Sense of Self
-By Earth Empowerment
Through Sense of Place and Sense of Community we come to experience ourselves more fully too. We can only truly know ourselves in relationship to others, or in the context of community. The Self in Jungian theory is one of many archetypes. It signifies the coherent whole, unified consciousness and unconscious of a person – ‘the totality of the psyche’. Jung considered that ‘each human being has originally a feeling of wholeness, a powerful and complete sense of the Self‘.
Through experiencing self in relationship to place, and to extended socio-ecological community, we gain a richer, more rounded experience of ourselves: the unique gifts we have to offer life on earth, and what it is that ’makes our heart sing’. Through experiencing and appreciating each other in a celebratory, non-judgmental way that is richly informed by our senses, we develop a fuller appreciation of ourselves. We become more confident about what we have to offer.
Practices, processes and celebrations can encourage us all to take mindful action in our lives. Practices such as various forms of meditation support us in developing a mindful awareness in each moment. Processes such as group discussion hold up a supportive mirror in order that we can see more clearly how we are in the world. And celebrations can be important rites of passage, as we pass through some significant gateway of trans-formation.
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