Dreaming ecology

Sally Gillespie

    Research output: Chapter in Book / Conference PaperChapter

    Abstract

    Climate change is a complex phenomenon which has come to occupy a defining place in contemporary social, theological and political discourses. The overwhelming nature, diversity and complexity of its science and its media reports, provokes intensely charged emotional responses ranging from denial and despair, to activism and millenarianism. While the conscious mind attempts to sort out facts from fictions and ideologies from statistics, unconscious processes (as revealed in dreams) are alert to the collective and individual dilemmas of the ecological devastations as well as to their spiritual dimensions. Carl Jung suggests that when we find ourselves in a difficult situation to which there is no apparent solution, dreams can kindle a light that radically alters our attitude. Dreams will express what the ego cannot face and in times of change dreams can portray the process of spiritual transformation itself, rehearsing different attitudes and responses as well as occasionally prefiguring that transformation. This paper examines the nature of dreams in relation to our spiritual and psychological responses to climate change. I present a series of dreams relating to ecological concerns and climate change and explore how they can provide an understanding and fostering of the personal and collective developmental processes required to meet the challenge of current ecological devastations. I consider these dreams in relation to the process of individuation, through which we become ‘whole and holy’ by entering into what is wounded, transforming suffering into creative response and finding connection to the sacred life of the world.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationEcological Theology and Environmental Ethics, ECOTHEE-11, Vol.2 : Proceedings
    EditorsLucas A. Andrianos, Jan-Willem Sneep, Konstantinos S. Kenanidis
    Place of PublicationGreece
    PublisherInstitute of Theology and Ecology, Orthodox Academy of Crete
    Pages203-210
    Number of pages8
    Edition2nd
    ISBN (Print)9789608638372
    Publication statusPublished - 2012

    Keywords

    • depth psychology
    • dreams
    • climatic changes
    • individuation (philosophy)

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