Who Sees the Lake?

Abstract

The urgency of the environmental crisis poses the serious need for the analyst to engage with this threat in the course of an analysis. In this article, the myth of Narcissus is viewed as depicting an individual's loss of connection to their own intrapsychic depths as well as Western culture’s turning away from its interrelatedness with the natural world. A case study is presented showing how analytical psychologists can bring the natural world more prominently into their listening perspective as a significant other(s) in relation to the individual. The profound intrapsychic and interpsychic significance of an individual’s relationship to the natural world is illustrated in the process of deep psychological healing of attachment wounds and the capacity to relate to self, other, and the world.

Key Words:

• animals
• attachment
• affect regulation
• countertransference
• earth
• ecopsychology
• environmental crisis
• Echo
• indigenous peoples
• living world
• listening perspective
• Narcissus
• neuroscience
• reciprocity
• recognition
• relationship
• transference