werner sattmann-frese - psychological perspectives of ecological crises (ipk)
TRANSCRIPT
Integral Paradigm of Knowledge
University of Human Unity - AurovillePsychological Perspectives
of Ecological Crises – Part 1
Werner Sattmann-Frese28 January 2016
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This presentation will be made available at www.lfsl.info
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Man’s highest aspiration – his seeking for perfection, his longing for freedom and mastery, his search after pure truth and unmixed delight – is in flagrant contradiction with his present existence and normal experience.
Sri Aurobindo
The need for a paradigm change
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The historical mission of our time is to reinvent the human - at the species level, with critical reflection, within the community of life systems, in a time-developmental context, by means of story and shared dream experience.
Thomas Berry
The need for a paradigm change
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Our ecological crisis is a crisis of consciousness
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Some features of this crisisClimate changeExploitation of natureTerrorism (fight for freedom)ImmigrationFood insecurity and povertyUnfair distribution of assetsUnsustainable growth goalsPragmatic ethics
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More featuresCompensatory consumptionWastePoisoning of the environmentDeforestationSpecies extinctionRising sea levelsSeed control (Monsanto, etc.)
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And even morePsychosomatically illiterate medicinePsychology perverted and used to drive excessive consumptionSelf-serving politiciansNarrow-minded researchUse of addictive substances in foodOveremphasis on individual transportAnd many more …
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Crisis of scienceScience has moved from foundational to applied science.Research is not undertaken if it does not lead to strong financial outcomes.Research is often not independent.Research problems are often abandoned if the results are not in the interest of the people financing the research.Results are often reported in lopsided ways.
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The ‘million dollar question’Will we be able to change?This is hard to know.One thing seems to be clear, however: If we don’t do it voluntarily, nature will force us.
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Views on causes of ecological crises
It makes sense to apply a perspectivist approach to understanding ecological crises.Possible approaches to change include:o Behaviourist psychology viewso Cognitive psychology viewso Somatics and ecospirituality viewso Depth psychology viewso Social psychology viewso Political views
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Some acknowledged ‘causes’
Profit orientation (corporate principles)Rampant exploitationGreed, hatred, and ignoranceGoal orientationShort-termismThe ‘Fast Movement’
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More ‘causes’
Loss of meaningLack of vision of what it means to be humanGeneral superficialiatyWeapons of mass distraction
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Growth addictionIs a person dead when he or she stops growing in size?*Is a machine broken if it only runs at 95 percent of the speed of last year?Probably not, but this is exactly the way most economists argue when they talk about recession and economic depression.*Only cancer cells grow without restraint and they eventually kill their host organism.
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We need to create a consciousness of interconnectedness.
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Narrow ViewpointsPierre Teilhard de Chardin, a paleontologist and geologist, believed that evolution unfolded from cell to organism to planet to solar system and ultimately the whole universe, as we humans see it from our limited perspective.
•https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia_philosophy
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Issues affecting the health and well-being of the web of life
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Complexity consciousness•Being aware of the
complexity and recurring patterns in nature which is often called the fractal nature of things
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Lorenz Attractor 20
The live version
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Genetic interspecies learning• Gen sharing through viruses and other
mechanisms (peptides?):– Maintains high levels of biodiversity– Represents an intraspecies and
interspecies information sharing and learning system
– Accelerates adaptation to changing ecological environments
– Is the oldest language of the planet– Creates illness in only about 10% of
cases after the transfer and incorporation of newly acquired genetic code into an organism (so-called infection) 22
http://www.slideshare.net/moincamacaro/horizontal-gene-transfer23
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http://medicojockey.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/bone-marrow.jpg
Does this bone exist?• No!• It only exists like that as an idea in
medicine and as an artifact after chemical treatment.
• In real life it is just the densest part of an organism consisting of tissues of ever-changing density.
• It is infused with other structures and does not contain cells with our genetic code.
• Who and where is it then?25
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https://www.google.com.au/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwiN8qfItqvKAhUCxqYKHQx1D_wQjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.shutterstock.com%2Fs%2Fplant%2Broots%2Fsearch.html&psig=AFQjCNFTIp_4vFyAK7s1DgSEh8eBNRZr_Q&ust=1452933846964703&cad=rja
Giving names to things•We tend to give names to things
because of our tendency to mentally and often also physiologically isolating them from their surroundings.
•All things are embedded in and part of something bigger and more fundamental.
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Are islands real?
Tangier Island is disappearing because the ocean is rising. An island is really an illusion. Some of them are vanishing now.
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We need to expand the understanding of who and where we are
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http://www.williambloom.com/MyFiles/Images/cartoonYouAreHere.png
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Who are we?•75% of our bodies consist of
water.•Only 1 in 11 cells in our bodies
has our genetic identity.•Medicine’s goal: sterility•Lynn Margulis: We are symbiotic
organisms.31
We may need to expand our self experiences
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Unsustainable self experiences
•Numbness•Disconnectedness•Survival mode•Unconscious trauma management•Addictive behaviours•Time poorness•Outside orientation
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Streaming beings• Most people have lost their self experience
of streaming beings and ‘person-planet-unity’ (ecstasy) as a result of:– experiencing developmental traumas– living in polarising societies– unconscious unhealthy lifestyle choices.
• Ecstasy has become a dubious and loaded word and an experience created through drugs (Google: MDMA use).
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Loss of streamings and sense of connectednesso Chronic emotional muscular armouringo Energetic blockages o Reduced emotional charge resulting
from shallow and/or disconnected breathing,
oDiminished self-experience as streaming beings
o Loss of our energetic connection and a sense of oneness with the creation
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Bodies to show, not be•Concepts on body-mind unity•Unity of body, mind, and soul•Muscular tensions (armouring) -
Wilhelm Reich•Tissue armouring – Gerda Boyesen•Bodily expressions such as
breathing, pain, crying, burping, farting, yawning, laughing, itching, sneezing, and the need to scratch oneself
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Bodies to show, not be•The sounds of the guts
(borborygmi)• The meaning of body postures and
movement patterns• The associations of the above with
physical health, mental health, trauma, stress, and environmental influences
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Solutions
•Yoga•Meditation•Kum Nye•Body-psychotherapy•Ecologically aware counselling and
therapy
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Thank you for your attention!
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