The Forsaken Garden

Four Conversations on the Deep Meaning of Environmental Illness

When documentary filmmaker Nancy Ryley first became ill, few people had heard of "environmental illness." Her symptoms---fatigue, depression, hypersensitivity to foods and chemicals---puzzled doctors and resisted treatment. Unable to work, Nancy, with her husband, moved from Toronto to rural west Canada, where a lifestyle free of urban pollutants helped her slowly to rebuild her health. Nancy's struggle is also the spiritual struggle of the planet. To explore the connections between the state of our bodies and souls and the condition of the earth, she interviewed four leading thinkers, each with a unique perspective on spiritual health: Laurens van der Post, African explorer and journalist; Marion Woodman, psychologist and best-selling author; Ross Woodman, expert on Blake and the Romantic poets; Thomas Berry, theologian and cultural historian. These thought-provoking conversations, woven with Nancy's own search for answers, shine beacons of hope for personal and planetary healing.