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Abstract
This article is an inquiry into how analysts and psychotherapists can respond to the environmental crisis within the context of the analytic process. It addresses a perspective on individual and cultural defenses that separate us from a relational context within the matrix of life. A view is presented that regards humans as integral with the natural world, emphasizing the wild nature of psyche, embodiment, and the analytic process as a way of learning to engage this wildness. Building on Thomas Berry's idea that hope for our future lies in our human participation in the dream of the earth, case vignettes introduce the truth telling of the imaginal, proposing that we listen for how dreaming unfolds within one's self, between one's self and another, and between ourselves and the earth.
Notes
1. A few others include Mary Watkins, a professor at Pacifica Graduate School, who coordinates students in a depth psychology–inspired theoretical and practical approach to ecological fieldwork. Her writings reflect her commitment to this integration. CitationMary-Jane Rust and Nick Totten have edited a book titled Vital Signs: Psychological Responses to Ecological Crisis (2012). Their work was inspired in part by Theodore Roszak, Mary E. Gomes, and Allen D. Kanner (Citation1995) who, in the United States, founded the field of ecopsychology. This group has published several books. CitationJerome Bernstein, a Jungian analyst, authored Living in the Borderland: The Evolution of Consciousness and the Challenge of Healing Trauma (2005), in which he weaves together his insight of working clinically with those who acutely feel along with the suffering earth, and how his time with the Navajo people has shaped his thinking about psychology and nature. See also Joseph Dodds (Citation2011), Marianne Spitzform (Citation2000), Bill Plotkin (Citation2008), Robin van Löben Sels (2011), and Sharon Heath (Citation2012).
2. In addition to his extensive journalism on climate change, Bill McKibben has spearheaded a global action network focused on abating climate change, called 350.org. In his film A Call to Life, David Ulansey has gathered scientists studying species extinction who indicate that human behavior will have a dramatic effect on the current rate of species extinction, which, in turn, will determine the dynamic balance of interacting ecosystems and thus the quality of life that may be sustained as the planet goes through this massive transition. See Call of Life, http://calloflife.org/, and Species Alliance http://www.speciesalliance.org/links.php. Joanna Macy is an ecophilosopher, scholar of Buddhism, and general systems theory. She is a leading political activist who inspires and aids great numbers of individuals to speak up and engage consciously in protecting our earth. See Joanna Macy at Joanna Macy and Her Work, www.joannamacy.net. Thomas Berry was an ecotheologian and an ordained Catholic priest who lived monastically. He was also a cultural historian with far-reaching knowledge of religious and spiritual practices of the West, Asia, and indigenous peoples. During the last thirty years of his life, he directed his attention to becoming a historian for the earth, seeing himself as a geologian. His aim was to evoke a comprehensive ethic for all of life and a renewed awareness of our role in guiding the evolutionary process at this crucial point of history.
3. Swimme and Tucker (Citation2011) offer a description of the formation of the universe, the way in which humans are forged from the elements of the stars, and the evolution of life from bacteria and algae to human.
4. Paul Hawken has chronicled an inspiring account of this upwelling in his book Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Social Movement in History is Restoring Grace, Justice and Beauty to the World (2007).