Exploring the Spiritual Roots of Ecopsychology

On the Who & Links page I mention the Masters Degree program in Transpersonal Psychology with a concentration in Ecopsychology that I took at Naropa University. I was drawn to the program because I was looking for a community through which to explore my inquiry into our relationship with the natural world.

After a number of years learning about and practising Tibetan Buddhism, I found myself increasingly called back to my “interest” in the environment and what I was referring to, for lack of any other expression that I could think of, our spiritual connection with nature. I put the word interest in quotes as what I was trying to put into words is/was so much more than an intellectual exercise. In fact it was only intellectual in as much as I was trying to put into words and understand what I was experiencing - as my experience of nature was just that, an experience; a felt experience coming from the heart, sensed by my body. I was looking for a way to bring nature into my spiritual practise. To in some way have a practise that would integrate with the Tibetan Buddhist practise, and would as well tie in with anybody’s existing spiritual practise, or none.

The joy of studying at Naropa was the community of people who I was studying along side, both professors and students. The wish for dialogue and exploration existed deeply in them all. We also came from many diverse backgrounds and were able to bring these many experiences to our discussions.

By the time that we came to work on our Master’s Paper, the subject that I choose to write on was The Spiritual Foundations of Ecopsychology. The paper took many twists and turns before it was completed. I look on it now as a beginning of an exploration of our spiritual connection with the natural world. I see the current environmental problems coming from what I have called a crises of the heart - an alienation that we (the ‘developed’ nations, and possibly increasingly the whole word) have from the natural world. The environmental problems,  I believe, will not solely be solved by technical solutions, but by healing this alienation.

So, I offer my paper here for download. The paper is in pdf format, and there are two formats to choose from - A4 and US Letter. Click on the relevant link below.