Listening to Nature
5.4 Perspectives on Listening to Nature
The three previous ways to expand our capacities for listening to nature (expanding the senses, flow learning, and forest bathing) can be better understood from three different listening perspectives. Each listening perspective represents a deeper level of listening to nature. These listening perspectives are partly informed by Sean Blenkinsop and Laura Piersol’s [1]naturalistic observations of children in nature. Based on this article, the previous literature review, my personal experience, and my reading of student journals of nature experiences for the past decade, I posit at least three distinct perspectives for listening to nature. I label these listening perspectives observation and emotion, active symbolic imagining and meaning-making, and mystical-spiritual. Next, each of these listening perspectives is described.
Imagine spontaneously smiling at the sight of a purple iris in bloom on a sunny spring day. Now imagine seeing the wagging tail of the family dog (or neighbor’s dog) after a long day at work and feeling happy as you pet the dog. These direct encounters with nature illustrate the connection between observation and emotion. We observe something in nature using the five senses and feel emotion(s). These direct sensorial encounters with nature are listening to nature. Observation is an act of listening. Focusing attention on a particular object in nature, perceiving and interpreting (e.g., naming the object), and emotionally responding are also part of the listening process. This perspective of listening is probably the most common experience of listening to nature. It is also the fundamental building block for the next two perspectives on listening to nature. I call this first perspective of listening to nature the “observational-emotional” perspective.
Another example of listening to nature is taken from my recollection of last winter. I see the potted lemon grass plant in the corner of the living room. The leaves are pale. I feel sad. I surmise that the plant needs more water and light. Moving the plant closer to a sunny window, I pour a glass of water into the pot and reflect. During this winter season, I have also neglected things like my Tai Chi[2] regime. It too has paled like the lemon grass leaves. I decide to rejuvenate myself by undertaking a short Tai Chi session in the morning sunshine and follow it with a tall glass of cool filtered water.
Notice how this listening scenario builds on the previous observational-emotional perspective. After seeing the pale plant and feeling sad, the reflective process of listening uses the plant as a symbol to generate personal meaning. This meaning-making process involves empathy for the plant and noticing its need for light and water. There is also compassion for the plant, empathy translated into the action of providing sunshine and water for the life and growth of the plant. With further reflective listening, the symbolic me