It's a very exciting and relevant research area I believe. Seems like psychologists, sociologists and anthropologists will be the ones who make the most interesting contributions to conservation in the coming decades! Imho. Of course you don't need to do an academic course to make a contact and share experiences with indigenous peoples... some of the most personally important learning experiences can happen in your own personal adventures and missions whilst travelling. Here in Brazil for example there's lots of opportunities to share experiences with indigenous peoples. I was chatting today with a friend that here in Brazil perhaps people have a bit more opportunity to orientate and align themselves with the wisdom that is there to be learnt with indigenous peoples. Indigenous wisdom is contained within the lived experience, to a secular westerner who honours science, forms of knowledge that aren't transmitted by written word can seem less valid, less important, or simply invisible. At times it seems that regardless of all the technological advances that the human race makes, for every step we think we take forward, we are sliding back another two steps. Putting so much importance on technology we neglect our own spiritual well-being, we neglect our own physical practical capabilities, we neglect the nurturing of a caring, loving feeling of relationship with our tribe, with our surrounding nature, our home (in the sense of our own bodies and our ecosystems that we inhabit). I've really started to see that people who discard religion and superstition and fixate on science as the one truth, sometimes can be sadly closing themselves off to what might be very important lessons and wisdom (I know that there are many exceptions to this!!!).
Quick definition from Wikipedia:
"Positivism is a philosophical theory stating that certain ("positive") knowledge is based on natural phenomena and their properties and relations. Thus, information derived from sensory experience, interpreted through reason and logic, forms the exclusive source of all certain knowledge."
The thing is, science (positivism) is pretty limited in what it can prove, but for sure there's phenomenon occurring that simply can't (or won't) be proved (yet). More and more I see "positivists" as actually being very dogmatic in their beliefs, which of course they would receive as anathema, surely it's all the religious people that are "dogmatic". Yet science is actually peppered with blind belief (there's a great Ted Talk on this), and I often feel that they [the millions of positivists] arrogantly believe that science is the holder of the only truth. I think it's useful for scientists to be a bit more humble in their stances at times. I'm really interested in the tension that exists between Western knowledge systems and traditional / indigenous knowledge systems, a lot of the literature on this totally taps into this dialectic and contradiction within positivism.
I'm rambling now. I guess the point I wanted to make was a response to your comment about people abandoning religion and moving to a secular stance and belief in science. I personally have come full circle on this issue, from being quite a staunch atheist and proponent of scientific approaches. I still highly value and promote a scientific, that is to say, systematic, studious, rational analysis of a situation and using that as a guide to decide how to go forward. But along my path I came to see that spirituality has a profoundly important role in human society and well-being, for ethical behaviour and moral reasoning, as well as well-being in society. And sometimes as part of that you need to give in to the irrational, to honour ritual and mysticism, to connect directly with feeling, to channel creativity, to encounter the mystical unknown. And we could do well to look to some of the long traditions of religions that have mastered techniques to connect people to the sacred.
Ha ha, still rambling! I'll shut up now.
Don’t mind the rambling, I’m very interested in hearing your point of view 😊
I have some difficulties in expressing myself in English, but I’ll try my best. I really agree with you that science is still very limited in what it can prove, but it is still the one thing that millions of people (at least in The Netherlands) have a blind trust and believe in. Spirituality and phenomena that can’t by proven or explained by science on the other hand, are waved away almost immediately by a lot of people.
Nowadays for example, a lot of children in The Netherlands don’t even know anymore that milk comes from a cow and meat that is in store comes from living animals as well. Or another example, that a lot of western diseases have direct links with the foods we eat today and the materialistic world we live in. To me the answers to these problems lie in being in contact with (your) nature and attuning to nature. But a lot of people think this is nonsense and decide to see nature as an enemy and something that we have no part in. How can we reach these people? How can we show them the benefits of connecting with nature ones more. I think for a lot of people the answer lies in communication on a level that they understand and believe in. For example in The Netherlands more and more food-forests start to arise and people remove bricks from their yards and plant trees and plants (project ‘Operatie Steenbreek’) because to them it lowers temperatures and attracts bees to pollinate their flowers. These people are being convinced through scientific prove and results. These steps that people make are still small, but to me every small step towards nature and towards being in contact with your spirituality, is a step in the good direction.
This was what I meant to say about people not going to churches anymore but instead have faith in science. I have come from this same place and believe that a large amount of the people need to be spoken to in a (scientific) language that they understand in order to want to open themselves to spirituality and to grow on a spiritual level. Some scientists and writers to me can be that bridge between science and spirituality, for example Lloyd Pye and Bryan Hubbard.
I hope I’ve been able to explain my theory in a way that it makes sense..
Hello,
Just home from a long walk so don't have the umph to write much, but yeah, totally. :) You gotta communicate with people in a language they know!