Bill Plotkin continues to be, in my
mind, one of the most important people on the planet – his work is
that innovative, that necessary, and that potentially
transformational. I feel moved to give him yet another mention in
this blog.
Bill has written three books and, while
each can stand alone as a brilliant contribution to evolving humans
and restoring the planet, combined they offer a template for
human/nature healing and wholing that is of truly epic proportions.
Creating the context for the other two
books, Nature and the
Human Soul
“introduces a visionary ecopsychology of human development that
reveals how fully and creatively we can mature when soul and wild
nature guide us.”* Humanity needs to grow up and out of its current
stage of (pathological!) adolescence, and in this volume Bill
“presents a model for a human life span rooted in the cycles and
qualities of the natural world, a blueprint for individual
development that ultimately yields a strategy for cultural
transformation.”
Soulcraft “is a trail
guide for the mystical descent into the underworld of soul: what the
descent is, why it is necessary, how to recognize the call to
descend, how to prepare for the descent, what the process looks and
feels like, and what practices initiate and accelerate the descent
and maximizes the soul-quickening benefits of the journey.” This is
a process that is sorely missing from modern day culture with
devastating consequences.
In Wild Mind
we discover that “our human psyches possess astonishing resources
that wait within us, but we might not even know they exist until we
discover how to access them and cultivate their powers, their
untapped potentials and depths.” It
shows
us
that
“the
key
to
reclaiming
our
original
wholeness...is
to
fully
embody
our
multifaceted
wild
minds,
commit
ourselves
to
the
largest,
soul-infused
story
we're
capable
of
living,
and
serve
the
greater
Earth
community.”
These
three volumes embody a hero's journey of initiation into our fullest
human potential and a truly interdependent relationship with
the natural world. They are beautifully written, deeply heartfelt and
infused with decades of scholarship and the wisdom of experience. I
hope you read them and then read them again. You can learn more about
Bill, his books, and the Animas Valley Institute here.
*
Quotes are taken from the books. I could not have said it better.
