The Milling
A facilitation script by John Seed, shared with permission as part of the Council of All Beings …
Praxis
Deep Ecology as a Philosophy recognizes that the ecological crisis we face is fundamentally a crisis of perception. We increasingly perceive that we are somehow separated from the natural world and from each other, rather than embedded in it. This mis-perception has tragic consequences for our relationship with the Earth and the life-support systems that sustain us. Centuries of science have added enormously to our knowledge of the truth of interconnection that underpins life on Earth, but this has not improved our relationship with that web. As Arne Naess argued in his essay on self-realization — and as John Seed recounts of Naess’s own conclusion in Thinking Like a Mountain — it isn’t ecological ideas that change how we live — it’s ecological identity, a widened sense of self that comes only through direct experience, not argument.
To address this identity crisis, Naess himself called for “therapies” to heal this separation; along with Joanna Macy, John Seed and Pat Fleming, he describes such a process in the book Thinking Like a Mountain — (a must-read for anyone interested in this work), and recounted at length in John’s own telling of how the Council of All Beings came to be. Others have since taken up that call, developing the work into a constellation of open-source group process (see below).
Importantly, the shift these processes produce doesn’t hold indefinitely on its own: Eshana Bragg’s doctoral thesis, Towards Ecological Self: Individual and Shared Understandings of the Relationship Between Self and the Natural Environment (James Cook University, 1995), found the shift in participants’ sense of self after a Council of All Beings workshop tends to fade after around six months without renewal.
The indigenous ceremonial processes which provided important early inspiration for this type of work clearly address this need for cyclical return. John Seed himself describes witnessing an ancient Hopi ritual at Third Mesa — “identical to the Council of All Beings,” performed by a community that had “been doing this regularly for thousands and thousands of years” — as the encounter that convinced him “therapy” was the wrong word for what the Council does: therapy implies an endpoint, ongoing ceremony doesn’t. When we return also to the non-dual spiritual traditions that provide inspiration for Arne Naess, John Seed, Joanna Macy and Pat Fleming, we also discover a framework for personal practice of transformation, emphasising the inner work needed to not only give rise to transformative insight, but also to deepen and integrate it into daily life, the choices we make and the way we relate.
Group Process
The posts below aggregate processes that follow the spiral arc of Joanna Macy’s Work That Reconnects — Coming from Gratitude, Honouring Our Pain for the World, Seeing with New Eyes, Going Forth. In Australian workshops, facilitated by John Seed and others, there is a certain emphasis on nature connection - typically Deep Space and Deep Time practices, and often through the “Earth as Peppercorn” and “Cosmic Walk” processes.
Opening & group bonding
Coming from Gratitude
Honouring Our Pain for the World
Seeing with New Eyes
Going Forth
Personal Practice - Towards a “Spiritual ecology”
The world’s spiritual traditions offer profound resources for reconnecting with the sacred dimensions of Earth and life.
From Buddhism’s teaching of interdependence to indigenous wisdom traditions that never separated spirit from nature, contemplative practices cultivate the ecological self. These traditions understood what modern culture forgot: we are not separate observers but intimate participants in a living cosmos.
such a “spiritual ecology” is not about imposing religious doctrine on environmental issues, but rather discovering how direct spiritual experience naturally gives rise to ecological consciousness. When we experience our deep continuity with all life, protection of nature becomes as natural as caring for our own body.
Deep ecology draws on scientific understanding that reveals Earth as living system. Cosmological perspectives from Thomas Berry, and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin situate humanity within the vast unfolding of cosmic evolution, providing context for our ecological responsibilities.
Deep ecology requires translating insight into action. Mohandas Gandhi’s ahimsa and satyagraha had a powerful influence on Arne Naess’ thinking, laying foundations for nonviolent environmental activism. Buddhist practitioners like Thich Nhat Hanh and Sulak Sivaraksa have built their engagement with direct action on the basis of Dharma teachings of compassion, non-violence, and interdependent co-arising. From Jain and Hindu backgrounds respectively, Satish Kumar and Vimala Thakar also show how contemplative practice grounds engaged action.
Grassroots organizing exemplified by Vandana Shiva’s seed sovereignty work demonstrates how ecological restoration and social justice interweave. Helena Norberg-Hodge advocates localization as response to destructive globalization, while all these figures show how deep ecological principles guide concrete transformation.
Guided meditations & embodied practice
Individual meditative and embodied practices — a foundation for the group work above, and a resource in their own right.
More of Ven. Tenzin’s chanting, recitation and guided-meditation recordings are on his personal site: tenzin.gaiaforest.org/resources/audio.
Further Inspiration
The figures named above — Berry, Teilhard de Chardin, Gandhi, Thich Nhat Hanh, Sulak Sivaraksa, Satish Kumar, Vimala Thakar, Vandana Shiva, Helena Norberg-Hodge — are just a starting point. Explore their full profiles, and others, below.
