Through agriculture, humans have an intimate relationship to the land. Agriculture provides people with a link to the fertility of the earth in the production of resources for food, clothing and shelter. However, despite the fundamental dependence of humans on the earth’s fertility, people throughout history have transformed and degraded the natural landscapes of their agricultural lands. Continuation of this degradation will threaten the land’s ability to sustain the world’s increasing human populations. / This thesis investigates how agriculturalists might use the land without degrading it. The investigation focuses on the nature of the human-land relationship and begins with an examination of myth as an expression of the human relationship to the cosmos, including to the gods and the earth. Jungian psychology is examined for its explanation of symbolic perception and psychological attitude. Theological views on the human relationship to God are examined. These examinations of myth, psychology and theology identify two fundamental motifs in human thought about relationship to the cosmos: the Eros motif which derives from an egocentric attitude, and is associated with domination of nature; and the Agape motif which derives from the physically reintegrated attitude, and is associated with creativity through the development of fertility. The examination of background theory is followed by motif-analysis of theories of the human-land relationship, and of two case studies - the historical development of agriculture in Australia, and a comparative study of soil conservation and keyline farming. The analyses indicate that most theory and practice of agriculture is conducted with the Eros motif which leads to land degradation and responsive attempts at remedial actions. In contrast, keyline farming is indicative of the Agape motif in its development of the natural fertility of the land. / The thesis concludes that the humanised landscapes of the world follow symbolic patterns generated by psychological attitudes. The egocentric attitude leads to human domination of the land and its degradation through the transformation and simplification of the land’s ecological structure, and the superimposition of centralised settlement patterns which are often incompatible with the natural systems. Alternatively, people with the reintegrated attitude would nurture the land’s natural fertility through the integration of land utilisation and settlement patterns with the landscapes’ natural configurations and processes. Western thought is dominated by the Eros motif, inherited through religious mythology and perpetuated through Western education based on rationalism, reductionism and induction. This ethos tends to divorce humans from psychical and physical nature, and leads to a fragmentary and distorted view of the world. Education is necessary to bring the Agape motif into the consciousness of people and societies. People might then recognise and experience their direct relationship to the world and to have a creative relationship to the land.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/245393 |
| Creators | Ives, Malcolm J. |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
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