A report from the online course ‘Kinship — an exploration into being together’

“An ecosystem is the embodiment of reciprocity. It consists of a multitude of beings related in endless ways. Ecological life is always lived in relationships with others.” Andreas Weber

Earlier this year, I signed up for an online course as part of the research for my novel ‘The Fault in Reality’. Here are a few notes about what I learned during this illuminating experience.

‘Kinship — an exploration into being together’ was curated and hosted by Hannah Close assisted by Katrien Franken. It ran over seven weeks, with two or three presentations each week, and was supported by a huge list of reading/viewing materials. There was a great deal to work with! I would certainly recommend it as an intensive and mind-opening experience.

I came to the course with a certain amount of knowledge of the natural world, drawn from my own life experience and previous research for my books, but I knew that there was still a great deal I was missing and I hoped it would open my mind to new kinds of understanding. It certainly did. Here are just a few of the many takeaways I gleaned:

We are all one big body

Biologist, philosopher, and nature writer Andreas Weber explained the simple notion that when we breathe, we exchange air with others to our mutual benefit. It made me think that even in my home, I regularly inhale oxygen produced by my houseplants and then exhale carbon dioxide to be inhaled by them. We are inhaling and exhaling each other’s breath. Why didn’t I think of that obvious fact before? But of course, I hadn’t, and that was why I needed to learn. He said that ‘ecological life is always lived in relationships with others’, another obvious fact that I kind of know, but had not properly absorbed probably because, as Gavin Van Horn told us, we have been taught to see the world as scenery. And it’s true. Most often I look but I don’t touch. I really am a beginner at this.

Andreas Weber also discussed the ways in which diverse individuals share their bodies with each other via eating. We consume materials from another body to feed our own body. Every living being needs to eat and the only things we can eat are other bodies, other beings, both animals and plants…