March 1st, 1997
WHAT ARE WE?
By Jackie Giuliano
"What are you? What am I? Intersecting cycles of water, earth, air, and fire,
that's what I am, that's what you are. . . Come back with me into a story we all share, a
story whose rhythm beats in us still. The story belongs to each of us and to all of us,
like the beat of this drum, like the heartbeat of our living universe. . ."
Gaia Meditations, John Seed and Joanna Macy, Thinking Like a Mountain, 1988. http://members.aol.com/creabooks/creatura.html
Thousands of substances produced in our world today are "neurotoxins," capable
of causing a wide spectrum of neurological problems that range from mild and transient to
totally debilitating and deadly. Of the 65,000 industrial chemicals registered by the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, between 3 and 5 percent - 2,000 - had neurotoxic
potential. Some researchers put the figure at more than 28 percent or 18,000. The March of
Dimes organization estimates that 5 to 10 percent of birth defects are the result of
environmental toxicity.
Many of the symptoms of toxic mood disorders are identical to those of depression and
other mental illnesses. Such disorders can last for hours, days, or can reoccur
unexpectedly, even when exposure to the source has ceased. Symptoms include personality
changes, mental changes, sleep disturbances, chronic fatigue, and motor incoordination, to
list a few.
We spend 70 to 98 percent of our time indoors at either the home or office, or hotels when
we travel to play. Indoor air pollutants in the U.S. cause as many as 6,000 cancer deaths
each year and up to 20,000 more deaths from indoor inhalation of the decay products of
radioactive radon gas. It is estimated that one-fifth to one-third of all U.S. buildings
are "sick" and are causing people to suffer from a variety of ailments. Each
year, exposure to pollutants inside factories and business in the U.S. kills from 100,000
to 210,000 workers prematurely.
Whoa! Enough already. Stop . . . So much to absorb. So many numbers. Numbers rarely help
the situation. Have you ever seen a political, economic, environmental, or social decision
really helped by more numbers? Numbers are really "numb-ers." They can deaden us
to the reality of the situation. It is easy to ignore a number. But how easy is it to
ignore a feeling?
We have many feelings associated with the numbers given above. Theodore Roszak, a major
contributor to the definition of the growing new (old) field being referred to as
"ecopsychology", has said "These commonplace environmental problems have
become the psychopathology of our everyday life. They reveal a condition of the soul for
which Freud would have had no name."
We live every day of our lives knowing that the air is polluted, yet we have to go to work
or school and BREATHE along the way. Yet deep in our psyches, or not so deep, we KNOW that
the air may be harming us. Take that in for a moment. What a powerful burden that must be
on our psyche to know that something that we must do to survive - breathing - may be
harming us because of things we and others are doing.
It is easy to take the next step to feeling subconsciously hopeless, helpless, and
powerless. Sure, the numbers can be helpful in increasing our awareness and giving us food
for our heads. But have you ever really been motivated by a number, a quantity, a unit of
measure. Isn't it really the feeling that truly motivates us? Isn't it only our hearts and
souls that can really awaken us and move us to action?
We need help. Richard Heckler in a powerful book called "The Anatomy of Change"
(Shambhala Publications, 1985) speaks of the schism we have between our minds and our
bodies. He suggests that without integrating what is in your mind with the rich wisdom of
feelings in your body, the information and data are hollow, lifeless.
Heckler says that "when we place our attention in our body, we begin to feel, and our
feeling connects us to our energy. Our energy then informs us of our direction and meaning
in life. If we respond from our energy, we are responding from that part of ourselves that
is least conditioned. If we act from our energy, and not from our ideas, social images, or
what others expect, we feel enriched with genuine expression and life."
These words really speak to me. We need to find ways around our social conditioning that
has formed our ideas, images, and expectations. Using our bodies in a "dialog"
is truly acting from energy and not ideas. Try having a discussion with someone using body
movement instead of words. You will feel an amazing difference.
Last weekend I took 25 adult students from Antioch University, Los Angeles on a day-long
journey (for 1-unit credit) called The Universe Story. The day was about using our senses
to really notice the world around us, to try to get some feel for what it may mean to be
connected to the natural world, and to try to see what affect being disconnected from that
world has had on our lives.
After some time at the beach introducing each other and sharing an experience of feeling
connection to the natural world and then an experience of feeling pain with the world, we
went inland to notice forest and stream.
By the stream, people were instructed to wander off and find a place that felt special to
them. They were to meditate in that spot and to let another "being" occur to
them and choose them to speak through. It could be a plant or animal or geologic feature.
This being would speak through them at a Council of All Beings later that evening. The
being would speak of its concerns for the actions of humans and offer strength and gifts
to help.
It was a powerful experience, an experience that went far beyond anything that numbers
could give. After about 20 minutes inviting in a being, a drum beat called the
participants back to our campsite where I had set up all manner of art and craft supplies.
For the next hour, all made masks to represent their beings. The creativity that was
unleashed was powerful and amazing. A practice session in small groups followed where the
participants practiced representing their being.
The Council was a powerful hour around a raging campfire. Each "being" spoke
from behind its mask, admonishing the humans for their shortsightedness. I spoke as the
swarm of insects seen earlier in the day and scorned by the group. I told the humans to
learn from the connectedness of me and my fellows, to learn to work together as the swarm
does.
Many beings spoke including a rabbit, a bird of prey, a spider, a tree, a rock, and a
fish. Even the sound of the stream and sensuality had a voice at the Council. It was an
enriching experience for all, a chance to leave the powerful human ego for a while and see
the world from the perspective of a being considered of less value that has no voice - at
least a voice that most humans refuse to hear. The Council ended as the full moon rose
above the hills. We then observed the heavens, completing our experiences in connectedness
with an awareness of the universe above.
We must listen to our bodies, the homes of our hearts, for that least conditioned
response. We must tune back in to our "gut feelings." We must notice the details
of the natural world around us and revel in the awesome beauty and connections. We must
feel - feel the pain, the sorrow, the responsibility, and the need to act - now.
RESOURCES
1. Read essays about ecopsychology, including words by Theodore Roszak, in Ecopsychology,
Restoring the Earth, Healing the Mind. This and other related books can be purchased
through Creabooks http://members.aol.com/creabooks/creatura.html
2. Visit the ecopsychology web page at http://www.csuhayward.edu:80/ALSS/ECO/index.html
3. Ecopsychology: Join an ongoing conversation at listserv@sjuvm.stjohns.edu
4. Visit Econet's Toxics, Hazards, and Wastes page at http://www.igc.apc.org:80/toxic/
5. Visit http://208.13.0.1/users/chronos/WarriorBooks.html
for books by Richard Heckler.
{Jackie Giuliano is a Professor of Environmental Studies at Antioch University, Los
Angeles and the University of Phoenix. He is teaching a course next quarter about the Moon
and its impact on literature, culture, mythology, and science.} |
