I can’t say how or why I became absorbed in learning about ecopsychology. I’m neither a psychologist nor ecologist, by profession. Yet, in 2018, I found myself deeply immersed in the new (to me), field of ecopsychology. Some hunch or instinct, some intuitive force had spoken. What I didn’t know then, and came to understand slowly, as I engaged with my studies, is that ecopsychology is an opportunity to look closely at the mythologies I live by and contrast these belief systems with actual ecological realities, with the over-arching laws of nature.
What is ecopsychology? I’ve tried describing it in numerous ways to friends and family. It’s been rather challenging to talk about it in a way that makes sense to both myself and others. For me, this idea resonates; Ecopsychology is a worldview and knowledge system that is derived from ecological associations. This worldview leads to ways of thinking and behaving that are grounded in ecological realities. This to me, means that human attitudes and behaviors can be examined and shifted by deepening my understanding of fundamental ecological principles. I was curious to discover, what attitudes and behaviors would arise in me, if I spent time cultivating that worldview.
My curiosity was driven by an increasing awareness that my life consisted predominately, of implanted and unexamined narratives. I felt often like a sleepwalker in my life, blindly ambling along a path that I had not participated in selecting. This feeling was not new, and I had tried at various times and in multiple ways to examine belief systems that ‘felt’ intuitively ‘off’ to me. However, the narratives I lived by kept reasserting themselves, despite the odd diversion. Confusion reigned. Ecopsychology, I hoped, offered another, more substantive way to possibly awake.
This project is about that awakening journey. It is me-centric. This seems inherently contradictory given the theme of re-connecting to the broader cosmos. However, as with learning to play a musical instrument, it seemed best to start with the basics and expand gradually outward. When one becomes aware of the magnitude of disconnection personally, that seems the most reasonable beginning of the re-framing journey. Alice in Wonderland is an apt image here. Down, down, down into the maze of currently held beliefs and behaviours. Her touchstone was the little white rabbit. Mine, the solidity of ecological realities.
There are a lot of questions guiding this exploration. What does nature have to say about my persistent attitudes and behaviours? Are these colonized attitudes, guided by the societal norms I experienced? What, in me, is authentically aligned with the broader cosmos, and what is plastic? Is there an ‘ecological identity’ residing in me that manifests in a more authentic human experience? Can I move into more life-affirming relationships, particularly with myself? What might a more life-affirming nature look/feel like and how might this impact the ways in which I build more resiliency?
Grounding a deep look at mythologies via the inherent nature of nature is vast. Anchoring the exploration needed structure. Some deep and unchanging realities were necessary. The principles of nature - energy, waste, connection, diversity, and change, have been part of this journey, keeping me tethered to the task of self-recollection. Deciphering the trail of breadcrumbs, leading to the haunted house of myself, is no easy task immersed as I am in the world as a construction of humans.
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