How far does the SER extend?
This is a question that everyone involved in the field of personal growth and social wellbeing should ask themselves. Where do YOU end? In your own experience, your family, your city? How far does your «feeling» or your «suffering» extend?
Many modern psychological approaches are based on the psychoanalytic ideas of Freud. John E. Mack points out quite rightly that the society in which he lived Freud and the patients he frequently treated belonged to a rigid and repressed bourgeois society. His work involved bringing to light repressed experiences and traumas related to sexuality and aggression. However, today, many of our problems have nothing to do with sexuality. We face new challenges to mental health that go far beyond individual problems. We must consider the possibility of moving from a psychology centred solely on the individual to a much broader, relational psychology of the Earth, which connects “people” with other living beings and the planet.
The modern approach in psychology regards human beings as closed, independent entities, self-motivated by «egocentric» needs, who seek sensory pleasure and avoid pain. Mental health diagnostic manuals are geared towards an individualistic approach without taking into account the context of relationships or the environment; in other words, without considering what some authors have termed the “ecological unconscious”. This lack of understanding of how the environment can affect our health and vice versa—that is, a «EcoCentric«, is the result of centuries of a dualistic approach in which we find opposites such as Reason and Emotion, Science and Spirituality, or Matter and Energy. Ecopsychology draws on the traditional indigenous knowledge of those societies that live in harmony with the Earth and where no such polarity or duality exists. What we have observed is that these people have an awakened «ECOLOGICAL SELF».
Ecological Unconscious
The idea of a psychology and deep ecologies in which BEING has no defined boundaries, it allows Theodore Roszak, to put forward the idea of a “ecological unconscious” (Anima Mundi) which lies deep within our psyche and establishes a profound and lasting connection between our Mind and the Planet. Roszak argued in his popular book “Voices of the Earth” that ecology and psychology are mutually dependent, and that the repression of ecological unconsciousness is the deepest root of the madness of industrialised society. The realisation that environmental traumas remain embedded in our collective memory leads us to ask ourselves:
What if the earthquakes and droughts experienced by our ancestors are the root cause of our mental health problems?
What if the fears, anxiety and stress of the civilised world are linked to the natural disasters experienced by our ancestors?
What if eating disorders stem from periods of famine decades ago?
Opening the door to ecological unconsciousness is the path to good health
Theodore Roszak
Being Eco-Friendly
Arne Naess defined the “to be environmentally friendly” as the part of a human being that enables them to connect with the community and the wider environment. This concept is similar to that of «InterSer«, by the popular Buddhist writer Thich Nhat Hanh, which describes the interconnectedness and mutual interdependence of all beings and phenomena. In the “Ecological Being”, the division between the inner and outer worlds is arbitrary and historical, as the boundaries are permeable and fluid. Unlike the traditional psychological view, in which the self ends at the skin (Freud), the philosophies underpinning the techniques of Connecting with Nature—based on panpsychism, deep ecology or shamanism, and which form the foundations of ecopsychology—interpret all physical forms and manifestations of life as inseparable from consciousness. If our “BEING” expands its boundaries to an “ECOLOGICAL” one, in which the Earth’s energy flows through us, we will act naturally to care for it. The “ecological instinct”It arises neither from moral nor ethical considerations, but from feeling and pleasure. This radically changes the approach to the global crisis because, rather than placing the burden and responsibility on environmental policies and their «rules», we seek to enable each individual to connect with their surrounding environment and develop the impulse to care for, respect and regenerate it.
Fourth Force
Sarah A. Conn refers to a “fourth estate”, beyond the three forces of psychology:
- Psychoanalysis → The unconscious and internal conflicts
- Behaviourism → Observable and conditioned behaviour
- Humanism → Human potential, self-actualisation and experience
- Fourth Force → Spirituality + Ecology + Global Awareness
This Fourth Force is an interdependent and holistic view of human nature that transcends the individualistic approach (including our connection to the Earth and the Universe), integrates the transpersonal, ecological and spiritual dimensions into therapeutic practice, and addresses environmental, social and spiritual crises as symptoms of a profound disconnection between human beings and the natural world. Let’s do a practical exercise on the health of your «Fourth Force» by answering these questions:
What do you know about the land you live on?
What is the rainfall like where you live?
What types of trees are there around you?
When and why were they planted?
What is your sky like?
This aspect of the Universal Psyche may perhaps be related to what is known in the East as the Mind. In the West, we confuse «Mind» with «Brain», but for Buddhists, the Mind underlies the Universe and all matter. Consciousness is a property of the Mind that enables self-perceptive and self-reflective Experience. Through the development and expansion of the “Mind”, we can explore the “Ecological Self” as an aspect of our broader consciousness. For people who engage in “Wild Nature” experiences, the openness to “raw” and “living” nature is so powerful that the return to “normality/civilisation”—where a compressed, limited and prescriptive Mind prevails—can be painful; which is why it is advisable to cultivate mindful practices that facilitate adaptation and balance, such as yoga, meditation, aromatherapy, etc.
If you were not familiar with the concepts of the Ecological Unconscious, the Ecological Self or the Fourth Force, I invite you to reflect on them and consider how you might incorporate them into your life. Perhaps the next time you see a tree, you will be «aware» that that tree is you and that you are that tree
There may be times when, suddenly and unwittingly, we find ourselves loving the natural world with surprising intensity, in a surge of emotion that we may not fully understand, and the only word that seems to me to capture this feeling is joy
Michael McCarthy
© This text was written by Helena Chacón, PhD, for the IIBN Nature Bathing Training Programme. All rights reserved.
