Ecopsychology is a term coined by countercultural scholar Theodore Roszak in his 1992 book, The Voice of the Earth. It is the fundamental recognition that healing and wholeness are not possible for human beings without considering our place within the larger web of life, and the health and wellbeing of the entire biosphere. This is an idea that is endemic to many indigenous traditions – Native American, pagan, aboriginal, animistic and shamanic – as well as many earth-based religions – from the Christian mysticism of Saint Francis of Assisi to Taoism and Shinto.
At Yggdrasil, our four soul tasks must be understood within a larger context that includes not just human considerations, but the Earth and its other sentient inhabitants – animals, plants, minerals, mountains, rivers, storms, stars and volcanoes. Or as a Buddhist would say, in order to come into balance and alignment with ourselves, we must simultaneously come into balance and alignment – or right relationship – with every being with whom we share the living bounty of the Earth.
As we tend our sacred wounds, we must also tend to the wounds of the Earth, particularly those that we ourselves have inflicted. There can be no true visionary calling that does not take into account our responsibility to serve as stewards to the Earth, as well as students of its teachings. There can be no more important dialogue for us to have than one that connects us more intimately to the Earth, to the particular natural landscape in the place where we live, and to the other sentient beings who live there with us. And lastly, it is only to the extent that we can recognize the sacred nature of these other beings that the mythopoetic nature of the world in which we live – the World Dream – will fully reveal itself to us.
