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Measured Results:
The potential of knowing the world through Webstrings and the Natural Systems Thinking Process can be seen in counselor Larry Davies 1996-98 results from offering them to people who were considered almost impossible to reach. A study was undertaken with students who were "uneducatable," because they could not handle regular school programs (17). Each had been physically or sexually abused, were 180% below the poverty level, drug or alcohol addicted and suffered poor self-esteem, suicidal tendencies, and behavioral disorders. Some were homeless or in correctional settings.
The results were overwhelmingly positive. The students' growth was
reflected in improved psychological test scores and analysis, which showed reduced stress, depression, sleeplessness and drug use along with higher self-esteem (10, 17). Every student's attendance and academic progress improved, no indications of chemical remission were observed 60 days after the program ended. The students now personally own the activities and rationale for their continued improvement by reconnecting with webstrings in each other and the environment.
Through awareness of their webstring connections the students bonded as a community. They also bonded to a trashed natural area near their forthcoming new school. To protect this area's integrity and availability for future webstring activities, these "incapable" youngsters successfully cleaned up, weeded and restored it, successfully wrote environmental protection grants, and effectively presented their work to Education Boards and Administrators who were intent on paving the natural area as a parking lot (15).
The student's sensed that the natural area, like their nature, wanted to recover from the abuse it received from society. They said that, like them, it had been: "hurt, molested, invaded and trespassed," "It wanted to become healthy or die." "It felt trashed and overwhelmed." "It had no power, it needed a fix or help to recover." They wrote: "This wilderness community is being choked by alien plants and stressed by pollution, abandonment and major loss. We, too, are being choked by drugs and alien stories that pollute our natural self. We feel abandoned by our society, treated like garbage, and cut off from nature which fills us with grief. By protecting and nurturing this ecosystem we find the strength to open our minds, hearts, and souls for the survival of our Mother Earth and ourselves (20)."
Davies' webstring-based study concluded: "The applied ecopsychology story is not to conquer nature, but to flow, dance and balance with nature and each other, as do all other species. It says that nature consists of attractions, that pain, fear and stress are natural attractions, part of nature's perfection. These natural discomforts are nature's way of telling us we don't have sensory support in this moment. They attract us to follow our other immediate natural attachments. In wilderness settings, our discomforts in nature intensified our natural attractions to nurturing, community and trust. They supported our fun and survival."
Unstructured Application: congruent abstraction
"The beginning of wisdom is calling things by their right name."
- ConfuciusEach of us can easily begin to make psychological contributions to personal and global sanity. From this moment on, thoughtfully call each sensation and feeling you or others experience a "webstring attraction." Note how this helps stretch your New Brain thinking into a global frame of reference. Note, too, how your inborn webstring attraction to nature may have been disconnected from nature and attached to artifacts or stories. Note how it may have been stressed, or can reattach to the web of life in a natural area.
Calling webstrings by their right name helps produce a global consciousness and enables us to further discover and support nature's perfection within and about us. Additional activities and courses strengthen this skill (6).
Guided Application: a step beyond abstraction
To begin think more harmoniously with whales and the global ecosystem, any individual or group may discover and teach the Natural Systems Thinking Process by doing the following introductory webstring activity:
1. Go to the most attractive natural area that is accessible to you and find something natural there that calls to you, that you find attractive, a flower, rock, scene, sensation or animal (Non-verbal Self-Evidence).
2. If it seems reasonable to you, somehow thank that webstring attraction
for being attractive and giving you some joy (New Brain validation).
3. Wait ten seconds and see if the attraction remains attractive. If it doesn't, or another attraction interrupts it, simply follow the new attraction or find a new natural attraction there that remains for ten seconds. (This helps offset Sharon's blue wood experience)
4. If it seems reasonable to you, somehow thank this new webstring attraction for being attractive and giving you some joy (New Brain validation).
5. Note how you feel in comparison to how you felt when you started the activity (Self-Evidence). Does what you know and feel now have value?
6. Ask this attraction to consent to help you discover why it is reasonable to do this kind of activity and why you might resist doing it. Wait and see what comes to mind immediately, and after a good night's sleep (Whole Brain thinking).
7. Share your experience with people who are attractive to you, who care for you or seem trustable (Whole Brain thinking). Invite their reactions. Be aware that you can benefit from using this same activity in connection with webstring attractions you sense in another person, for people are nature, too (4).
Conclusions:
1. Multisensory Webstring attraction intelligence exists within and around us as Self-Evidence that we too often learn to deny.
2. Contemporary society disconnects us from nature's ways, demeans them, and teaches us to think without them thereby limiting our ability to resolve the problems caused by nature's absence.
3. By learning and teaching the easily available Natural Systems Thinking Process we may reverse destructive thinking by letting nature itself help us bring webstrings and their integrity back into our consciousness, reasoning and relationships.
4. As demonstrated by counselors, educators, students, businesses and environmentalists, anyone can beneficially use and teach webstring reconnecting activities. One only needs to apply the process and thereby begin to let nature recycle our mental pollution.
5. Contemporary society's historic conquest of nature has trained the New Brain to prejudiciously view and fear the sensual and nature as an enemy, villain or child. We are taught that nature within and around us must be developed, improved or managed, similar to a weed or wildlife. Reversing this prejudice is a challenge similar to dealing with our prejudice against Afro-Americans, Indigenous People and other close to nature people, including children.
6. As demonstrated by counselor Davies, extensive research is warranted in implementing the Process in various settings and measuring its effects.
7. Any individual or community that uses and teaches the Process will
enjoy the benefits that I have found and reference here. If introduced globally, the Process will help us fulfill our, and a whale's, fondest hopes for personal, social and environmental sanity and peace.
REFERENCES
- 1. ABRAM 1997. The Spell of the Sensuous : Perception and Language in a More-Than-Human World, Vintage Books.
- 2. BERG 1995., Discovering Your Life-Place : A First Bioregional Workbook, Planet Drum Foundation.
- 3. BERRY 1990. The Dream of the Earth, Sierra Club Books.
- 4. CAPRA 1997. The Web of Life : A New Understanding of Living Systems, Doubleday.
- 5. COHEN 1997. Reconnecting With Nature: Finding Wellness through restoring your bond with the Earth, Ecopress, Corvallis, Oregon. http://www.pacificrim.net/~nature/newbook.html
- 6. COHEN 1994, The Natural Systems Thinking Process references.html
- 7. COHEN 1995. Counseling and Educating With Nature, Interpsych Journal. http://www.pacificrim.net/~nature/counseling.html
- 8. COHEN 1993. Well Mind, Well Earth, Roche Harbor, WA, World Peace University Press http://www.pacificrim.net/~nature/books.html
- 9. COHEN Editor, 1999. The State of Planet Earth. http://www.webstrings.org/webstzbutnearth.html
- 10. COHEN 1996. Study and Survey of Participants. http://www.pacificrim.net/~nature/survey.html
- 11. COHEN 1997. Journalized Findings/ http://www.ecopsych.com/millecopstrand.html
- 12. COHEN 1993. Integrated Ecology, The Process of Counseling With Nature, The Humanistic Psychologist, Division Journal of the American Psychological Association, Vol.21 No.3, Washington, D.C.
- 13. COHEN 1993. Counseling With Nature: Catalyzing Sensory Moments that Let Earth Nurture. Counseling Psychology Quarterly, Vol. 6, No. 1, Carfax Publishing, Abingdon Oxfordshire, England:
- 14. COHEN 1991. Integrating Nature's Balance. The Journal of Environmental Education, v.22 #4, Washington, DC.
- 15. COHEN 1998. Who Needs To Be Educated? http://www.pacificrim.net/~nature/infonews.html
- 16. COHEN 1974. Our Classroom is Wild America, Freeport, Maine, Cobblesmith
- 17. DAVIES 1997. Reconnecting With Nature: educational self-esteem activities for reducing drug use and irresponsible relationships in students at risk. ERIC, U.S. Department of Education. http://www.pacificrim.net/~nature/restore.html
- 18. DEVALL 1986. Deep Ecology, Gibbs Smith
- 19. FOX 1996. Original Blessing : A Primer in Creation Spirituality, Bear & Co.
- 20. GERMINE 1996. Reconnecting to Subconscious Origins http://www.pacificrim.net/~nature/germine.html
- 21. MCKIBBEN 1999. The End of Nature Anchor Books/Doubleday.
- 22. QUINN, 1993. Ishmael, Bantam
- 23. ROSZAK 1995. Ecopsychology : Restoring the Earth, Healing the Mind, San Francisco, Sierra.
- 24. SEED 1990. Thinking Like a Mountain: Towards a Council of All Beings
- 25. WILSON 1986. Biophilia Harvard Univ Press
- 26. Fifty Three Sense and Ecozombie References, see References located in (6) (7) and Chapter 5 of (5)
The best way to learn the education and counseling process of thinking like nature works is through an online Orientation Course entitled Psychological Elements of Global Citizenship.
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INSTITUTE OF GLOBAL EDUCATION Special NGO consultant United Nations Economic and Social Council
PROJECT NATURECONNECT
Readily available, online, natural science tools
for the health of person, planet and spiritP.O. Box 1605, Friday Harbor, WA 98250
360-378-6313 <email> www.ecopsych.com
ORGANIC ADVANCED ECOPSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION
The Natural Systems Thinking Process
Dr. Michael J. Cohen, Director
send email
All programs start with the Orientation Course contained in the book
The Web of Life Imperative.
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