So Where Do We Start? Ecopsychology: From Grub to Butterfly--Inner Healing and Social Awareness

Robert Greenway, Emeritus Professor of Psychology, Sonoma State University, defines Ecopsychology as "a language drawn from the fields of ecology, various psychologies, anthropology, and philosophy that expresses the human/nature relationship in enough depth to reveal the dynamics of why we are destroying our habitat (Greenway, 1994).

So where do we start in attempting to do something about the growing number of social and environmental crises that has led people like Roger Waslh to suggest that we are "A World At Risk?" Ralph Metzner provides us with an answer to this question in his book "The Unfolding Self: Varieties of Transformative Experience" (1998), telling us that creating the catalyst to initiate this critical inquiry calling out for an integral science will need to begin with two important steps:

1. "That the Evolutinary transformation of society and humanity must [first] take place in the individual, and
2. That the transformation of the individual requires a turning inward, toward self--not in narcissistic self-absorption but in aware self-confrontation" (Metzner: 2, 1998).

We, in other words, possess within us the catalyst that will be necessary to initiate this transformation of consciousness. Consequently the first step toward initiating our metamorphosis from grub to butterfly is the need to empower ourselves by changing the stories that we tell about ourselves. Ralph Metzner first began to articulate these and similar conclusions in his book "Opening to Inner Light" (Metzner, 1986).

Contemplating these conclusions resulted in my becoming aware that, from a theoretical standpoint, the catalyst for this transformation of consciousenss needs to begin with our conscious recognition and remembrance of humankind's co-evolutionary, symbiotic relationship with nature. From a practical and psychotherapeutic standpoint, I began to confront and express my own emotional anguish stemming from modernity's crisis of perception. (See my blog on the film "MINDWALK"). This process of self-confrontation continues to assist me in examining the habits of my own lifestyle, thereby facilitating a deepening awareness of my own emotional anguish steming from modernity's crisis of perception and the deepening awareness of my own self-denial.

Continuing to examine these habits and self-denial has allowed me to internalize the realization that: it is my habitual grub-like consumption of fossil fuel energy and the products of our modern and postmodern culture that are responsible for the widespread destruction of all natural systems and the loss of my ability to commune with my earth/body. This realization has also led me to begin experiencing a conscious act of grieving the loss of our relationship with nature.

Nevertheless, there are those of us who beleve so completely in our current economic models of material progress--in living life as a grub--that we cannot even accept states of consciousness beyond this stage of human evolution. Ralph Metzner has suggested that the sinking of the Titanic may provide a metaphor to help us understand why any of us would choose to deny that the EuroAmerican colonial worldview is breaking down. This analogy also assists us in understanding why the metamorphosis from grub to butterfly is essential for human evolution to continue, lest we persist in our grub-like consumption until planet Earth can no longer support life (Metzner, 1993).

Recalling the story of the Titanic, Metzner explains that upon striking an iceberg the Titanic's engineers assessed the damage and reported to the Captain that the ship was going to sink. The good news was that everyone aboard the Titanic would have several hours available to get into the lifeboats. The Captain, upon receiving this report, announced this news throughout the ship. Strangely, many of the passengers responded to this message like it was an inconvenience to their pursuit of social games and future business meetings. Besides, the passengers reasoned, if these reports that the ship is going go sink are true, we still have several hours to get into the lifeboats: so let's enjoy the time we have left to party on this fabulous ocean voyage, keeping in mind we may need to run to the lifeboats to save ourselves. The consequences of this refusal to go to the lifeboats necessitated that the Titanic's crew continue to maintain the services of the ship, which also meant denying lower paying passengres access to the upper decks--evan as the water began to rise--because they had not paid the first class fare.

Similarly throughout planet Earth it is those of us who cannot afford to pay the first class fare that end up living next to incinerators, toxic waste dumps, and nuclear power plants. Indeed it is the poor that truly suffer the excesses of international corporations, whose definition of progress, as well as their luxurious living conditions, continues to provide them with the ability to deny the role that humankind's economic and technological orientation is having on the environmental sustainability of all natural systems. The source of humankind's denial, which is merely another expression of our schizoid behavior, dissociation, or divided self, and the reasons behind psychology's continued conspiracy have been thoroughly examined by Ralph Metzner in "Green Psychology" (1999). I will expand upon and clarify the points that I have made here in future blogs.

References

Greenway, Robert. (1994, May 12). "Untitled comments during the symposium: Deep Ecology and Ecopsychology." Organized & moderated by Ralph Metzner, which included comments from David Abrams, Mary Gomes, Eunice McCarthy, Arne Naess, Bron Taylor, Wendy Sarkissian, and others." Presented at the 13th International Transpersonal Psychology Conference, 'Toward Earth Community: Ecology, Native Wisdom and Spirituality.' Great Southern Hotel, Killarney, Ireland. An audio tape or CD recording of this symposium is available from http://conferencerecording.com.

Metzner, Ralph. (1986). Opening to Inner Light: The Transformation of Human Nature and Consciousness. Los Angeles: Jeremy P. Tarcher, Inc.

Metzner, Ralph. (1993). "Gaia's Alchemy: Ruin and Renewal of the Elements." (This paper is now, I believe a chapter in Metzner's book Green Psychology. If it is not, I will give the reference to you).

Metzner, Ralph. (1998). The Unfolding Self: Varieties of Transformative Experience. Novato, CA: Origin Press.

Metzner, Ralph. (1999). Green Psychology: Transforming Our Relationship to the Earth. Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions Press.