DeepSummary
The podcast episode is a conversation with Dr. Gavin van Horn, the executive director of the Center for Humans and Nature. He discusses the concept of "orphanhood," a feeling of disconnection and separation from the natural world, and how this has been a product of Western culture's individualism and human-centric worldview. He advocates for the practice of "kinning," or actively fostering a sense of kinship and reciprocal relationship with other living beings and the land.
Van Horn emphasizes the importance of using our full bodily senses, rather than just relying on sight and cognition, to truly experience our embeddedness within ecosystems. He suggests practices like walking barefoot and quieting the mind to become more receptive to the world around us. He also reflects on the limitations of human language in capturing the complexity of interrelationships, and the need to hold words and categories loosely.
Towards the end, the conversation explores the societal disconnect between those who accumulate power and capital versus those who value community and ecological reciprocity. Van Horn expresses uncertainty about how to resolve this dysfunction but encourages following a sense of wonder, magic, and collectivism rather than hyperindividualism.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- The practice of "kinning" - cultivating kinship and reciprocity with other beings/nature through embodied presence
- A critique of Western individualism and human separation from the rest of life
- The importance of engaging all bodily senses, not just sight/cognition, to feel embedded in ecosystems
- Recognizing the limits of human language to capture the complexity of relationships
- Holding views/categories/language loosely and with humility
- Finding awe, wonder and "life-enhancing" experiences as guides
- Questioning human-centric binary thinking like human/nature division
- The societal disconnect between capital/power accumulation and valuing community/ecology
Top Episodes Quotes
- “Follow the mystery and the magic and the wonder. And I think that that will steer you in the right direction.“ by Gavin van Horn
- “Instead of being head over heels, to be heels over head and to privilege your sense of touch. I think that shifts the weight of an overactive mind back into the body and what our full body mind experiences.“ by Gavin van Horn
- “By using that kind of language, that kind of pronoun language, we essentially have characterized the world as full of objects, I think, said, and not subjects.“ by Gavin van Horn
- “I think that there is probably a recognition of when you're working against your own interests, your own full flourishing as a person. And probably there are moments where the sun breaks through the clouds and you see that you feel deeply in your bones something that is life enhancing.“ by Gavin van Horn
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Episode Information
Green Dreamer: Seeding change towards collective healing, sustainability, regeneration
Kamea Chayne
6/7/22
"Instead of being head over heels, be heels over head—privilege your sense of touch. I think that shifts the weight of an overactive mind back into the body, [towards] our full body-mind experiences."
In this episode, we welcome Gavin Van Horn, Ph.D, Executive Editor at the Center for Humans and Nature and leads the Book Series for the Center for Humans and Nature Press. He is the co-editor, with Robin Wall Kimmerer and John Hausdoerffer, of the five-volume series, Kinship: Belonging in a World of Relations; and the author of The Way of Coyote: Shared Journeys in the Urban Wilds.
(The musical offering in this episode is Power to Change by Luna Bec.)
Support our in(ter)dependent show: GreenDreamer.com/support