worth asking

Am I ready to acknowledge the wisdom of the more-than-human world among the "rising tide of voices" represented in research (Lincoln & Denzin, 2005, p. 1115, italics in original)? Am I ready to learn new language(s) and modes of being that enable moving beyond the socially constructed human/nature binary? Am I willing to give up some of the privileges of being on the powerful side of the that binary?

Am I willing to let go of:

assumptions that other beings lack consciousness and are therefore unequivocally available for human use?
the privileged place of rationality in academic (and other) research?
assuming it is okay to purchase something just because I have enough money?
__etc.____________________
________etc.______________

What might the world be like if the epistemological and ontological assumptions underlying this research, became normalized (and explicitly acknowledged)?

I have been piecing together this page for awhile and get up to stretch. My eyes are drawn to the small slip of paper taped to the margins of the paper to which this page is attached. The words resonate: "Even as I write about the need for (re)connection, I (re)produce disconnection." It's time for a walk.