Contest continued from Page
1
"It is difficult to get people to understand
something when their salary depends upon them not understanding it."
- Upton Sinclair
Our troubles remain because our society rewards us for fighting an undeclared
war on nature. Our thinking gets paid to conquer ecosystems and webstrings
for profit and approval. Conscious multisensory contact with nature's lifeweb
is not practiced so our thinking loses contact with the truths that it
needs to recover from the absence of these truths. That is why, in our
nature estranged society, you learn the Natural Systems Thinking Process
by doing its reconnecting activities (6).
"One touch of Natue makes the whole world
kin"
-William Shakespeare
The activities enable us to plug our 53 natural senses directly into
their attractions in nature and energize. This recharge nurtures the web's
supportive string signals further into our consciousness, thinking and
being. As we learn to feel and trust our senses, we increase our sensibility,
balance and wellness. We feel better and our outlooks and relationships
improve (7).
Anybody who has had a good experience in nature has momentarily enjoyed
this phenomenon.
"The beginning of wisdom is to call things
by their right name"
-Confucious
Through the Natural Systems Thinking Process each our natural senses
is identified by their right name, "Webstring" [Create a better
name and win $500 (1) ] Definition: "A
seamless sensory attraction string of the global web of life community
within and around us." Webstrings feelingly help us bring nature into
our awareness and thinking at will. To call the webstrings anything else,
as we are trained to do, (senses, feelings, God, instincts, needs, drives,
spirit, desires, blessings, beliefs, subjective, bias, angels, etc.,) often
disconnects our thinking from the web of life. That disconnection is the
psychological heart of our insurmountable personal and global problems.
Making space in our lives to do activities that reconnect us with nature
has proven to produce responsible relationships (7,
10).
Once you learn how to do a reconnecting activity you own it and can teach
it. Today, globally, the internet empowers people to enjoy webstring connected
consciousness through distance learning activities, courses and communication
(3) .
"The laws of the universe are not indifferent,
but are forever on the side of the most sensitive."
- Henry David Thoreau
Earth and its people are at risk because our excessive stress fuels
greed, illness and disorders. Conscious webstring attraction connections
reduce our destructive stress. They bring us to our senses. Along with
empirical studies, thousands of email journal entries, such as the following,
validate the process (see some others below):
"This morning I was battling the remnants
of some depression I had been feeling about my family and life "stuff".
I was doing the sensory attraction activity, looking around enjoying the
day, the breeze, the sun, the beautiful trees and the sounds of singing
birds. In a flash of good feeling, I realized that these feelings are what
is so good about living on earth at this time. It was enough, if for no
other reason, to be here, to experience the beauty of this planet. This
was a major breakthrough for me, because I battle the reason for being
here quite a bit in my recovery work. This happened before noon, and it
is now 6 pm, and I still feel great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I wanted to share this
because I am so happy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (10)
We learn only 15% of what we read but 90% of what we teach. If you want
to personally and globally come into balance, teach what you have read
here. Thoughtful, shared sensory reconnecting activities produce conscious
connections with Earth that help us build balanced relationships. The sensory
webstring of reason demands that we engage in the activities. (3, 5).
Can you come up with a better name(s) to capture and convey the true
nature of the strings? If so, obtain an application
form and enter our $500.00 prize "Name that Webstring"
contest described below (1)
DOES THIS MAKE SENSE TO YOU? When you call each
of your senses
and feelings an attraction strand* or
web love*
you help your life and all of life improve. Remember:
The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their
right name.
- Confucius
Question: Do
your addictions to calling your sensuous experiences "senses"
and "feelings" prevent you from enjoying and teaching the wisdom
of knowing them as attraction strings of the web of life?
*CONTEST: Can you come up with a better
name than "webstring" to capture and convey the true nature of
the strings? If so, let us know and win
$500.00.
Select Here for contest information and an application. |
(Option: Return to Page 1 )
.
ADDITIONAL EXAMPLES
OF SENSORY RECONNECTING THROUGH THE NATURAL
SYSTEMS THINKING PROCESS (10):
RE: Materialism and environmental deterioration:
Participant A: "As
I continued this special forest activity, I found myself attracted to the
various songs of the birds and then gradually to the various stones and
nuts and shells in the path. I would stop in the path, pick up the stone,
admire its beauty and then feel clearly called to return it to its appropriate
place. So often other times I have felt I needed to put it in my pocket
and carry it home. Now, through the activity, I had a real sense of appreciating
each rock, each shell, each leaf in its place for the time I was there.
I felt suddenly freed from the need to possess something. I had a growing
sense of letting things be and to just be still and glory in the fullness
of the moment. As I allowed myself to connect, appreciate, thank and move
on with so much of what surrounded me, I felt a letting go into being present.
In this transformation, I began to feel I was part of the scene more, not
my other self that needed to possess. I learned that I do not need to possess
something to have the joy of it."
Participant B: Your
earlier questioning of the work place sounds so familiar but we have our
cultural story that needs to maintain in our society. I find daily that
I am changing things and getting back to more basic life choices. I think
each little one counts. These changes feel so good. I find that I want
less material things these days.
RE: Peace and Support
"I was never taught to ask permission
to relate to people or the environment. I just take that for granted, as
we all do. However, this activity required my senses to learn how to ask
an attractive tree covered area for its consent for me to walk through
it. The area continued to feel attractive, but something changed. It was
the first time in my life that I totally felt safe. It felt like Earth's
energies were in charge of my life, not me. It gave me a wonderful feeling
of having more power to be myself. I felt in balance with nature and the
people here because I could distinctly feel their energies consenting to
support me. I never experienced nature and people that way before. It was
like a powerful law protected not only my life, but all of life. I felt
very secure and nurtured as I walked under those trees. I learned that
when I seek permission from the environment and people I gain energy and
unity, I belong."
RE: Chemical Dependencies
"I want to share with the group that I feel different from when I
started this course. I have always struggled with chemical addictions,
and these last few weeks, I find I hardly have cravings at all anymore.
At times I do, but then I can go into nature, right outside my backdoor,
and feel a connection that is real. I have been through therapy as well
as currently working a twelve step program, and I feel these nature activities
have really helped me, more than I have words for. This is definitely an
attraction, I cannot label it, I do not have words for it, yet I know in
my heart something has changed."
RE: Global intelligence
"My how my mind does chatter with
words that can mislead me. When I make contact with nature and think with
nature's intelligence, it guides me with a wisdom that helps me keep in
balance. The contact is non-verbal because nature does not communicate
with words. As I worked through the Introductory Course, I began to use
the Reconnecting With Nature book's methodology to quiet my mind. As I
went through the activities I began to sense a subtle, but perceptible,
shift in my ability to attain a non-verbal awareness. Then one day, as
I was doing one of the activities that asks us to "jam" the verbal
mind with a word ("unity" in my case) I suddenly connected, WHAM,
there it was - non-verbal awareness. No naming, no concepts, just being.
What a relief! It didn't last long but it did change my life. Since then
I have extended my abilities to just be. Now my "mind chatter"
is only a murmur when I ask it to be. This has opened up experiences so
far beyond anything I even dreamed of a few years ago."
RE: Healing and Wellness
"The activity helped me become aware
of my attraction to the crescent moon as it hung over two hills near my
home. Soon, its mellow glow, framed by peaks and trees, embraced me in
a wordless, ancient primordial scene. Timeless power, peace and unity swept
me up. I just wanted to stay in that state of awe, I felt in balance with
all of reality. I was simply "BEING." No tension, no pressing
goal, just truly belonging to the global community. This natural energy
captured my stress laden pulse and seduced it to the rhythms of Earth.
The sleeping disorder I have battled all my adult life dissolved in this
power. For the first time in decades, I gently fell asleep after dark and
arose shortly after dawn. I celebrated the breakthrough and I thanked nature.
I thanked the activity, too, for it lets me reconnect whenever I choose."
FURTHER INFORMATION:
1. Cohen, 1999, The "Name That Webstring" Contest http://www.ecopsych.com/contest2appl.html
2. Cohen, 1997, Reconnecting
With Nature: Finding Wellness through restoring your bond with the
Earth, Ecopress, Corvallis, Oregon.
3. Cohen, 1994, The Natural Systems Thinking Process http://www.ecopsych.com
4. Cohen 1995, Counseling and Educating With Nature http://www.pacificrim.net/~nature/counseling.html
5. Cohen 1993, Well
Mind, Well Earth, Roche Harbor, WA, World Peace University Press
6. Cohen, 1994, Courses and Activities,
http://www.pacificrim.net/~nature/courses
7. Cohen, 1996, Study and Survey of Participants http://www.pacificrim.net/~nature/survey.html
8. Cohen, 1996 Nature Psychology Courses and Degrees
http://www.rockisland.com/~process/
10. Cohen, 1997, Journalized Findings,
http://www.ecopsych.com/millecopstrand.html