Living in the World as If It Were Home

Patrick Colgan is the former executive director of the Canadian Museum
of Nature.

Lilburn, a Jesuit-trained Saskatchewanian who teaches at a Roman
Catholic college, is inspired by the religious tradition that stretches
from gnosticism and neo-Platonism through monasticism to the “negative
way” of the Jesuits. These six essays (three of which have been
previously published) celebrate an ardent world of plants, animals, and
terrains in counterpoint to reflection, searching, and awe. There is
also aesthetic criticism and a good deal of theological discussion,
especially of asceticism and medieval scholasticism.

A book that includes observations like “contemplation’s vector is
transcendental” is clearly in the mystical-deity-in-nature lineage
that includes Gerard Manley Hopkins and Teilhard de Chardin. Readers
expecting nature writing in the tradition of R.D. Lawrence or Wade Davis
will be astonished to discover that “the birch branch is an intuition
meandering endlessly toward a clear idea. No, it is music ...” and
that astronomy and chemistry are “degradations” of astrology and
alchemy. Most of us share the “tin ear” Lilburn discerns in
Cartesians. The appeal of this inspirational book is probably limited to
readers made ecstatic by ineffable mysteries. A helpful foreword by
Dennis Lee and a preface explain the author’s background and approach
to life, nature, religion, and language. A brief glossary and reading
list offer further assistance.