Rewilding Gestalt: Creative Connection to Self, Other, and Planet

Abstract

Organizations create cultures to protect their theories of change, and culture undermines strategy.—AYNI InstituteI became engaged with change as a young child, around four years old, from the moment my instincts guided me to clutch small change in my own hand, pretending to drop it into a basket, known as the silent collection at a fundamentalist church led by the infamous Reverend Ian Paisley. Surrounded by familiar, yet alien giants I relied on and loved, and intimidated by their strict and punitive culture, I chose to self-organize a form of equine therapy. Hanging out with horses, riding, falling, getting injured, and getting back on. My growing up in one form of cultural coercion with its self-organizing liberation, shifted when I was 10. The State responded to the north of Ireland’s civil rights uprising, with violence that did not cease beyond the official ceasefires of 1994, or the Good Friday peace agreement of 1999. I empathized with rebellion from my felt sense (Gendlin 2003), exploring community as support in changing fields (see Burrows 2020). From 1990, I embraced the Gestalt perspective of as “life as adventure,” which supported my work with social change for 30 years at every level of system (see Nevis 2005), including:In my experience, we need to—what I call—rewild the Gestalt approach to include trauma-informed risk assessment, genuinely supportive and independent regulation of Institutes, and so evolve creative Eco Gestalt approach to change. Rewilding Gestalt theory and practice aligned to neuroscience, developmental theory, and dynamics of connection/disconnection, which embrace human diversity and other-than-human biodiversity outdoors as much as indoors. I am evolving fresh Gestalt concepts and a holistic, ethical, and compassionate approach to working with inner and outer relational dynamics inclusive of the local and wider ecosystem we rely on. This is aligned to what Malcolm Parlett (2015) calls holistic intelligence, relevant to now-to-next local and global dynamics in need of sustainable transformation, as we confront with courage and creativity the 2030 target for zero carbon emissions (Figueres and Rivett-Carnac 2020). Let us rewild and decolonize for the sheer joy of a deeper connection to who we truly are, for our own sake, for future generations, and for this beautiful earth.