Editorial - Regeneration

The life of every being, as it unfolds, contributes at once to the progeneration of the future and to the regeneration of the past.

Tim Ingold, The Perception of the Environment: Essays on Livelihood, Dwelling and Skill (Psychology Press, 2000)

Hello Dear Reader, and welcome to Issue 11 of Consilience.

As a society we must grapple with that new comes from the loss of the old. Regeneration happens all around us. We know that, even though we see the remains of old leaves in autumn, we expect and look forward to their regrowth in spring. Yet, regeneration does not always mean that what is new will be the same as what was lost. Like the hair you shed daily, the regrowth might look different than the others - perhaps it’s grey or a new texture. 

Regeneration means equal parts loss and progress and change. Poets seem to always have been entranced by change, transformation, regeneration. The earliest we at Consilience could think of dates back to 8 CE with Ovid’s Metamorphoses. 

The poems in this issue communicate the duality of regeneration in a way that we expect to capture your attention, as the poems explore literal and metaphorical regeneration and explore the science behind this change. We welcome our readers to consider this cycle as they read, absorb, and process the poems and the artwork contained within. Moreover, we urge our readers to welcome the grieving of what was lost and to cherish and celebrate what is new. 

The Consilience Team