Andlig växtodling, historiesyn och kunskapsteori - hur hänger dessa begrepp ihop? : en översikt av fyra odlingspraktikers ideologier.

Abstract: Abstract Spiritual gardening, historical perspective and epistemology, - how do these concepts connect? A review of the ideologies of four pragmatic growers. The purpose of this thesis is: • to present an alternative forthcoming perspective on knowledge, that may be of significance for future theories and knowledge about growing and gardening. • to lift experiences with Nature Spirits into an academic context, that permits us a closer look at the phenomenon. • to contribute to an academic platform connecting humanistic and natural sciences. The intention of this text is to bridge the differences between the strictly rational traditions of knowledge and those more experience based ones. The thesis wants to show that much can be won if feeling based and mental reflections once again are approached as equal sources of knowledge. The aim is to give an orientation about the subject of Nature Spirits. The interesting fact is not whether (that) one can talk to nature, but how one does it and that more can be understood about nature and the reality that the established sciences study. The form for this study of literature is a describing presentation; to put names on and give wording to the phenomena of Nature Spirits and Plantdevas. The sources of literature are four pragmatic practitioners of spiritual gardening who have written extensively about their own work. They are presented in a fundamental manner in the chapter four (4.1- 4.4). Three dissertaions are used as anchorage for the sources of literature. It is Garden Ideals and Views of knowledge by Eva Gustavsson (2001), where thoughts about art and evaluation of gardens by the ideals of its time, have been found. It is the phenonmenographic study by Johan Sobelius (2003) To cultivate or not to cultivate the soil. It gives formulations about resistances within agriculture and theological ponderings for future gardening and farming. It is Socialisation and meaning by Leif Östmans (1995) that illustrates the language-use in the school-subject Orientation on nature and sciences, that creates a specific attitude to nature, and further that what is omitted in the classroom also shapes knowledge. Besides these, Alan Chalmers (1995) science-philosophic What is science anyway? is used to reflect the historical development of knowledge. Chapter four gives an account of alternative opinions about gardening and nature in general. It reflects and reasons around the biodynamic composts of Steiner, the gardens of Findhorn, the nature-research of Perelandra Ltd. and the earth-healing of Marko Pogačniks. It is to be looked upon as a basic presentation of a specific sector of spiritual gardening/farming, namely the interplay between man and the Nature Spirits and Plantdevas. The discussion reflects upon the formulation of history and epistemology that is so strongly connected to whom that selects the facts. An english version of the thesis is also available.