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De Gaarde |
Leerplek voor Spiritueel Ecologisch Leven
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Healing in an Ecological context
“I believe that the feeling of loss ( of a secure future for all of life on Earth) that we humans experience one way or another, is the most central reality of our times.
Despair and grief for the fate of the Earth and loss of her life need to be acknowledged and worked through.
Current psychotherapies have offered little help and hope to deal with despair and these losses. “
Joanna Macy www.joannamacy.net
source, Resurgence magazine
If we question what time it is for the Earth and all her life, we can say that we live at the end of a period of 65 million years of development of life. The Cenozoicum, our present geological age, comes to an end. It is the time in which the Earth became covered with the abundance of life as we have known it in the past. Now many species are dying or have disappeared already as we might know.
All of this happens in a time of which the Astro - physicist Brian Swimme says: “for the first time in the (post)-industrial era we begin to understand what it means to live as a human being in our cosmos”. A sign of great hope for the Earth and all her life.
We live in a time of great changes. The challenges of this time are enormous. With our way of life we will determine the future of life on Earth, if we want it or not. We can choose to accept the challenge put before us by the present ecological crisis or we can choose to deny what is happening. We do have influence on how the future of life will enfold.
Our times ask for leadership in a spiritual - ecological way. How will we move towards a more harmonious way of living with the rest of the community of life? Who will understand the depth of the suffering of the human soul; the desolation that so many people live through as they see the devastation of life on Earth?
The deep feelings of powerlessness that are a result of this. Who can discern the real reasons for why so many people lack the vitality and creativity to make their dreams come true? All of this are aspects of living that ask for spiritual leadership.
Therefore all therapies, healing, support in whatever way need an ecological context.
An example
Mary is a young woman, in her thirties. She has a well paid job with an insurance company. She is very depressed and lonely, speaks of a deep feeling of desolation and her longing to commit suicide. She finds that her life has become unbearable. Because of her Christian upbringing she will not take that step; she is afraid of a punishing God. After coming home, tired of the stressful job, she sits in her chair and waits till the time has come to go to bed. Weekends are dreadful; then she often does not get up at all. She hopes that death will come soon.
Several years I accompanied her and I discovered more and more that the massive pain and hopelessness had a much wider cause than the painful and traumatic experiences of her youth.
Slowly she found her way back to a meaningful life and I learned in that time, how she healed in reconnecting with the life of nature; in understanding the deeper causes of her pain and finding ways of working for the healing of the Earth.
Through the years I met many people with experiences of deep loss of meaning and direction in life.
I see that many people in our time experience deep pain because of the loss of life on Earth: be it because of the growing violence and oppression, the damage done tot the eco-systems or the disappearing rainforests and melting icecaps. The ecological crisis is a crisis that touches the human heart.
If there is no space to give words and expression to these feelings, affluence and mass consumption will come to our aid. Commercials will show us the way to feel good and to belong to the “world”.
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“For one species to mourn the death of another |
Healing in an Ecological Context
Deep processes of spiritual transformation present themselves often in this way. The soul breaks out in her longing for abundance of life and deep connectedness with the web of Life and shows her desire in signs of depression, lack of vitality and creativity and all kinds of complaints and illnesses. Now it is the time to discern what the cause is for someone's lack of energy and where the passion and love want to go.
In the pieces of an old way of being and living, a new vision emerges. It is the longing of the life of the Earth herself that makes itself known in our very own life. A vision much greater than what can be lived in a life time.
“There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique. …You have to keep open and aware directly to the urges that motivate you….Keep the channel open… (There) is no satisfaction whatever at any time.
There is only a queer, divine satisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the other….”
Martha Graham to Agnes de Mille, Dance to the Piper, quoted by Paul Hawken in his book Blessed Unrest
I have learned that in the massive outburst of burnout lies the crucial quest for energy and vitality. Where are the visions, the symbols and images that can connect us with our creative energy and life-force? Which visions can give meaning and direction to our life?
Deep in every cell of our body we carry the memory of our connectedness with all life of all times. Our cells know the woundedness and the regenerative power of our Mother, The Earth, because we all are a strand in the seamless garment of cosmic consciousness. To reconnect with this memory and this power is what is at stake in the healing process.
It is time for Gaia therapy, as we have known now already for years in eco-psychology and eco-therapy.
What we mean is a union between the ideas of eco- psychology and psychotherapy. www.wikipedia.org/wiki/ecospychology
The natural environment is used in connecting with inner emotions and life experiences. Spending time in nature provides the space for inward reflection and ways for transformation as we become conscious again of our interconnectedness with the world around us.
The work of reconnecting the person with the web of life, the building of consciousness of being part of the whole, is the heart of eco- psychology and eco-therapy.
What leads towards reconnection in your life? What can help you to find the way back to becoming a more conscious being in the web of life?
Several years ago the Findhorn community in Scotland developed a document on ecological recovery and ecological healing. A summary of this enlightening guideline.
- Look at the areas of your life that ask for more consciousness and reconnection.
- Look for ways to do your own work in that area of your life.
- To reconnect with nature, Earth. Becoming more aware that we are nature, Earth.
- To know the story of all life and see the story of your own life as part of this.
- To reconnect with the place where you live. To know the history of land, woods, the plants and animals, the streams and your ancestors and their way of living, their culture and ancient traditions.
- To reconnect with LIFE; see what decisions for change in your life you can take for more life. What is really life giving in terms of family, recreation, spending money, time, job opportunities etc.
- To reconnect with hope. What really gives you hope and meaning in life.
- To reconnect with each other. How to relate in ways that really sustain you and the other ? Building community is a source of vitality and energy.
- To reconnect with self healing powers
- To reconnect with you spiritual roots and find the strength for meaningful choices for your life and for life of the Earth community.
Websites
www.johndavis.com/ep/index.html
http://wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Roszak_scholar
C.Collins, in praise of love