Humanity’s Lost Love of Nature - How It Is Causing an Environmental Catastrophe
July 21st, 2009. Published under Nature. No Comments.
For most of human history, our ancestors strongly identified themselves as an intrinsic part of nature. The basic thesis of this article is that the environmental catastrophe that is now rapidly occurring is a direct result of a large subgroup of our species becoming disconnected from this deep love of nature and an equally deep sense of unity with it.
As I view the environmental destruction that humans have perpetrated upon our planet from the vantage point of my 35-year career as a psychotherapist, I’m impressed with how it strongly parallels the pathological self-destructive behavior of many of my past clients who suffered from dissociative identity disorder.
People subject to this personality disorder display two or more distinct identities, personalities, or ego states each of which entails uniquely different patterns of perceiving and interacting with their environment and which alternately take control of their behavior. These alternative personalities are generally completely dissociated from each other, that is, have no awareness of each other’s existence.
When these individuals shift into an ego state that is dissociated from their pre-morbid, dominant personality structure, they commonly behave in ways that are sharply out of character and often highly self-destructive. Typically, after returning to their prevailing personality organization, they show no conscious awareness of what they’ve done while in a dissociated state.
So how is this related to our current environmental and climate change crisis? Let me try to spell it out as simply as possible.
For nearly 200,000 years before the advent of the agricultural revolution about 10,000 years ago, our hunting and gathering ancestors had a strong, collective identification with all of nature. Constantly surrounded as they were by nature and interacting with it on a daily basis, they became intimately aware of the intricate interdependence of all plants and animals.
Moreover, since their very survival depended on living in harmony with the rest of nature, it is not at all surprising that they developed and maintained a deep intuitive sense of oneness with the natural web of life and that they adapted themselves to it accordingly.
Given this dominant collective identity or personality,so to speak, inflicting unnecessary harm on other parts of nature was seen as senseless, repugnant and self-destructive.
This prevailing identity and attitude toward nature has been documented in anthropological research over the past 150 years with many indigenous groups of hunters and gatherers before they fell under the domination of western civilization.
Among Native Americans, for example, it is strongly exemplified in their strong core philosophy about the sacred hoop of life. This is expressed elegantly in the simple Lakota Sioux prayer, Mitakuye Oyasin,that is commonly offered as a blessing to all of my relations.
This deep affinity and respect for all life forms has been postulated by Dr. Edward O. Wilson, a highly respected entomologist and professor Emeritus at Harvard University, to be intrinsically coded into the human genotype. He refers to it as biophilia, literally “love of life”.
This intrinsic love of nature, including all of its the myriad life forms, is present almost universally in young children and in a large proportion of adults as well, at least in relation to their pets and gardens. It is also expressed in a strong propensity in many of us to seek solace and personal renewal in natural settings. Clearly, many of us continue to be ardent nature lovers throughout our lives.
By and large, however, as we have become progressively civilized over the past 10,000 years and, especially, since the start of the Industrial a significantly large segment of our species has become increasingly dissociated from its original strong identification with nature.
This progressive alienation from nature has been strongly associated with the prevailing patriarchic organization of modern civilized societies with its strong emphasis on controlling and dominating nature. A basic, unquestioned (and highly arrogant) assumption in this worldview is that humans are inherently superior to all other species and, thus, have an equally inherent right to use and control them however they choose.
With the relatively recent rise of feminism, this view, along with its patriarchic underpinnings, has been strongly challenged; it continues, however, to be a strongly dominant paradigm in the world today. One of its most cardinal characteristics is that it is profoundly dissociated from our original strong identification with all of nature.
I submit, then, that the relatively recent development of this dominant social paradigm can be understood as a collective dissociative identity disorder. Just as the individual form of this disorder tends to be personally self-destructive, the collective form has likewise brought about profound destructive consequences for our entire planet and all of its life forms. It has, in fact, brought us to the very brink of unprecedented disaster.
Unless, as a species, we quickly find effective ways to become re-integrated with our original strong identification with nature, our collective future looks very bleak indeed.
In closing, I’d like to offer one striking and tragic illustration of this dissociative identity disorder in action. It’s a video that documents the aerial killing of wolves in Alaska. Disturbing as it is in its own right, it provides in a much larger sense a strong metaphor for the much larger wanton killing and generalized destructiveness that humans have inflicted on the earth.
Rick Jorgenson is the founder and Executive Director of HealthyLife Foundation, an organization dedicated to helping non-profit environmental organizations through a unique “embedded giving” program.
http://healthylifefoundation.wordpress.com/