Understanding the Infinite in the Small is less a book about insect biology and behavior than it is about reinventing ourselves as a non-hostile species. It is a unique psychological and spiritual perspective on insects and the recasting of our relationship to this Lilliputian world. The popular culture never rises above issues of power. It is in this mode then that we are caught between opposites: either we kill the insects, or we are defeated by them. We rarely see a third possibility. We rarely put down our weapons long enough to consider the effect we might have if we entered their world with empathy and compassion. Perhaps we underestimate the powers of providence that would suddenly appear if we could align ourselves with the earth and the small creatures that serve it so faithfully. It's time to try.
As an educator in the San Jose Unified Public Schools, professional writer, graphic designer, former dream counselor and certified wildlife rehabilitator, Joanne Lauck combines an eclectic group of skills in her work. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in clinical psychology from Grand Valley State University (Grand Rapids, Michigan) and received a Masters of Science degree in experimental psychology from Eastern Michigan University with continuing courses in transpersonal psychology from the Institute of Transpersonal Counseling in Menlo Park, California. She has a California teaching credential in psychology.
Five years ago, she also became the founder and facilitator of a contemplative group in Dallas, Texas. Since 1989, she has collected and explored animal and insect dreams exclusively, using the material to write articles that have subsequently been published in a variety of newsletters and magazines including Dream Network Journal, Earthlight Quarterly, Tracks, Native Rescue Magazine, Young Entomologist Journal, The Opossum Newsletter, The Monarch Newsletter and It's a Wild, Wild Life.
Ms. Lauck has presented at numerous conferences including the 8th International Conference of Shamanism and Alternative Modes of Healing in San Rafael, California, in 1991 and at the 6th International "Animals 'n Us" conference in Montreal, Quebec, in 1992 and at two Whole Life Expositions in San Jose and San Francisco. In addition she has developed and implemented an elective course for grade school children called "Thinkin' Like a Bug", which is now four years old. She also created and maintains a butterfly garden for the Books in Elementary School that teaches an approach to insects and plants that bypasses the traditional pest vs. non-pest orientation.
Her sincerest desire is to add to the great effort of many men and women working toward healing the Earth and helping people return to their native place within its community.
