 30 years old and nearest to the mature birch stand. Throughout the larger area is evidence of coppiced t rees-- f rom 20 years ago and earlier. Most of the pine and larch plantation has obviously come at the turn of the century.

In the northern west-east orientated valley we find remains of an ancient track bounded by several-hundred-year-old beeches and sycamores, and on the opposite side of the burn, a mill lade. Explor- ing further afield we find traces of routes towards very old 'settlements' to the east and towards the hill fort to the south. We realise then that this part of Pishwanton has been much used by mankind and a 'way through' for a very long t ime--much longer than the oldest trees there now.

s .... ,~ ~ I t x \,

-.. .~,;,.,~ ~ . . ~ ~ I . . S ~ ~ ~ d ] ', -

1910

Fig. 8. Two maps of Pishwanton Wood in Longyester Parish from 1865 (below) and 1910 (above).


Information from local people of remembered land-use can be most helpful at this s tage--also old photographs, writings, agricultural cropping plans, field names etc.

Once each person has reconstructed as much of the history of his or her place as possible we try together to build imaginative pictures by living within the stream of time of both our separate places and of Pishwanton as a whole. It helps to have heard other people's findings as they always enrich one's own pictures. Often local people can be brought in at this stage especially local 'experts'. (At one project in Ireland the local GP entertained an audience of over 100 people for several hours with the history of Ireland in myth and modern geology up to historical times !)

Slowly the whole place starts to become alive in its 'becoming' . Sometimes the images can be con- densed out in a sequence of little pictures at differing time intervals but usually this part is done inwardly. Once inserted into the stream of becoming of a place one's imagination starts to flow quite naturally into the future. We 'see' our places going through the seasons, growing and changing. How will it be next year, in 10 years? What will happen with different types of management, minor intervention such as fencing, grazing or tree thinning? What about major intervention such as a caravan site, clear felling of trees, draining the wetlands for barley and so on? Perhaps you can experience how slowly a sense begins to emerge of what is 'right' for a place and what not? Similarly we start to get a feel for the rightness in relationship of one place to another, a cleating next to a wood, the slope of a footpath in relation to the hills beyond. 'My ' area begins to make sense in the context of yours and his and hers. This can rapidly lead into the next stage of the journey.

4.4. 'Seeing being' or meeting the Genius Loci-- Leuel 3

The effects of a 'heart-felt getting to know', as J. Bockemiihl (personal communication teaching on the Natural Science Study Year, 1988) describes this next activity, of our places is what we now try to capture, describe or record by some means to begin with. What words sound forth from this place? What

colour or soul expression? Perhaps a poem will appear. What activity or inner mood does it suggest and call forth within me and how is this reflected in the land form, the vegetation and so on? If the quality we have come to in each place has truth in it then it will ring true to all who are open to it and especially to those who have accompanied the process that each individual has gone through in 'getting to know' his or her place.

Dot Bowring (1991), in the above-quoted article in Landscape Design, described how in different workshops in Manchester, Birmingham and Lan- caster different people had similar responses to quality of landscape. We also found that not only from place to place but also from year to year did different people describe the same 'gesture' in a particular place--often down to distances of one or two me- tres !

At this stage we might experience an extraordi- nary purging of our own personal feelings, wishes or desires and, when freed from these, the most pro- found experiences can be 'inspired'. We approach the 'spirit of the place' and, given space and a listening ear, it will speak within us. In a Biography of Barbara McClintock, " A Feeling for the Organ- ism" Evelyn Fox Keller (Keller, 1983) describes how various scientists have shared this level of experience: the self-conscious ' I ' simply disappears.

Throughout history, artists and poets, lovers and mystics have written from the 'knowing' that comes from loss of se l f - - f rom the state of subjective fusion with the object of knowledge. Scientists have known it too. Einstein once wrote: "The state of feeling which makes one capable of such achievements is akin to that of the religious worshipper or of one who is in love". McClintock says it more simply: " I am not there".

Many people can only express something of this very deep human experience in music or poetry or another art form. Goethe called it "listening to the heartbeat of the Universe" (in Steiner, 1883-1897). (It was out of this that he was able to create his artistic masterpieces.) And Ralph Waldo Emerson, the American nature writer and philosopher, said: " I become a transparent eyeball; I am nothing; I see all' '.

Sharing experiences, which only come by grace if one is very open, at this point at Pishwanton the

156 M. Colquhoun/Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 63 (1997) 145-157

strongest gestures of all were of polarities. Polarities between shelter and exposure, between valley bottom and hill top, between being embraced by the hills in the south and open to the wide expanses of the north, of being held and cherished but at the same time being able to look out, of being abused but still maintaining the life forces to react and respond in a healing way.

One of the most powerful impressions in many of us in the first workshop was the experience of the human form in terms of activity within the landscape. Almost before we began to share at this level we were referring to the ridge up the centre as the 'spine'. This culminated in the dome of the highest place, bare and trodden with the most superb views especially to the nor th- -a place for quiet and con- templation where one lived in the sight and sounds of the surrounding world. Near the road in the extreme south we experienced an area of extraordi- nary activity. It was warm, humming with insects, sheltering a kind of spiral of activity visible in the vegetation. Between these two poles was the only area where one could see out through the trees to both east and west from different places when mov- ing through--a soft, breathing experience in the slight breeze was felt here and the south-facing slope near-bye embraced one with a warm heart quality!

Of the place as a whole we felt the abundance of water here from the numerous springs throughout the site (which gave the place its name) has contributed both to its being forgotten and neglected and to its life- and light-filled charm in comparison with the surrounding areas of intense agricultural effort. In contrast to the surrounding acres of barley this place seems to still posses abundant life-forces; reflected in its capacity to react to and heal the various incursions by mankind over the ages. Both this and the variation in the topography is reflected in the multiplicity of what mankind has been able to take from it in the past - -water (it houses the spring which provided the main water supply for the nearest village until quite recently), wood, agricultural ex- traction and its use as a burial s i te--and are echoed in its potential for the future.

4.5. Bridge between past and future

Whatever mankind has or has not done in the past, whatever we do or do not in the future is

imprinted upon and will be imprinted upon our surroundings. We have formed the land we live on and we will go on transforming it. We have to learn to do this in a responsible way. In his book "Dying Forests - A Crisis in Consciousness", Jochen Bock- emiihl says: "The creative act should neither consist in imposing on nature a preconceived plan, nor in allowing things to run their own course in a haphaz- ard way" (Bockemiihl, 1986).

Having learned to 'listen into' the being of the place and, in the process, having made ourselves somewhat more fluid in our thinking, we are now, with all the facts gathered together at our disposal, ready to begin the second half of the process. It is at this point that we realise how very connected each of us has become with the 'own p lace ' - - i t is painful if someone suggests something inappropriate. We have 'become one with it', feel a deep sense of love for it. It is often at this point that it becomes almost impossible to not do in one's p lace--not to clear away rubbish, move a dead tree, to imagine shrubs or flowers growing there, a cow and its byre or even a house! We try to hold this back until we are sure that each potential deed or artistic expression comes out of the idea as a whole-- that gesture which is 'Pishwanton Wood' in essence and which is a common experience to all involved.

By the process so far we have made the ascent from material phenomena to reach the underlying but invisible spiritual being of the place, the Genius Loci. Having glimpsed something of the Genius Loci with respect to the past coming into the present and perhaps a little of the future possibility we now have to look at our human aims, endeavours, aspirations and ideas; to examine them rigorously to see (a) if they are at all appropriate to marry with this place and (b) if they are, which aspects fit where and how?

5. Concluding thoughts

At Pishwanton, as in the other workshops and exercises conducted using this method in other places, we then moved into the realm of design and decision-making (a mirror process to that in which we had been involved until now) to condense an idea, or rather certain aspects of it, and see how it could grow into and with the landscape. In other places


plans and decisions were made for transforming the landscape to better suit the needs of the people together with the needs of the place to become more of what it is. In the case of a farm, the needs of the farmer and his business are paramount and any assessment has to consider the whole development of the farm in the past and his and other people's ideas for the future. These are voiced at this stage together with all the wishes and desires that may have been heard at the beginning of the process.

Then we look together at what aspects of the proposed intentions actually do fit and where. When working out of such a process it is possible to be quite ruthless concerning things which simply do not belong and decision-making can prove to be rapid, efficient and in consensus of all involved parties!

Out of such an assessment exercise, done together with the farmer, land-user or owner and others who participate in the land as neighbours, users, or simply as concerned individuals creative pictures of future possibilities can arise which no-one ever saw before or even dreamed of. They are sometimes so obvious that decisions are made on the spot and may be carried out immediately out of an inner necessity for change which has been experienced by all involved. This is an inner picture-building process which leads to design and integration with and perhaps modifica- tion of existing plans for, say cropping, woodland development, hedge planting, water-purification and even changes in social structure. A future map or model might be made with overlays for the different time scales or degree of priority action. Accompany- ing drawings and notes of future intentions also help. Details of the decision-making and design process

accompanying this work can be seen in Brook et al. (1996).

If the process described in this paper could be really practised and trained would it be possible to develop it into process of assessment more widely available to people in the business of landscape design, assessment and creation who are, after all the farmers, gardeners, foresters and other caretakers of our land and those who subsidise them?

References

Bockemiihl, J., 1986. Dying Forests - A Crisis in Consciousness. Hawthorn Press, UK, 96 pp.

Bockemiihl, J., 1992. Awakening to Landscape. Natural Science Section, Goetheanum, Dornach, 320 pp.

Bowring, D., 1991. Landscape Des., November. Brook, I., Colquhoun, M. and Day, C., 1996. In press. Fairbrother, N., 1970. New Lives, New Landscapes. Pelican,

London, 397 pp. Fraser Darling, F., 1947. Natural History in the Highlands and

Islands. Collins, London, 303 pp. Goethe, J.W., 1749-1832. Naturwissenschaftliche Schriften. Vols

1-5, Dornach. Keller, E.F., 1983. A Feeling for the Organism - The Life and

Work of Barbara McClintock. W.H. Freeman and Company, New York, 235 pp.

Pedroli, B., 1989. Die Sprache der Landschafl. In: Elemente der Naturwissenschaft, 51.

Steiner, R., 1883-1897. Goethean Science. (New edition 1988) Mercury Press, Spring Valley, 278 pp.

Vos, W., 1994. Can agricultural practices contribute to functional landscapes in Europe? In: D.J. Stobbelaar and J.D. van Mansvelt (Editors), Proceedings of the First Plenary Meeting of the EU-Concerted Action "The landscape and nature pro- duction capacity of organic/sustainable types of agriculture". Agricultural University, Wageningen, The Netherlands.

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