Below is the abstract I submitted to the International Conference on BT in 2024. It was accepted and I would appreciate any thoughts/ comments/suggestions as I work on the presentation. Thank you
Mankind’s Relationship with the Earth Via the Lens of Bowen Theory
Ann V. Nicholson, RN, MS, CS
Dr. Bowen states: “The more mankind knows about the human phenomenon, the more he
should be able to ultimately use it in the monumental problems that rob him of conscious choice in decisions that affect him and his environment” (Bowen1978).
It is a scientific fact that the activities of the human species have been and continue to be the driving force in altering our climate. We have moved from the stability of the Holocene age, which fostered the birth of civilization to a new geological epoch, the Anthroprocene, the age of humans. Professor Christopher Ripley, a climate scientist at University College, London refers to the Anthropocene as the period where human activity has dominated the planetary machinery.
How did this happen? How did the human assume a dominant position in relation to the Earth, a life sustaining resource essential for the survival of all living organisms?
This paper will explore humankind’s historical relationship with the Earth and the impact it has had on human functioning in relation to family, non-kin, community and larger social groups. It is assumed that the more man distanced from the land, seemingly no longer depending on it for his sustenance and survival, the more he lost the capacity to live cooperatively with nature and with each other.
The research of Joanne Bowen, PhD regarding colonial families in Suffolk, CT demonstrates how shifts in agricultural and economic practices affecting the procurement of food altered the way families organized themselves around the land and each other. Tracking the distancing from the land, from hunter-gatherers to industrial agriculture reveals the gradual loss of connection to the land and the growing denial of our interdependency on the Earth, each other and all forms of life.
In a sense, our changing climate is a symptom of an underlying problem driven by the emotional system which has led to a disconnect within ourselves, and with each other and the Earth itself. It is very difficult for the human to see himself as simply another resident on planet Earth, with a shared responsibility for the planet we call home. It is very difficult to see how our inability to regulate our deeply rooted biological instincts has brought us to what may become the most challenging time in human history. The inability of humans to know self more accurately and objectively limits their ability to recognize their part in the environmental problem and move toward problem solving that acknowledges the responsibility of each generation to the next.
Climate change could be the motivator for the human to influence his own evolution. Bowen theory can speak to the process where this could be possible for mankind to achieve.
In the words of Murray Bowen:
“I believe the future of the human being will involve two natural forces. One will be to more fully utilize the brain he has developed. The other will cause the brain to faster evolve toward a separation of emotions and objectivity. In the coming decades and centuries, man will be able to more fully separate the two. That I believe is the future for the human being.” (Bowen1988)
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Bowen, M. (1978).Family Therapy in Clinical Practice. New York: Jason Aronson.
Bowen,M.(1988).Murray Bowen Working Papers (Acc. 2005-055, Box 3, Folder Erosion of Theory, The Future of the Mental Health Profession. History of Medicine Division, National Library of Medicine,Bethesda,Maryland).
Ann, I so appreciate your long-term work on climate change and the environment, and I admire your ability to look deeply into a such a anxiety-producing problem (for me, at least). I like the use of Joanne Bowen’s work in your abstract. History is so helpful in giving us perspective on human behavior and interesting to think about in terms of theory, and you and Joanne use it effectively. Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapeins offers some interesting, if controversial, ideas about early human behavior, as does Behave, Robert Sapolsky. Thanks for your work on this.
Ann,
So much good thinking in this abstract. You really get to the essence of the problem of human disharmony with Earth, the increasing distancing and lack of awareness of our dependence on and impact on the natural world. Two more specific topics that you might consider for your presentation at the Florida conference: 1) consumer culture, the overproduction and consumption and waste of food and other resources; 2) reliance on technology, the magical thinking that we can invent out way out of climate change without needing to change our behavior. Defining what change will take in behavioral terms is helpful.
Ann,
Thank you for submitting your inspirational abstract here. It is the clearest statement of your ideas that I remember reading. It has been hard for me to get my head around Joanne’s anthropology and Bowen theory. If they fit together, how do they fit? I’m excited about your abstract and planned presentation at the International conference. You have years of reading and processing issues of climate change, and thinking about it from your deep understanding and practice in Bowen theory. You are on your way to integrating complex ideas that don’t easily speak to each other. I think your abstract and beyond the abstract, your continued work on this integration, is important.
Laurie