Awakening planetary imagination: A theory and practice

As concern for the living Earth is amplified by the multiplying uncertainties of our time, interest also grows in radically re-envisioning the human relationship with Earth. This dissertation considers the possibility that an intelligent Earth, suffused in psyche, expresses itself through the visionary human imagination. It is this conjoining of the human imagination with the Earth psyche that I call "planetary imagination.";A pattern woven from the works of multiple visionaries suggests that Earth is saturated in psyche---or soul, or image. I survey some of the shifting historical views regarding imagination, including the view that imagination, or image, is the language shared by human beings and other-than-human nature. I also explore the niche of the human imagination in planetary ecology, and review the deep roots of nature mysticism---entwined with imagination---that nourish and inform the modern environmental movement. A vital portion of this project focuses on the texts of a host of nature poets and writers, geologians, cosmologists, deep ecologists and others whose work collectively suggests that a planetary psyche expresses itself through visionaries who may, knowingly or not, be permeable or receptive to the psychic field of Earth or the non-human Others. An exploration of the works of these "planetary imagineers" reveals hints of methods or practices they engage (intentionally or not) to open the individual human psyche to that larger field; these practices include animating the world through language, shape-shifting, conversing across the species boundaries, pilgrimage and praise---practices that can be engaged by those who long for greater intimacy with the anima mundi.;As this scholarly journey was seeded by my own mysterious encounters with a seemingly intelligent presence in wild places, a personal narrative streams through these pages.