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Institute of Global Education Part 6 Orientation Course Instructions |
PROJECT NATURECONNECTSECTION 3: INTERACT GROUP PROTOCOL
Is the course based on day by day as well as long term commitments?
Because course participants learn, in part, from and through each other, an essence of this program is for each participant to painstakingly fulfill their commitment to participate once they make that commitment. In addition, each participant commits to giving and seeking support to and from their interact group members regarding their course experiences, thoughts and feelings.
How do course participants actually study themselves and
each other?
One thing we study in the course is how we and others relate
to the natural world in ourselves, others and nature. To have
this work, we ask participants to make commitments as to what
they are doing and going to do, and keep the commitments. If
a participant finds they can't keep a commitment, then they let
the group know that they have to change the commitment and, if
possible, gain consent to make the change. For example, if the
assignment says: Day 3 read Article 6 and you're going to be
away on day 3, drop a note to this effect to the interact group
and say you'll get that assignment done by day four, then be
sure and get it done on time or change it again. In this way
language promotes trust and integrity rather than misleads us.
It shows we care about our effects upon nature in people and
places. Nature does this same thing non-verbally; to our cost,
we have become insensitive to many of these attraction communications.
Why does the course insist that participants learn to make
conscious sensory contact with and in natural areas?
Let me repeat the example in the article
that is part of these instructions. Perhaps you have already
run across this type of question asked on an intelligence test
given to the candidates seeking a worthwhile job: "If you
count a wolf's tail as one of its legs, how many legs does a
wolf have?"
"Five," of course, is the answer. Intelligent people say "five." You probably don't get the job if you don't say "five" because the question addresses your mathematical-logic ability. However, our sense of reason only recognizes five as correct until we additionally validate what we know from our, or others, contact with a real wolf. Then, many of our other natural senses come into play: sight, touch, motion, color, texture, language, sound, consciousness, contrast, and love. Each of these natural senses help our sense of reason make more sense and recognize that a tail is different than a leg, that a wolf ordinarily has four legs, not five. Consider this:5-leg phenomenon:
"Aristotle thought there were eight legs on a fly and wrote it down. For centuries scholars were content to quote his authority. Apparently, not one of them was curious enough to impale a fly and count its six legs."
- Stuart Chase
Does the course support all kinds of learning and ways
of knowing?
Although all people are biologically and psychologically
part of nature, contemporary people mostly learn and are habitually
conditioned or addicted to know nature from 5-leg, out-of-touch,
"as if," stories about nature. Often we cling to our
stories in the belief that our survival or well being now, or
in the hereafter, depend on us acting from them. The course is
psychologically unique in that it offers additional sensory experiences
with nature on a 4-leg basis.
Why is nature connected learning the course focus?
Many course members have a great deal of 5-leg. "as
if" knowledge and intelligence that has been accumulated
from and continues to mold our nature-disconnected, contemporary
world. In addition, many of us learn not to "walk our talk."
For example, we might be individualistic exceptions to the rule
and say "a wolf has four legs" but we might also have
learned to think and act based on "The only good wolf is
a dead wolf." Genuine contact with attractive things about
wolves that we observe in a real wolf pack society can help us
change that idea along with the notion that a wolf's tail counts
as one of its legs. After all, on some level every wolf is intelligent
enough to know that its tail is not one of its legs. Wolves can
be more appreciated when we see that they relate to each other
cooperatively and lovingly, like dogs are when they are part
of human families or that there is no record that a wolf has
ever attacked a person.
How does the course help us undo our destructive relationshps?
Too often without realizing it, we have been taught to dance
to the drumbeat of "as if" messages that produce destructive
thoughts and relationships and that are seldom found in natural
systems. The deteriorating state of ecosystems and people suggest
that we must improve the "as if" drumbeat of the way
we learn to think about and relate to the natural world and its
people. The course addresses this problem through developing
respect and "4-leg" contact with "genuine"
nature and with people as part of nature. We then learn to think
and relate based on our 4-leg experiences rather than misleading
5-leg stories.
Aren't many of our 5-leg stories deeply ingrained and unchangeable?
Some of us are very attached our "as if" way of
knowing the world. For this reason we are also very attached
to teaching or preaching it as well. Painstakingly try not to
influence the class with your conditioned or favorite way of
knowing (your religion, political party, vocational or academic
training, factual knowledge, race, subculture, etc.) Instead,
if it is attractive to you, help the interact group discover
if or how your and their past information gels with what you
personally have or may learn from conscious sensory contact with
natural areas through the activities and people on the course.
Is the course atmosphere safe?
Each participant's commitment to refrain from bringing the
group into their stories from elsewhere helps establish the atmosphere
of good will and trust that allows group email relationships
to form safely. If you have any questions or doubts about your
ability or desire to relate on the course this way, please explore
the self-evidence activity found at http://www.ecopsych.com/selfevidence.html.
Most people find it a useful and helpful tool here and for application
elsewhere, as well.
Please proceed to Part Seven
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..........ALTERNATIVES