The Mysterious Possibility of Reciprocity with Nature
“Being able to feel safe with other people is probably the single most important aspect of mental health; safe connections are fundamental to meaningful and satisfying lives… [Yet] social support is not the same as merely being in the presence of others. The critical issue is reciprocity: being truly heard and seen by the people around us, feeling that we are held in someone else’s mind and heart. For our physiology to calm down, heal, and grow we need a visceral feeling of safety.”
- Bessel van der Kolk, The Body Keeps the Score (p.81)
This week, the Ecotheology group read and reflected on Chapter 5, Body-Brian Connections, from Bessel van der Kolk’s book The Body Keeps the Score. Our conversation was sparked by the above passage and the healing capacity of reciprocity and visceral safety. Van der Kolk’s discussion of these concepts focuses on the interplay between humans, yet we boldly wondered if human connection was the only way to foster this sense of being held and known. Could it be possible for a human to exist in reciprocity with nature? And would the same benefits be felt by both the human and nature as a result?
These initial questions spring boarded us into a multitude of additional musings. By forcing nature into this human paradigm, we wondered if we were personifying the earth in a way that was degrading and misguided. We do not want to treat the earth as an object, and, thus, we think we are extending kindness, care, and protection by welcoming nature into the world of the human. Yet, we wondered if humanity loses touch with just as much of the fullness of nature when it is personified as when it is objectified. Why do we seem to struggle to let nature and the earth exist in their own right, in their own complexity, depth, and mystery?
Some of our group members had heard tale of individuals that managed to entered into this seemingly illusive relationship with nature. Kevin told of a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer, that engages with plants as their own unique beings with their own form of intelligence. (The podcast On Being featured Robin on this episode: http://onbeing.org/programs/robin-wall-kimmerer-the-intelligence-in-all-kinds-of-life/). Davia introduced us to the artist, Dorothy Frey, who developed a lifelong relationship with a tree on her family’s property, painting it over and over again each time revealing a different aspect of their relationship and its meaning. (More of Dorothy’s artwork can be found here: http://www.dorothyfrey.com/trees.html).
With these questions in mind, we returned to our initial musing: is it possible to gain the same comfort, safety and reciprocity when honestly engaging with nature? As is often the case with our group, revisiting this query led us down another path of curiosity. In order to establish this reciprocity is it necessary to communicate, and if so, can the earth communicate with humans? Are we as humans capable of understanding the earth’s communication or do we simply place on the earth what we want or expect to hear?
Finally, we wondered if this relationship between humanity and the earth does indeed exist, is it reciprocal in nature? Can the earth feel our care and love and does this help the earth heal and grow? Or do these questions again personify nature and overlook its potentially unique existence?
It seemed as though most of the group members wanted to believe that this relationship was possible and some had even viscerally experienced the relational capacity of nature, yet the how and the why of it all remained a mystery hidden in all of our questions.
Perhaps this mystery itself is an important part of the answer.
