Returning the Self to Nature: Undoing Our Collective Narcissism and Healing Our Planet - Paperback

by Jeanine M. Canty (Author)

Nautilus Book Award Winner

Using the lens of ecopsychology, Returning the Self to Nature shows that the pervasive and extreme forms of narcissism we find in many modern societies are fundamentally the result of alienation from the natural world. But it doesn't have to be that way.

Returning the Self to Nature is written for the person who no longer wishes to function in a world that revolves around selfish, disconnected identity models and yearns to step into healthy relationships with one's self, one's community, and our planet.

Seeing the suffering of the planet and that of humans as inseparably linked--the ecological crisis as psychological crisis, and vice versa--opens the door to a mutuality of healing between people and nature. At the heart of both chronic and acute forms of narcissism is a socially constructed false self--an isolated, damaged ego in a delusional cycle of selfishness.

Through unflinching analysis and meditation practices that encourage visualizing and embodying the wild naturalness of being human, the reader will gain skills to begin experiencing a courageous, pluralistic, and ecological self. This book is an invitation to wake up from the dream of the false self and join the movement toward social and planetary healing.

Author Biography

JEANINE M. CANTY is a professor in the Transformative Studies Doctoral program at the California Institute for Integral Studies. Formerly the chair of Environmental Studies at Naropa University, she continues to teach at Naropa and at Pacifica Graduate Institute's Ecopsychology certificate program. Her edited volumes are Ecological and Social Healing: Multicultural Women's Voices and Globalism and Localization: Emergent Approaches to Ecological Crises.