Your language is clean, precise and poetic. It helps me frame things in a new way with different vocabulary but in a way of knowing that feel very familiar. I want to revisit the blog posts I wrote for Nature School Cooperative about Diversity Equals Health in Forest Schools Parts 1 and 2 and/or add to them in light of your concluding paragraphs…
“In spite of one universal view of “ecocentrism” not holding ground, I believe it more deeply speaks to our need to shift away from human superiority. And the underlying humility that it calls for actually means coming to terms with our anthropocentrism—that humans, like all other species, have unique views and innate desires to survive and thrive.
Rather than pretend like I can achieve some divine transcendence to take on a planetary consciousness disentangled from my human body, it feels more honest to own my place and dreams of “regeneration” in the world. And rather than reduce what we understand to be “human” by equating human-centeredness to harm, it feels more imaginative to diversify its possibilities—crucially, including one which holds, front and center, our deep interdependence with our larger, interconnected webs of life.
After all, the erosion of the planet’s varied communities of life does not stem from the myriad of anthropocentrisms in and of itself.
Instead, as I would posit, the trouble, and the hopes, lies in the deeper worldviews of what it means to be human—leaving open invitations for us to root deeper, stretch outwards, and reweave ourselves into the richly textured, layered, and colorful fabrics of life as Earth.”
Your language is clean, precise and poetic. It helps me frame things in a new way with different vocabulary but in a way of knowing that feel very familiar. I want to revisit the blog posts I wrote for Nature School Cooperative about Diversity Equals Health in Forest Schools Parts 1 and 2 and/or add to them in light of your concluding paragraphs…
“In spite of one universal view of “ecocentrism” not holding ground, I believe it more deeply speaks to our need to shift away from human superiority. And the underlying humility that it calls for actually means coming to terms with our anthropocentrism—that humans, like all other species, have unique views and innate desires to survive and thrive.
Rather than pretend like I can achieve some divine transcendence to take on a planetary consciousness disentangled from my human body, it feels more honest to own my place and dreams of “regeneration” in the world. And rather than reduce what we understand to be “human” by equating human-centeredness to harm, it feels more imaginative to diversify its possibilities—crucially, including one which holds, front and center, our deep interdependence with our larger, interconnected webs of life.
After all, the erosion of the planet’s varied communities of life does not stem from the myriad of anthropocentrisms in and of itself.
Instead, as I would posit, the trouble, and the hopes, lies in the deeper worldviews of what it means to be human—leaving open invitations for us to root deeper, stretch outwards, and reweave ourselves into the richly textured, layered, and colorful fabrics of life as Earth.”
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU
Thank you Ryan for engaging intimately with these words. I appreciate you dearly!