With a Little Help from My Friends

     Jan Brueghel the Elder, The Entry of the Animals into Noah’s Ark

                                       1613,  Oil on Panel

'Nature teaches beasts
         to know their friends'
       
               Shakespeare,Coriolanus

Biophilia, meaning “love of life or living systems” (Fromm 1964), refers to the natural attraction of humans to all living things. Harvard biologist (specifically, myrmecologist), E.O. Wilson popularized the term in his work, Biophilia, although the term’s meaning changed to “an innate love for nature,” a definition which suggests biophilia is genetically based.

In a subsequent book, The Biophilia Hypothesis (Kellert &Wilson 1993), several contributors examine the validity of Wilson’s biophilia hypothesis, with Wilson (1993) proposing that biophilia evolved by natural selection in a cultural context,  called  gene-culture co-evolution. Given the history of human/animal relationships, and the substantial body of evidence of a growing need for contact with nature, Wilson’s theory is not as farfetched as some would lead us to believe.

Good Vibrations: http://bit.ly/1NiWMhr

You Stepped Out of a Dream

The Sleeping Gypsy, 1897 (oil on canvas)

Museum of Modern Art, New York

'There are some who can live without wild things and some who can't.'
                                                  Aldo Leopold, American nature conservationist

Henri Julien Rousseau, a Post-Impressionist painter, was largely self-taught and did not paint full time until he was 49 years of age.  The jungle is featured in many of his works, however he never actually set foot in one, taking his inspiration from the Jardin des Plantes in Paris and illustrations he found in books. Often described as poetic, The Sleeping Gypsy is one of his most recognizable works and conveys a remarkable sense of serenity.