| This thesis explores the current global ecological crisis in relationship to human psychological development, that, left inchoate, can become pathologically adolescent, adding to further destruction of the earth's habitat and endangering the very existence of Homo sapiens. Viewed through the lens of the Pandora myth, including a hermeneutic examination of the current ecopsychology literature, this work includes the author's personal heuristic journey to true adulthood. Focusing on the theoretical work of Carl Jung and the Soulcentric Developmental Wheel created by Bill Plotkin, the idea that psychopathology may be directly related to the false human belief of its dominance over the natural world and subsequent disconnection from wild nature is explored. Becoming fully human may require initiatory rites of passage in order to psychologically mature and discover one's true destiny, a mystical affiliation with an inner wildness including greater meaning, purpose, and stewardship of the earth's biosphere. |
