Recovering the Earth Mind

Session description: The anthropocentric mode of consciousness constructs reality in terms of subjects and objects and is predominantly human focused. This tool-making consciousness enabled homo sapiens to accumulate knowledge, found religions, establish an ego, build civilizations, and develop technology and science. It also created the Anthropocene Era of climate change and mass extinction. Standing in contrast is an Earth-centered mode of consciousness that survives from Paleolithic times. This integrative mode experiences the Earth as a mother, the stones, clouds, insects as relations. Its integrated perceptions of nature are evident in the art of Ice Age caves in Europe and in the living testimony of worldwide indigenous cultures. Although the two mind modes interpenetrate and are equally the creative inheritance of our evolution, the anthropocentric mode has rendered the Earth-embodied mode almost invisible. If we rely solely on our anthropocentric mode of consciousness to solve the climate crisis - managing nature - we risk introducing new technologies that will generate new problems requiring new technologies, driving us further from the natural world we\u27re trying to save. Illustrated with images of cave art, this presentation will invite a discussion of how we might recover our ancient Earth-centered mode of consciousness and find a new balance with nature