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Institute of Global
Education
PROJECT NATURECONNECT
The Natural Systems Thinking
Process
Invitational Applied Ecopsychology Exploratory Course...Introduction
Exploring Sensory Connections With Nature
FACT: If
you search the United Nation's natural resource data of the past
200 years there is one part of nature you will not find listed
as a natural resource. The missing resource is the origins in
nature that give rise to the humanity's ability to consciously
sense and feel.
FACT: Human
senses and feelings, including the sense of consciousness, did
not appear out of nowhere. They, like us, are part of nature.
To our loss, our excessively nature separated lifestyle disconnects
our sensory self from its nurturing, regenerative, origins in
nature.
"It is a fact of life that our senses, feelings and emotions
are facts of life. These sensitivites are as important a part
of nature and our personal nature as is the land and sea, or
our heartbeat and eyesight. For example: The feelingful
callings of the sensation of thirst are a biologically intelligent
attraction, a love for water that is as real and true as water
itself. We inherit at least 53 such senses but learn to ignore
them; this ofen produces to our nonsense (sic)."
...........-
Michael J. Cohen
"The natural world is the larger sacred community to
which we belong. To be alienated from this community is to become
destitute in all that makes us human. To damage this community
is to diminish our own existence."
...........- Thomas Berry
INTRODUCTION:
Dear Course Participant,
Thanks for your interest in this short
internet program. It is open to people who have, perhaps without
their knowledge, been given participation in it as a gift from
a past participant. Somebody has made a contribution to this
course so that it could be available to you.
You have been invited to take the course
because you have shown interest in its subject as described on
the page, or by the person, that brought you here. Congratulations
on following your attraction to it.
The course familiarizes you with some
of the value, material and procedures of an Orientation Course,
the next step in mastering The Natural Systems Thinking Process.
It actually covers almost 20% of the Orientation Course work,
making that course easier to complete if you decide to take it
at some later time.
If you think you may want to go on with
the Orientation Course at some future date, be sure to save the
work you do on this course so you can share this work later.
Please proceed to the opening
page of the course.
http://www.ecopsych.com/integrity101.html.
Michael J. Cohen
Director
Prerequisite Activities:
A. To obtain supportive contributions
to your participation in this course, please temporarily
sign up on the Course's Interact
Group List at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PNCExplore
or simply use this form:
Write a short letter of introduction to the list members that
shares with them how you feel about nature and what is happening
to the environment and people. Include a brief biographical sketch
and the reasons you are taking this course. Add this material
to the letter form below where it says "Some things about
me that will help you know me better:"
As an alternative, you may establish your own private
study group discussion list and only communicate with them. For
best results, include one or more people in your group who have
completed the Orientation Course. Contact the Institute
to locate a past participant who is available. Once you have
completed this course, you may serve that role for somebody else
if you wish.
B. When you complete A above,
send the following invitation and self-introduction to the Interact Group
List or your private group
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Dear Exploration Course Members,
An announcement or person has invited me to do the Exploring
Psychological Connections With Nature course and I would sincerely
appreciate your help with it. I welcome you to share your experiences
and you attractions to my postings of my activity experiences.
I look forward to hearing from you and look forward to your
help.
Thank You,
Name
Email Contact:
Some things about me that will help you know me better:
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C. Read the short Explore
Course Introductory Article. It contains information
that is also found on other parts of the Project NatureConnect
website. Be sure you are familiar with it. If you have read parts
of it before note if they seem different or more important now
that you are planning to take this short course. Also note where
it is located so you may find it and use it later.
D. Three very important questions that help you successfully
complete this course are answered below. They are based on information
in the Explore Course Introductory
Article so be sure to read it first.
How does the course focus on immediate experiences?
We accomplish this by staying in the immediate natural attractions
of each moment and sharing by email what's happening in the activities,
articles and messages we receive from each other. Experiences
in the moment tend to produce 4-leg knowledge, not inaccurate
5-leg stories.
Seek immediate natural attractions. Try to refrain from bringing
in stories or references outside of your immediate personal experiences
as they tend to take you out of the moment and into cultural
cubby-holes that, as in our history, may trigger arguments and
disunity. If these stories are part of you, own them, they are
there as you in the immediate moment along with nature and your
interact group. If, for example, some author or institution's
dogma has made a statement somewhere and you feel and believe
it, share that part of you as you, not as "Dr. Archibald
says" or "Cathocrucians believe" etc. Stories
that share thoughts and feelings about, or from moments connected
with, nature hold something special in common. They unify rather
than disconnect relationships because that's how nature works.
What makes immediate experiences so important?
Many of the 5-leg stories and beliefs we are attached to come
from a different knowledge base, time, place, way of life, technological
power, ecological and social literacy and old problems that contribute
to today's troubles. Try to be open-minded. Try to discover if
what seemed appropriate then is appropriate now.
What is the significance of immediate experiences with
Nature?
Being born like "well frogs" into a nature disconnected
culture is like any animal, plant or mineral growing in a barrel
full of disconnect pollutant. The pollutant attaches, coats and
sticks to everything and contaminates it. We often are rewarded
and bond to knowing nature in and around us through polluted
glasses and destructive stories that we cherish, depend on, or
addict to, yet they block us from nature and its intelligence.
When we put energies into knowing and teaching through such stories,
we too often pass up opportunities to let nature teach us about
itself in its non-verbal, sensuous, 4-leg, ways. They only exist
in the immediate moment and often tell a different story since
nature's perfection is not nature disconnected.
NOTES:
Participants should be aware of the
following:
This course uses articles and activities in public use elsewhere
on our website. If you have already read or done material it
presents, skim the article or activity for anything you find
additionally attractive in it. Repeating attractive activities
always brings about new growth. One important thing to learn
from repeated material is what purpose it serves for you and
how you can find it again, or share it
with others later.
To help other people learn from our
course experiences, participants agree to allow their postings
to the course to occasionally be shared anonymously with the
public in our webpages and newsletters.
Be sure to get at least one night's sleep between each part
of the course as sleep time is a vital part of the NSTP learning
process.
Suggested timing for the course is to post an activity every
third day, but every day is also acceptable if you have the time.
Each Part takes 2-3 hours if done fully. 10-15 hours total.
COURSE INDEX:
- Introduction:
Prerequisite Instructions. (This page.)
- Part One Being
There: Thoughtful Contemplation and Insight
- Part Two The Breath
of Life: a Secrets of Nature Trail.
When you have completed
A-D above, go on to Part
One
Return to Course Index Page
.
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