There is nothing outside of us that is not within. I cannot be extricated from my environment: how arrogant to even think it so! When can an eye function independently from a body, or a finger independent from the hand? If there is one underlying theme in ecopsychology it is this: you can’t be removed from where you are at, nor can where you’re at be removed from you. In essence, the idea of an organism functioning independently is just that: an idea and an abstraction.
Obviously, ecopsychology sees that the natural world is ripe with metaphor. External progressions and events most eloquently articulate our innermost processes with grace, finesse and ease. Nature gives us language for elusive internal movements that may not otherwise have a venue to be heard, circumventing the compulsory need for using language so abstract that the simple essence of diaphanous organic emotion is shadowed in straight lines by the geometric towers of intellect.
Since the early stirrings of humanity, people and nature have coexisted. Humans looked to nature to supply everything from food and shelter to spiritual guidance and gods to revere. It was only relatively recently that Homo sapiens detached themselves from their natural roots to prostrate themselves at the foot of steel and concrete gods. As nature gave way to modern convenience and technology, a corresponding replacement was made in the human psyche. To fill the insatiable hole that was created when nature took leave for technology, many ailments have taken its place, akin to opportunistic infections attempting to infiltrate broken skin: addictions, compulsions, a sense of detachment from the Self and community. All symptoms of a dire call and need to return to our only true companion that has lasted the test of time: nature.
If there is nothing outside that is not within, then this separation from the natural world would have caused a rift in the internal microcosm of the personal psyche. The old alchemical adage, “as above, so below” holds true to this day. We are but mirrors reflecting the influences of the environment around us. I cannot help to be made of the components that surround me: from the tomato plants in my back yard to the Honda that I drive. Each component externally will have a corresponding internal position and the opposite holds true as well – our external environs reflect our inside climate.
In the wake of this rift an insidious confusion was created. If the elements of nature were necessary for survival, so then were their new replacements. Some of us now think we need cable television and cell phones to live! This is not to say technology is bad. One could argue that if nature was so great and perfect, why did it get abandoned anyway? Why did technology progress to such a level as to leave nature unconsidered in its planning process? I think this is a debate for greater minds than my own. Suffice to say, that they came out of need, but the need became unbalanced in such a way that the mere idea of a need to return to nature to find inspiration, balance and health became laughable. Laughable or not, it is necessary. If what is happening in the external world is mirrored in our internal being, we are certainly not the picture of health.
So, in this age of global warming and rampant pollution, what can be done as far as ecopsychology is concerned? To what can ecopsychologists attend? Where is the need most pressing? Ecopsychology is a stew of Rogerian, Jungian and Existential psychology served up in an ecological bowl. The earth is the substance and the alembic from which all life is distilled. It is a journey into metaphor, imagination, relation, and sympathy. Here is the placenta from the birth of sympathetic magic, of homeopathy and like producing like. It’s the science of poetry and the faith of the machine. Alchemical processes have figured into Depth Psychology; an analogous discipline friendly to the cause of ecopsychology. Through alchemy, we have a basic metaphor to tackle this death factory and come out the other side.
The first step in the magnum opus that ultimately ends in the production of gold is the beginning of the universe, the blackness. The Sol Niger, or black sun that has consumed everything, leaving only the charred remains. It is the process of putrefaction and purification that leads to individuation. We stand at a crossroads in time ready to choose whether or not to voluntarily consume ourselves, or be consumed by desires and impulses that are not exclusively our own. We are individuals that still have free will. We can still decide for ourselves where we, as individuals, wish to go and understand all the while that choices made on an individual level ultimately affect the whole.
The blackness found in Sol Niger is also the blackness of despair and hopelessness; a tunnel to travel through to get to the next stage on the journey to being golden. These emotions ecopsychologists stand best to address first as they are the catalyst and crucible to initiate further change. Here is the birth of the body in a state that is home within its own skin.
As we travel from nothingness to union with all-that-is, we come to the next stage associated with the color white, and the birth of the soul, or spirit. Here we connect to something more than us, greater than us, whether it be a Higher Power, or a cause. We see the interconnectedness, but have yet to experience it. Compassion lives here, so do altruistic tendencies; they are neighbors in the
Before we get to gold, we encounter red. Red is life, is union of the limited with the unlimited. Here is where ecopsychologists shine with the skills of communication, empathy and active listening. The ability to be genuine, warm and empathetic is essential here. Here is the home of vibrancy, action and acceptance. Here where life is valued, the reddening of cheeks from action in the participation of the continuance of life from deep in the heart of passion. Here are the hands digging the internal and external soil, solid and centered enough in themselves to be able to unearth the Sol Niger in others and help them to transform.
Entering the center of the flame, we come out the other side golden. The golden age – and not an idealized one either. Here is our goal, as it is so important to work with an ultimate outcome in mind. While we may be each working for our own individual goals, we can rest assured knowing we aren’t alone and that my success is also the success of others as well. Here respect is golden.
Through arriving at gold, that insatiable hole is filled up with a healthy relationship to nature – not of humans against it, or struggling to subdue it, but a true, wise, educated coexistence that is economically and realistically viable. This is not a call to become a back to nature movement, but a movement for nature returning to us. Can we have cars, cell phones, cable television and a healthy planet and psyche? If we follow the lead of the natural world it seems that a future where unleaded has turned to gold is a strong possibility. Living by example will lead the way.
