Symphony of the Seasons

While an increasing number of people in our culture have made environmentalism a central concern in their lives, there are still many religious and spiritual people who have difficulty in taking the world around them seriously. Within the context of mainstream Christianity anthropocentrism (a focus on the human almost to the exclusion of everything else) is still the dominant paradigm. We humans are still almost entirely self-focused and while ecology is seen as theoretically...
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While an increasing number of people in our culture have made environmentalism a central concern in their lives, there are still many religious and spiritual people who have difficulty in taking the world around them seriously. Within the context of mainstream Christianity anthropocentrism (a focus on the human almost to the exclusion of everything else) is still the dominant paradigm. We humans are still almost entirely self-focused and while ecology is seen as theoretically important, it is still the 'pathos of the human', as Thomas Berry calls it, which really moves most people. We continue to see the progressive destruction of other life-forms and even the structure of the world itself as something 'out there', unconnected with us. So often it is the eye of the artist that first reveals the divine splendour to us and helps to cure us of our myopia. That is the real significance of Jacinta Shailer's Symphony of the Seasons. Here we see the beauty of nature in all its forms and moods. Jacinta's pictures capture the incredible colour and light, the fantastic shapes, the indivuality of the animals and birds, the strangeness and mystery of new and resurrected life arising from the death and devastation caused by fire. Her text too is important. It acts as a sure but modest guide to the visual imagery. This is the kind of book that you think about, return to and savour. It is not just a delight for the eyes. It leads the human spirit outward into the world where, in the truest sense our spirit and the divine Spirit meet.