Hello and welcome to rewilding philosophy, your newsletter about ekophilosophical health for our times or in other words: life advice, but with values.
The way I understand ekoPhilosophy is as a tool for self-transformation, and with that, a potential tool to change our institutions, infrastructures, and policies. Because ultimately, these are created by us.
This simplistic theory of change needs some footnotes, though. The self is not an isolated part that can take full control—neither of the human or more-than-human world nor of “itself.”
The idea that we are in full control to change ourselves into whatever we want, as promoted by thousands of popular self-help books, is foolish. At the same time, the idea that we can’t change anything about ourselves because we are entangled beings is also foolish.
Let me back up a little.
The idea of the self is complex and multifaceted, influenced by various philosophical, psychological, and cultural perspectives.
Origins of the Self
In “Self-Made” Tara Isabelle Burton writes that “the idea that we are self-makers is encoded into almost every aspect of Western contemporary life. We not only can but should customize and create and curate every facet of our lives to reflect our inner truth. We are all in thrall to the seductive myth that we are supposed to become our best selves.” She continues saying that “Our obsession with self-creation is also an obsession with the idea that we have the power that we once believed God did: to remake ourselves and our realities, not in the image of God but in that of our own desires.”
Self-transformation then stems from a specific idea of the nature of reality, our place in it, and of who or what “created” humanity to begin with.
While the ideas around the individual, separate self can be traced back to a few individuals, such as Descartes or Bacon—who undoubtedly had a huge influence—such big cultural shifts are part of a zeitgeist that emerges from a multitude of people, cultures, landscapes, and other beings, ultimately expressed by and conglomerating by a few single persons.
Burton traces the roots of the self-making ideology back to the Renaissance. Famous figures like Leonardo da Vinci embodied the idea of self-creation and individualism and according to her, this period marked a shift from collective identities rooted in religion and community to more individualized conceptions of the self. The Enlightenment, with an emphasis on reason and individual rights, further solidified the idea that individuals could shape their destinies through knowledge and personal effort. In our modern times, this concept has been amplified by the rise of consumer culture, social media, and the self-help industry. The idea that we can (and should) curate and create our identity to reflect our inner truth has become pervasive, which has led to an obsession with self-creation, where we seek to mold every aspect of our lives to mirror our personal desires and aspirations.
Thinking with other authors in the space of regeneration and relational thinking, such as Freya Mathews, Jeremy Lent, Alexis Shotwell, and others, the Western notion of a separate self is rooted in dualistic thinking, which separates mind from body and humans from nature and with that, it’s predominantly a philosophical problem. From a relational perspective the separate self doesn’t exit. Instead, the self is a dynamic, interconnected web of relationships, continuously shaped by intra-actions with the environment, other beings, and the more-than-human world. Our identities and actions are co-created through these ongoing exchanges, making true autonomy impossible.
In the WEIRD world, we have become a culture that fundamentally believes the self is a separate individual, not part of the natural world, exempt from it even, and able to control it. This has not only led to exploitative practices and many of the disasters we face today, but it has also led us to believe we are the sole authors of our life stories and in full control of changing anything about them. If we don’t succeed, we blame ourselves.
For those of us who work at the intersection of individual and eco-societal transformations, assuming—like self-help generally does and which peaks with people like David Goggins and Jocko Willink—that individuals are fully responsible for who they are has led to ongoing debates about individual action vs. systems change. When we think with relational philosophies that take the self to be relational and thus never fully autonomous or independent, we begin to understand that the self and the system are not as separate as we took them to be.
With that thought, the questions are: Where then do we start? How do we change ourselves when there is no self? How do we transform a relational being that is us?
The way I came to think about it is as follows:
You are in full control to change yourself.
"No man is free who is not master of himself." Epicectus
All true empowerment comes from self-mastery.
If you fully harnessed your inner potential, the external world would hold no sway over you.
The only way to achieve genuine fulfillment is to take complete control of your own transformation.
Most limitations are self-imposed.
To conform to societal expectations is to forfeit your true identity.
Embrace your autonomy.
Don’t seek validation.
Don’t even react to criticism, because that’s relinquishing power.
Instead, act as you would if your only judge were your own conscience.
People think we’re governed by external circumstances, societal norms, and expectations.
But none of it is unchangeable.
They’re just the projections of limited minds.
Conventional wisdom is stagnant, and reinforces mediocrity.
Don’t align yourself with any conventional path.
Don’t fight meaningless battles.
“If I had succumbed to the “I’m only human” mentality, I never would have dug myself out of the deep hole I was in at twenty - four years old. Because the second you utter those words, the white towel is fluttering in the air, and your mind stops looking for more fuel.” David Goggins
Instead of trying to fit in, carve out your unique path.
Ignore the noise of social media and fleeting trends.
Their superficiality will dilute your purpose.
Don’t confine yourself to any predefined role or identity.
Stay flexible and limitless.
Labels and stereotypes were created to box people in — to maintain the status quo.
None of it defines you.
In the past, survival depended on conformity and fitting into societal molds.
Today, you can thrive by fully embracing your individuality.
Break free from those molds.
The crowd chatters.
People offer opinions.
It doesn’t define you.
What they think and say is irrelevant to your true potential, even if it seems personal.
“So focus on making yourself who you want you to be: Faster. Stronger. Smarter. More humble. Less ego.” Jocko Willink
You don’t see things as they are.
You see them as you are.
Change yourself and you change the world.
You are an entangled being, unable to change yourself.
“In the beginning is relation—as category of being” Martin Buber
All true wisdom comes from recognizing our entanglement with the more-than-human world.
If you understood your co-consitution with the earth, plants, animals, and elements, you would find true belonging.
The only way to be deeply fulfilled is to embrace these relationships.
Solutions are ecological.
To be part of the world is to gain a deeper understanding of your place within your entanglements.
Honor your ties with every living being.
Engage fully.
Don’t merely observe, because that’s detaching.
Instead, act as you would if you were a thread in the web of existence.
People think we live in isolated bubbles, governed by individualism and separation.
But none of it is true.
They’re just illusions of disconnection.
They’re the silent cries of a fragmented understanding.
You are a part of many ecosystems, human and more-than-human.
You are an ecosystem.
Ecosystems are resilient, and cultivate wisdom.
Change is subject to the constraints of your environment.
Injustices emerged from multilayered, systemic, environmental, and institutionalized influences.
Making you you.
You are not to blame.
Engage with the rhythms of nature and the cycles of the seasons.
Don’t push.
Align with every being and cultivate a deep sense of kinship.
Stay connected and grounded.
Know your ancestors.
You are because they were.
Your body continues their story.
There are no individuals. You are no individual.
Individuals and the boundaries between them are sociomaterially and performatively reconfigured.
They are superpositionalities.
Emerging through the ongoing interference of natural cultural waves such as gender and climate change. Momentarily articulable sociomaterial relational locations which are both.
Situated and dynamic.
“As all-pervading symbiosis continues to challenge the notion of classical individuality, scientists have also introduced the notion of a “holobiont” in the study of behaviors of organisms and their evolution. A holobiont is an assemblage of a host and many other organisms living in or around it, which together form a discrete ecological unit through symbiosis. In this framework, some biologists claim that almost all development is co-development, whereby multispecies grow and adapt in tandem with each other—that is, in symbiosis with each other. This way, “natural selection” in an evolutionary process is more about nature selecting “‘relationships’ rather than individuals or genomes.” Bing Song
Wolves howl.
Trees whisper.
It means everything.
What they convey and do defines your existence, even if it seems distant.
You are not alone; you are a fully entangled being, always in relation with the world around you.
Every breath you take is a gift from the trees, and in return, you offer them your exhalation.
Every meal you eat is a testament to the entanglement of life and death, of sun, soil, and water.
You are woven into the fabric of the cosmos.
Every action you take reverberates through it.
Listen to the wisdom of the rivers and the mountains.
They have stories to tell, lessons to impart.
Feel the pulse of the earth beneath your feet and understand that it is the same pulse that beats within your veins.
Your wellbeing is intertwined with the health of the ecosystems that surround you.
Who you are is inescapable from what the world is.
You cannot change in isolation; your transformation is a collective process.
True freedom is found not in separation, but in deep connection.
True change can happen only in the relationship.
Both/and
Practicing ekoPhilosophy is to know which of these seemingly opposing perspectives to take when.
Personally, I try to act in a way that assumes I am fully accountable for my actions, such as producing as little trash as possible. When I see others acting in ways I judge as harmful, I acknowledge their entanglement and try to be compassionate. My default is to presume full responsibility for myself while recognizing inescapable entanglement for others. This approach prevents me from becoming bitter while giving me a strong sense of agency.