This is a beautiful article from Betsy Perluss of Pacifica and School of Lost Borders. Here's the abstract:

Comparing two very different genres of writing, Richard Nelson's nature writing about his experiences among the Koyukon tribe in northern Alaska and Carl Jung's work on the primitive psyche, this article highlights the need for modern, Western people to recover an indigenous relationship with the natural world. Jung declares that one of the biggest tragedies of Western civilization is the loss of the numinous that has resulted in the dehumanizing of the natural world. Examining Jung's controversial use of the terms “primitive” and participation mystique, we discover that what modern man has considered to be a more “civilized” higher state of consciousness has been wrongly equated with ego-consciousness, thus resulting in a limited understanding of the unconscious psyche. This article points out that the way beyond the “cult of consciousnesses” is to attend to that which the rational mind does not understand: dreams, symptoms, and the presence of archetypes. By doing so, the Western heroic ego, along with its need to dominate and control nature, is dismantled, opening the door for a participatory relationship with both psyche and nature. Whereas Jung's work is highly theoretical, Richard Nelson's writing provides insight into the lived experience of these ideas. The aim here is not for Western people to appropriate that which belongs to native people but rather to learn that there is more mystery to the world than ego-consciousness is able to contain. This, says Jung, is the goal of individuation.

Read it here

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Replies

  • I thought the abstract of this article was interesting and I was keen to read more. When however I accessed the article via the link, it seemed to me an excessive payment was being asked for the article

    (access for 24 hours for US $51.00)
    (unlimited access for US $127.00)

     Is there any other way of obtaining this article without paying for it?

    • Hi Paul. Glad you're interested in the article--but it's true there may be a problem. I've been looking at it for a couple of weeks and Ecopsychology has been featuring it--along with the one by Jeff Kiehl on Climate Change--for free. However, I went in just now and it looks like they've probably changed it. I don't think I could ever justify paying that much either, and it's frustrating that they would make good material so inaccessible to most of us. I'll keep an eye on it and see if they change it back in the next few days. If not, I'll remove this post entirely.

    • Hi Bonnie. Thanks for your thoughtful response. I hope it will be possible to see the article without paying such an excessive price as it looks interesting

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