|
Nature
Connection, Spirit & Action
Section Overview
In her article
The Self-World Connection written a decade ago, ecopsychologist
Sarah Conn defines the pathway from individual therapy and responsiveness
to nature towards becoming responsible and taking action for nature. Even
encouraging her clients to take their shoes off and touch the bare earth
is a simple step along the way. Step 1 is to become aware; then we need
to understand and integrate what weve learnt. The next step is to
deal with the emotional consequences of this knowledge to
feel and engage rather than become numb and dulled. The final step
is action. (See Conn, SA, 1991, The Self-World Connection,
Woman of Power, 20, Spring, 71.)
The articles in this section Nature Connection, Spirit and Action reflect
the steps outlined by Sarah Conn. They link powerful encounters with the
natural world to stories of transcendence and active engagement in safeguarding
the earth.
Chris Lee grew up on the coast of Britain and became a seaman, that is
until he arrived on the coast of Western Australia. An affair of the heart
led him to moor his boat in a paddock and take to the trees.
Chris became a forest activist in the successful campaign to halt logging
in the south-west forests. At the core is Non-Violent
Eco-Warriorship.
The relationship between Spirituality
and Environment is further discussed by Steven Jeffery. Do environmental
activists need a spiritual belief and practice as an essential part of
their activists toolkit? Can spirituality be a vehicle for protagonists
on both sides of the environmental fence to come together?
Simon OConnor takes up issue of spirituality as a relationship to
the land in Sacred Connections Back to our
Past. He spent time in northern Australia at the protest camp to halt
the introduction of another uranium mine on Aboriginal land and experienced
far more than he expected.
Steven Jeffery discusses a different aspect of activism rabbit
trapping. From a childhood pastime, to a way of helping repair a landscape,
Steven looks at his changing relationship and emotions about this activity
in Go tell it on the Mountain. In
Australia, rabbits are feral animals brought here by white settlers and
have seriously degraded the land.
In Applied Ecopsychology in Australia:
Approaches to Facilitating Human Nature Connections, Rosemarie Baillie
takes us on a journey with several pathways. The first reviews the literature
relating to nature connecting; the second is an outline of the variety
of processes that can foster human-nature engagement; and the third summarizes
the results of interviews Rosemarie Baillie conducted with a group of
nature-engaged individuals. The common theme from these interviews is
the joy and power experienced by direct immersions in nature. They inspire
and enliven.
|
|