The Healing Forest Metaphor Revisited: The Seen and “Unseen World” of Drug Use

Abstract

There is one world we live in. Its geographical and spatial boundaries tell us this. We see it on maps, we see it on television, and we see it when we walk out of the door. Children, adults, and people of all races and creeds live in this one world. The world we live in is viewed differently by these many individuals. Some see it as hostile, some see it as peaceful, and some go about their daily business and do not see it at all. This is the seen world. The one we can see with our eyes. The seen world is not the only one that exists, however, because there is also another world behind our eyes. When we close our eyes, it is in there. We have an imagination to tell us what it could be like, we have thoughts to tell us what we want it to be like, and we have dreams to tell us what we want it to be. Where is this unseen world? We carry it around with us every nanosecond of every day that we are alive. While we live in the seen world, the unseen world is alive in us. What could the unseen world be like for substance users? This is the topic of the current article.

Keywords:

• drug use
• community well-being
• Healing Forest
• holistic care
• interconnectedness
• recovery
• Wellbriety

Notes

Notes

1. The reader is reminded that in recent years the concept-process of “risk factors” as well as “protective factors” have been introduced to the literature, without in any way helping one to adequately understand their dimensions (linear, nonlinear), their “demands,” the critical conditions (endogenous, exogenous) that are necessary for either one to operate (begin, continue, become anchored and integrate, change as de facto realities change, cease, etc.) or not, and whether their underpinnings are theory driven, empirically based, individual and/or systemic stakeholder bound, based upon “principles of faith,” or what. This is necessary to clarify whether these “loaded” terms are not to remain as yet additional shibboleths in a highly politicized field of many stereotypes. Editor's note.

2. “Unseen” as used in this article does not necessarily mean unperceived. It is reasonable that some individuals will experience the unseen with greater clarity than others, and different people may be aware of different aspects or components of the unseen world.

3. Such dimensions include, among others: a relationship dimension, personal development dimension, maintenance and change dimensions, emotional catalyzer dimensions, information catalyzer/processing dimensions, environmental perceptions, attitudes and values dimensions, problem-solving/adaptational dimensions, dimension definer/boundary definer (Topophilia: A Study of Environmental Perception, Attitudes and Values. Tuan, Prentice Hall, 1974).