Even with all that we know about the current mass extinction of species, damming of rivers and oceans, increases in atmospheric CO2, and all the attendant nature warnings from scientists, green movements and international organizations, it doesn’t seem like we are any closer to shifting the current planetary scenario. As Elisabeth Ryland1 states “There is a gap between knowledge and action”.
M. Finger2 investigated this gap between knowledge and action in a study with the Swiss population, which is high in environmental awareness as well as in pessimism and nervousness about those issues. He discovered that information and awareness generated little impact on most forms of environmental behavior. In fact, environmental awareness was frequently connected to feelings of anxiety and fear. Furthermore, he found out change in environmental behavior is actually linked to personal life experiences.
The continuous exponential migration of populations from rural to urban areas, that started to took place more strongly in the last couple of centuries because of the industrial revolution, has disrupted peoples’ sense of connection to place and led to increased emotional distance the natural environments of the places where they have arrived. No longer being immersed in nature as before decreases the possibility of having a close relationship to forests, so we stopped identifying ourselves as part of nature. Various research has explored and highlighted the connection between environmental attitudes and the sense of being part of, and belonging to, nature. P.W. Schultz et al3 conducted two studies with 260 students and concluded that the more participants associated themselves as part of nature, the more they were concerned with the environment.
Personally, I strongly relate to the research above. Having always lived in big cities throughout my life — Rio de Janeiro, New York and Beijing — I didn’t feel that I was part of nature. I can hardly remember when I climbed a tree when I was younger, or even stopping to notice the birds. I was able to relate to other human beings and care for others who were impacted by social issues such as inequality and social injustice, but I had very little environmental awareness or feeling of being part of nature. To be very honest, most of my life I didn’t care about the more-than-human world or other-than-human beings and felt that everything I saw on the news about the environmental crisis seemed too far away from my reality.
Fortunately, when I got older, I was able to live in a forest and to study in a University that helped me to widely open the door to reconnect to nature again. Training to become a Forest Therapy guide with the Association of Nature & Forest Therapy (ANFT) also deepened my relationship with natural environments and the more-than-human world.
So, if change in environmental behaviour is linked to personal life experiences and to feeling that we are nature, how can we create a path to a more sustainable society? A society where human beings experience the wholeness of nature and therefore feel organically part of this greater whole? Where we feel empowered to act and create change in the path we have been building as a society? In this blog, I’m going to explore a Jungian perspective that can bring us some insights on an alternative way forward.
Four Functions of the Psyche: A Jungian Approach
Since the Scientific Revolution, when the concept of the world as a machine displaced our awareness of the natural, living, and spiritual universe, the act of thinking has been given a greater importance among the psychological functions in our society. These functions are defined by Carl Jung, founder of analytical psychology, as Thinking, Feeling, Intuiting and Sensing (Image further below). Objectivity became predominant among civilization, while other ways of knowing were devalued. Beginning when we were young kids in school our teachers motivated us to cultivate on rationality and our intellectual minds.
Objectivity or the thinking function is not “evil” to our society. It is important to elucidate that its role is extremely significant. It is the Thinking function that collects and analyzes data. Jung4 affirms that the Thinking function is prevalent “[…] when the life of an individual is mainly governed by reflective thinking so that every important action proceeds, or is intended to proceed, from intellectually considered motives. […]”. But Jung emphasized that it must not be the only function we use for knowing the world. It needs to be in balance with the other psychological functions.
The current situation of our society’s lack of care towards the planet reflects the predominance of the Thinking mind. If today our society is mainly concentrated on Thinking, that means that its opposing function, Feeling, as shown in the image below has become the inferior function, which in turn is less developed, primitive and therefore mainly unconscious. In addition, our relationships to the psychological functions of sensation and intuition, are also injured.5
The Four functions of the psyche according to Jung: Thinking, Feeling, Intuiting and Sensing.
But what does that mean? Feeling is mainly an experiential function, understood as the experience of valuing. Through the feeling function we form a sense of the intrinsic value of something or someone. The feeling function is not directly related to emotion, even though emotions might be generated when each of the four psychological functions are activated.5
So, imagine you are not having a good day. You decide to go for a walk in the forest. Suddenly you see a murmuration of birds and that touches you deeply. You feel an appreciation for what you are seeing, and you value both the experience you are having and murmuration itself. That is the Feeling function that Jung refers to, the act of feeling the intrinsic value with your whole being. Another example is experienced by many people when they go to the ocean, where they see this vast infinite being and can deeply feel and value its greatness.
The importance of Feeling seems to have been marginalized by modern western epistemology. James Hillman6 addressed this topic, saying that the Feeling function is largely unconscious in our society having “lain like a buried continent in the collective psyche”.
So, if our power to feel the intrinsic value of nature is dormant in our unconscious because the feeling function is, let’s say, “underdeveloped” or “hidden” in the unconscious at the moment, how are we going to appreciate nature, connect to it and even more, care and protect it?
The path to value nature would be to develop the feeling function again. But, is it possible to reconnect to our Feeling function if it is hidden in the unconscious or undeveloped?
Carl Jung and the post-jungians that continued his work after his death emphasize that in order to activate and develop the inferior function one must first take the path of connecting and developing the other two functions, which are Intuiting and Sensing. To try to jump straight from a predominantly thinking orientation directly to Feeling might bring suffering and a harder time. Therefore the better way to activate the feeling function is to actually focus on our sensing and on activating our senses and on getting in touch with our intuition, building a road to get to the feeling function as a consequence. 6
If the easier path towards caring to nature is to focus on Sensing and Intuiting, let’s further analyse what those two functions mean and how we can further develop them.
In regard to the sensing function, all of our sense organs are involved. It is a perception through conscious sensory processes, like seeing, touching, smelling, tasting, hearing. Forest Therapy is a great way to activate the sensing function because in a Forest Therapy walk participants are invited to be in the present moment and to open the doors to all of their senses being fully in nature.
The training I went through with the ANFT made me open my senses completely and has impacted my presence in nature, helping me to further feel the true value of the more-than-human world. The same happened to other participants that were in the training with me. One wrote:
“It made me a new kind of human being. It cracked open the chains of civilisation in my body and awakened my sensuousness. It allowed my deeper identity to take place inside me. It healed deep wounds of separation and allowed suppressed feelings to come up and out. It revealed my true feelings, also the ones that are forbidden towards the civilized world. I felt the world inside me and I could feel the world feeling me. This deep sense of interconnectedness happened along a deep love and empathy. There is a relationship [with nature] now, where there was numbness before. I know she has wisdom and beauty and everything I need to be nourished. It is all inside me. The forest therapy opens a pathway to mysticism for me. With the awakening of the senses also my extrasensory perception awakes. The access to intuition, visions and the inner knowledge is easier.”
On the other hand, the intuiting feeling is a kind of perception which cannot be traced directly to conscious sensory experience. It is perception by way of unconscious contents and connections and is presented to our conscious minds through pathways like dreams and fantasies. In sensing you can consciously feel the world through your senses, but you cannot sit down on a chair and consciously create an intuition. It is a process that comes from your unconscious, often when least expected. Which raises the question, if the intuition is something that comes from our unconscious, how can we then develop it?
Intuition can be fostered by creating the habit of opening up the doors to our unconscious, to open space in our life for it, to connect to our unconscious in a way that feels right for you. There are many ways that can be done. For example, you can activate your intuition by writing down your dreams every day and by paying attention to what your unconscious has to say to you through your dreams. Another way is to start practicing intuitive art or drawing mandalas, which was something actively done by Jung throughout his whole life. With practices like these, over time intuition and creativity will become much more fluid, coming from the unconscious directly to your conscious mind organically. 5
Jung’s first Mandala, 1916.
Jung further explains:
“[…] sensation and intuition […] are perceptive – they make us aware of what is happening, but do not interpret or evaluate it. They do not act selectively according to principles, but are simply receptive of what happens.”. 5
In Forest Therapy as it is taught by ANFT there is a category of invitations referred to as “imaginal.” Imaginal invitations involve non-rational interactions with nature. They can support the emergence of the intuitive function.
The rising of the least developed functions — Intuiting, Sensing and Feeling – will bring a balance among the four functions that will allow the individual to undergo a process both of healing and of maturation, being more likely to feel wholeness. This path provides a way for the individual psyche to connect with its shared, collective human and nature heritage and to heal its isolation, helplessness, and loneliness. 1
Even though we are in an era where the Thinking function has the tendency to be predominant in our current society, it is important to mention that it does not mean that every individual develops naturally the same predominant function. One can be born with a natural strong intuition, for example, or be motivated by a very artistic family to develop its intuition throughout his/her childhood. However, one is likely to be influenced by our society patterns on developing the Thinking mind since our western way of living emphasizes the rational mind. Still, each one of us can shift from the Thinking function and develop the other four functions. Jung explains:
“One can always shift its predominant function. “The four functions are somewhat like the four points of the compass; they are just as arbitrary and just indispensable. Nothing prevents our shifting the cardinal points as many degrees as we like in one direction or the other[…]”.5
The process of balancing the four functions is an ongoing essential process that enables the individual’s growth towards finding new creative solutions for our current planetary situation; to recognize and feel themselves as nature again and; to change their environmental behavior and act towards a healthier society.