Listening to the Psyche/ Listening to the Earth
Explorations of Borderland Consciousness
Presented by: Jerome Bernstein
Jerome Bernstein will discuss his concept of Borderland consciousness and the Borderland personality as an adaptive evolutionary response to the threat to the survival of our species.
Jerome S. Bernstein's theory of Borderland consciousness holds that the collective unconscious is bringing about a compensatory reconnection of our culture and our psyche to Nature in an attempt to heal our relationship with the Earth. Even today in the Age of Global Warming as we increasingly are being forced to recognize that our survival hinges on healing our relationship to the Earth, we still approach that responsibility with an attitude of arrogance and dominion – as if it were we alone who shall heal the Earth through our science and technology. However indispensable science and technology may be in this healing process, a new kind of consciousness is needed that can learn to live in reciprocal relationship to the Earth – a relationship based on humility and respect. We need a consciousness that can embrace the idea that the Earth has its own wisdom about its own healing and that we must be in dialogue with the Earth and learn to listen in a new way.
Living in the Borderland addresses the evolution of Western consciousness and describes the emergence of the 'Borderland,' a spectrum of reality that is beyond the rational yet is palpable to an increasing number of individuals.