Transpersonal ecopsychology

This option brings the spiritual, psycho-emotional, socio-cultural and ecological aspects of existence together in a related way. It explores, under an evolutionary-ecological framework, the extent to which the quest to ‘find our meaningful place in the scheme of things’, our ‘niche’ or ‘calling’ in the context of the whole, both as persons and as species, is also the key to returning to a healthy ecological functioning of the living body we call planet Earth.

The option begins by outlining the essential, baseline principles and dynamics of ecological life-support systems. All life is made of the primal materials of earth, water, fire (sunlight) and air. Out of these have evolved increasingly complex forms and capacities, to the point of a species that has the capacity to use its knowledge literally to destroy or integrate on a planetary scale.

The option then explains the biology and psychology of individual survival, security and well-being that has driven us to unintentionally put ourselves in this position of collective harm, and the cultural processes that justify our chosen priorities.

The next stage in the option presents the fundamental change of mind and heart that is required to shift from a binary to a systemic, integrative understanding of ourselves, as species and our lives as individuals; the psycho-spiritual and psycho-cultural causes and consequences of ecological breakdown; and the human transformations necessary to resolving it.