Georges Karras

Wild Wilts﴿ Nature and the state of madness

﴿ Wild: Pronunciation: /wʌɪld

1 (Of an animal or plant) living or growing in the natural environment; not domesticated or

cultivated.

1.1 Produced from wild animals or plants without cultivation.

2 (Of a place or region) uninhabited, uncultivated, or inhospitable.

2.1 (Of sea or the weather) rough and stormy.

2.2 (Of people) not civilized; primitive.

2.3 (Of a look, appearance, etc.) indicating distraction or strong emotion.

3 Lacking discipline or restraint.

3.1 Very enthusiastic or excited.

3.2 Very angry.

4 Not based on sound reasoning or probability.

5 Of a playing card) deemed to have any value, suit, colour, or other property in a game at

the discretion of the player holding it.

﴿ Wilt: Pronounciation: /wɪlt

1 (Of a plant, leaf, or flower) become limp through heat, loss of water, or disease; droop.

1.1 (Of a person) lose energy, vigour, or confidence.

2 Leave (mown grass or a forage crop) in the open to dry partially before being collected

for silage.

Pictures : Georges Karras · Texts : wikipedia.org · Definitions : Oxford dictionaries 2014.

Wildness is literally the quality of being wild or untamed, but further to this, it has been defined

as a quality produced in nature (Thoreau 1906), as that which emerges from a forest (Micoud

1993), and as a level of achievement in nature (Cookson 2004). More recently, it has been

defined as 'a quality of interactive processing between organism and nature where the realities

of base natures are met, allowing the construction of durable systems. It differs from

wilderness, which is a place where wildness occurs.

Human perceptions of wildness

Wildness is often mentioned in the writings of naturalists, such as John Muir and David

Brower, where it is admired for its freshness and otherness. Henry David Thoreau wrote the

famous phrase, “In wildness is the preservation of the world.” Some artists and photographers

such as Eliot Porter explore wildness in the themes of their works. The benefits of reconnecting

with nature by seeing the achievements of wildness is an area being investigated

by ecopsychology.

Attempts to identify the characteristics of wildness are varied. One consideration sees wildness

as that part of nature which is not controllable by humans. Nature retains a measure of

autonomy, or wildness, apart from human constructions (Evanoff, 2005). Another version of

this theme is that wildness produces things that are natural, while humans produce things that

are artificial (man-made). Ambiguities about the distinction between the natural and the

artificial animate much of art, literature and philosophy. There is the perception that naturally

produced items have a greater elegance over artificial things.

Another view of wildness is that it is a social construct (Callicott 1994), and that humans cannot

be considered innately ‘unnatural’. As wildness is claimed to be a quality that builds from

animals and ecosystems, it often fails to be considered within reductionist theories for nature.

Meanwhile, an ecological perspective sees wildness as "(the degree of) subjection to natural

selection pressures", many of which emerge independently from thebiosphere. Thus modern

civilization - contrasted with all humanity - can be seen as an 'unnatural' force (lacking

wildness) as it strongly insulates its population from many natural selection mechanisms,

including interspecific competition such as predation and disease, as well as

some intraspecific phenomena.

Wildness in Human Psychology

The basic idea of ecopsychology is that while the human mind is shaped by the modern social

world, it can be readily inspired and comforted by the wider natural world, because that is the

arena in which it originally evolved. Mental health or unhealth cannot be understood in the

narrow context of only intrapsychic phenomena or social relations. One also has to include the

relationship of humans to other species and ecosystems. These relations have a deep

evolutionary history; reach a natural affinity within the structure of their brains and they have

deep psychic significance in the present time, in spite of urbanization. Humans are dependent

on healthy nature not only for their physical sustenance, but for mental health, too.

Reasons to embrace nature

Ecopsychology explores how to develop emotional bonds with nature. It considers this to be

worthwhile because when nature is explored and viewed without judgement, it gives the

sensations of harmony, balance, timelessness and stability. Ecopsychology largely

rejects reductionist views of nature that focus upon rudimentary building blocks such

as genes, and that describe nature as selfish and a struggle to survive. Ecopsychology

considers that there has been insufficient scientific description and exploration of nature, in

terms of wildness, parsimony, spirituality and emotional ties. For example, parsimony is the

best way to produce an evolutionary tree of the species (cladistics), suggesting that

parsimonious adaptations are selected. Yet today, the brain is often seen as complicated and

governed by inherited mind modules, rather than being a simple organ that looks for

parsimony within the influences of its surroundings, resulting in the compaction in minds of

a great diversity of concepts.

Practical benefits

Certain researchers propose that an individual's connection to nature can improve their

interpersonal relationships and emotional wellbeing. An integral part of this practice is to

remove psychotherapy, and the individual, from the interior of office buildings and homes and

place them outdoors. According to the precepts of ecopsychology, a walk in the woods or a city

park is refreshing because it is what humans evolved to do. Psychologists such as Roger Ulrich,

Rachel and Stephen Kaplan, Frances Kuo and others have studied the beneficial effects of

inhabiting natural settings and of looking at pictures of landscapes on the human psyche.

Richard Louv's Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit

Disorder discusses in detail how the exposure of children to nature can assist in treating mental

disorders, including attention deficit disorder.

Another premise of ecopsychology is that steps taken to accept and notice nature can sharpen

the senses and help people cultivate new skills. For example, the ability to track and navigate

through a wilderness is improved if nature is noticed and accepted rather than feared. Similarly,

ecopsychology proposes that sailors who appreciate the sea gain a keen sense for breeze

directions.

Cultures that embrace nature

In its exploration of how to bond with nature, ecopsychology is interested in the examples

provided by a wide variety of ancient and modern cultures that have histories of embracing

nature. Examples include aboriginal, pagan, Buddhist, and Hindu cultures, as well as

shamanism and the more recent hesychast tradition. Of interest is how identity becomes

entwined with nature, so that loss of those sacred places is far more devastating to indigenous

people than often understood. Native American stories, in particular, illustrate a socially

recognized sense of community between humans and the natural landscape. Eastern Orthodox

monks led a contemplative life deeply intertwined with nature. Other lessons include how to

live sustainably within an environment and the self-sacrifices made to tolerate natural limits,

such as population control or a nomadic existence that allows the environment to regenerate.

Moreover, certain indigenous cultures have developed methods of psychotherapy involving the

presence of trees, rivers, and astronomical bodies

Pain and delusions without nature

Ecopsychologists have begun detecting unspoken grief within individuals, an escalation of pain

and despair, felt in response to widespread environmental destruction. The field of

ecopsychology intends to illustrate how environmental disconnection functions as an aspect of

existing pathologies, without creating a new category. The contention is that if a culture is

disconnected from nature, then various aspects of an individual's life will be negatively

impacted. It also believes that that without the influence of nature, humans are prone to a variety

of delusions, and that to some degree life in the wild forms the basis for human sanity and

optimal psychological development. The topic is explored in detail Paul Shepard's book Nature

and Madness. It is also proposed that separation from outdoor contact causes a loss of sensory

and information-processing ability that was developed over the course of human evolution,

which was spent in direct reciprocity with the environment.

Biophilia hypothesis

The biophilia hypothesis suggests that there is an instinctive bond between human beings and

other living systems. Edward O. Wilson introduced and popularized the hypothesis in his

book, Biophilia (1984). He defines biophilia as "the urge to affiliate with other forms of life".

The term "biophilia" literally means "love of life or living systems." It was first used by Erich

Fromm to describe a psychological orientation of being attracted to all that is alive and

vital. Wilson uses the term in the same sense when he suggests that biophilia describes "the

connections that human beings subconsciously seek with the rest of life.” He proposed the

possibility that the deep affiliations humans have with nature are rooted in our biology.

Unlike phobias, which are the aversions and fears that people have of things in the natural

world, philias are the attractions and positive feelings that people have toward certain habitats,

activities, and objects in their natural surroundings.

To many people, "nature" means plants as in a park or forest, but the weather and animals are

also closely involved. In the book Children and Nature: Psychological, Sociocultural, and

Evolutionary Investigations edited by Peter Kahn and Stephen Kellert, the importance of

animals, especially those with which a child can develop a nurturing relationship, is emphasised

particularly for early and middle childhood. Chapter 7 of the same book reports on the help that

animals can provide to children with autistic-spectrum disorders.

Product of biological evolution

Human preferences toward things in nature, while refined through experience and culture, are

hypothetically the product of biological evolution. For example, adult mammals

(especially humans) are generally attracted to baby mammal faces and find

them appealing across species. The large eyes and small features of any young mammal face are

far more appealing than those of the mature adults. The biophilia hypothesis suggests that the

positive emotional response that adult mammals have toward baby mammals across species

helps increase the survival rates of all mammals.

Similarly, the hypothesis helps explain why ordinary people care for and sometimes risk their

lives to save domestic and wild animals, and keep plants and flowers in and around their homes.

In other words, our natural love for life helps sustain life.

Very often, flowers also indicate potential for food later. Most fruits start their development as

flowers. For our ancestors, it was crucial to spot, detect and remember the plants that would

later provide nutrition.

Ecospirituality

Ecospirituality connects the science of ecology with spirituality. It brings together religion

and environmental activism. Proponents may come from a range of faiths including Islam;

Catholic, Evangelical and Orthodox Christianity; Judaism; Buddhism and indigenous

traditions. Ecosprituality claims that there is 'a spiritual dimension to our present ecological

crisis.'

As one advocate explains: Eco-spirituality is about helping people experience "the holy" in the

natural world and to recognize their relationship as human beings to all creation.

Ecospirituality has been influenced by the ideas of deep ecology. Similarly to ecopsychology, it

refers to the connections between the science of ecology and the study of psychology. 'Earth-

based' spirituality is another term related to ecospirituality.