Theory and practise

From ecosystems to social systems, technology to language, chemical reactions to biological happenings, ideas to language, histories to possible futures, human creatures to the more-than-human, this planet to the wider universe: all things seems to be entangled in relationship with something else (and often, many other somethings).

Biology, chemistry, physics, ecology, and more, shows us that we human creatures are ecological beings, living within an ecological universe, shaped by - and shaping - all sorts of ecological happenings.

While philosophical enquiry is a pathway into exploring the nature of existence, knowledge, reality, and ethics, ecological enquiry is a pathway into exploring the relational nature of existence, knowledge, reality, and ethics. In philosophical enquiry, we might hold enquiries such as: ‘What is a good life?’,‘What it is to be human?’, ‘Is there a God?’, ‘What is consciousness?’.

In ecological enquiry, we might hold enquiries such as: 'What individual and collective stories are shaping me and being shaped by me, and what are these worlding?’ ‘Is life relational, and, if it is, what does that mean for being a human creature on this planet?’ ‘What is the difference between ecologicalness as an innate state and a way of being?’, ‘How do we best move through a multigenerational, multicultural, multispecies world?’

Like all useful enquiries, ecological enquiry is rooted in the daily relationships, interactions, hopes, and challenges of our lives. It is therefore not an intellectual endeavour but a practical undertaking, a way of connecting with information and wisdom through personal lived experience and collective knowledge.

To practise ecological enquiry, we can draw on biology, physics, chemistry, ecology, system thinking, and more, exploring the patterns of aliveness found in the structure of the universe and in matter, time, being, and change.

We can attune to what we feel and experience as sensory, embodied creatures that connect with colours, and sound, and beauty, and sensation, and our environment, and more.

We can open ourselves to the knowledge available from dreaming, imagining, remembering, visualising, presencing, and sensing.

We can actively and skilfully process and respond to information, evidence, ideas, and beliefs in a way that aims to lead to sound conclusions and behaviour. The below image is a slide that captures the four areas of exploration. Click on the image to enlarge it.