Norris, P. S. (2024). Veiled shackles and latent promise: Revealing inner sources and remedies of the environmental crisis through critical narrative inquiry [Unpublished Master’s thesis]. Alef Trust & Liverpool John Moores University.
There is an urgent need to address sources of the environmental crisis. Research has begun to consider how psychological and emotional factors (i.e. inner sources) are driving the outer environmental crisis, and how such factors may contribute to pro-environmental behaviour. Exactly why individuals engage with pro-environmental behaviour is poorly understood. This exploratory study employed narrative inquiry to examine the journeys of Western professionals currently engaged in practice which aims to address states of disconnection from nature. Such practice diverges from and challenges widespread norms within Western cultural environments. Critical and transpersonal lenses were used to identify impulses and mechanisms which may be excluded from traditional approaches to research. Research question: What are the spiritual, psychological and emotional impulses, within Western cultural contexts, which facilitate professional action to address the inner sources of the environmental crisis? Thematic analysis revealed four key themes. Immersion in nature served as a catalyst for nature-connection, and emergent pro-environmental orientations (Theme 1). Participants widely discussed a spiritual dimension of their life that involved human-nature relationships, and related drives to be of service (Theme 2). Non-ordinary states were a significant part of experience of participants, encompassing experiences in nature. Participants were widely engaged in moving beyond cultural limitations, engaging in emerging practice (Theme 3). Participants commonly engage in the instrumental employment of creative practice, some of which were polyphasic (Theme 4). The novel approach of this study revealed a widespread spiritual orientation of human-nature relationships, demonstrating the importance of interdisciplinary collaborations between ecopsychology and transpersonal psychology.
