Page 133 - ECOlogic Book

to each other of what we know; the light is in us.” 160
Clinebell associates such experiences with identity formation, noting that they take place at
a deep, pre-verbal level. He speaks of the Ecological Circle as that of being nurtured by
nature leading to nurturing nature, which leads to being nurtured by nature, etc.

He points out what he sees as the difference between humans and animals: “healthy
bonding with nature is not merging with nature or finding oneness with nature in the way
that other animals seem to do . . . we seem to be distinguished from other animals by our
transcending consciousness, choicefulness, intelligence, and spirituality.” 161

He adds that not all imprinting experiences are positive, describing his own imprinting
experience from childhood, of seeing his popcorn field wiped out by a tornado, and in
adulthood, of seeing firsthand the human devastation of the rainforest.

Theodore Roszak, in his testament to ecopsychology, The Voice of the Earth, uses the term,
Ecological Unconscious, speaking of the biosphere as everybody’s “primary care-giver.” He
asks, “What, after all, do parents owe their young that is more important than a warm and
trusting connection to the Earth that accounts for their evolutionary history?” 162

There must be some reason ecological thinking and feeling are rising up everywhere in the
midst of the promethean paradigm we live in. Could it be that Earth has spoken to us, each
one of us, at a critical time in the development of our personal identity? That, try as we
might, we cannot ever escape that early imprinting? That it flows in our veins like our
lifeblood, and that we cannot deny it without putting our sanity in serious peril?

Roszak states: “The great changes our runaway industrial civilization must make if we are
to keep the planet healthy will not come about by the force of reason alone or the influence
of fact. Rather, they will come by way of psychological transformation. What the Earth
requires will have to make itself felt within us as if it were our own most private desire.” 163

I believe that to a great many of us, the Earth has already spoken. We cannot pretend
otherwise. It’s time to remember our peek experiences. It’s time to tell our hidden stories
of orchards and corn fields.

160 Diamond and Orenstein, eds., Reweaving the World: The Emergence of Ecofeminism, (Sierra Club Books,
San Francisco, CA 1990, p. 227).
161 Clinebell, Howard, Ecotherapy: Healing Ourselves, Healing the Earth, (Fortress Press, Minneapolis, MN,
1996, P. 36).

162 Crosswalk, Theodore, the Voice of the Earth, (Simon & Schuster, New York, NY, 1992, PP. 293,294).

163 IBID., P. 47.

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