{"id":231,"date":"2011-01-29T13:24:57","date_gmt":"2011-01-29T13:24:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/mindfulnessmatters\/2011\/01\/the-self-is-not-an-island-finding-our-place-in-the-natural-world.html"},"modified":"2011-01-29T13:24:57","modified_gmt":"2011-01-29T13:24:57","slug":"the-self-is-not-an-island-finding-our-place-in-the-natural-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/2011\/01\/the-self-is-not-an-island-finding-our-place-in-the-natural-world.html","title":{"rendered":"The Self is not an Island: Finding Our Place in the Natural World"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"lazypoint.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/96\/import\/lazypoint.jpg\" width=\"172\" height=\"258\" class=\"mt-image-left\" style=\"float: left;margin: 0 20px 20px 0\" \/><\/span>I was captivated listening to the NPR program, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.onpointradio.org\/\">On Point with Tom Ashbrook,<\/a> yesterday. His guest was Carl Safina, ecologist and author of The View from Lazy Point: A Natural Year in an Unnatural World. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.onpointradio.org\/2011\/01\/conservationist-safina-ecosystems\">You can read excerpts and listen to the program from the On Point website<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>What struck me most in the conversation was the discussion of self and how notions of the self in Western culture are contributing to the degradation of the planet. The self as individual, or what scholar Ed Sampson called &#8220;self-contained individualism&#8221; is how we typically regard ourselves. I am an autonomous unit interacting with other autonomous units. This view is certainly consistent with rugged American individualism.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>However, as Safina pointed out, this self, while having some validity is not autonomous. We are in constant interaction with the natural world when we breathe, drink water, and eat the foods that sustain us. We are self-in-exchange then and inextricably connected to the world around us &#8212; proximal and remote.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The ad copy of an eco-friendly product I have on my shelf says, &#8220;We are the environment.&#8221; And this is precisely the point that Safina makes. We are not part of the environment; we are the environment. There is no duality unless we impose one. And humankind has imposed this duality at our peril.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Self-in-connection is less likely to do damage to our self and the other beings around us. It&#8217;s only when we get lost in the story of &#8220;me&#8221; that we become disconnected from the world around us that is also us.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Being mindful brings this connection into focus. Just breathing is all we need to remind us of our dependence on the things &#8220;outside&#8221; of this contiguous sack of flesh, bone, organs, and fluids we call &#8220;my body.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Richard Dawkins says playfully and to the same point of interconnectedness that the sip of water you just took has an atom that passed through the bladder of Oliver Cromwell! In fact, we exchange all of our atoms just about annually. So we are constantly self-in-exchange.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>A Buddhist meal chant recognizes this interconnectedness when it reminds us, &#8220;This food is the labor of countless beings, let us remember their toil.&#8221; And it all might fall apart if we are not mindful moving forward.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>So, from one part of the natural world to the part you are reading this from, enjoy being part of this magnificent being we call earth and universe and take good care of yourself and the rest of us!<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I was captivated listening to the NPR program, On Point with Tom Ashbrook, yesterday. His guest was Carl Safina, ecologist and author of The View from Lazy Point: A Natural Year in an Unnatural World. You can read excerpts and listen to the program from the On Point website.&nbsp; What struck me most in the&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":268,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,12,15,7,9,14,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-shelf","category-buddha-101","category-media","category-metaphors-for-mindfulness","category-mindfulnesss","category-recommended","category-spider-mind-world-of-interconnections"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Self is not an Island: Finding Our Place in the Natural World - Mindfulness Matters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/2011\/01\/the-self-is-not-an-island-finding-our-place-in-the-natural-world.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Self is not an Island: Finding Our Place in the Natural World - Mindfulness Matters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I was captivated listening to the NPR program, On Point with Tom Ashbrook, yesterday. His guest was Carl Safina, ecologist and author of The View from Lazy Point: A Natural Year in an Unnatural World. You can read excerpts and listen to the program from the On Point website.&nbsp; What struck me most in the&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/2011\/01\/the-self-is-not-an-island-finding-our-place-in-the-natural-world.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Mindfulness Matters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-01-29T13:24:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/mindfulnessmatters\/files\/import\/lazypoint.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dr. Arnie Kozak\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Self is not an Island: Finding Our Place in the Natural World - Mindfulness Matters","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/2011\/01\/the-self-is-not-an-island-finding-our-place-in-the-natural-world.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Self is not an Island: Finding Our Place in the Natural World - Mindfulness Matters","og_description":"I was captivated listening to the NPR program, On Point with Tom Ashbrook, yesterday. His guest was Carl Safina, ecologist and author of The View from Lazy Point: A Natural Year in an Unnatural World. You can read excerpts and listen to the program from the On Point website.&nbsp; What struck me most in the&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/2011\/01\/the-self-is-not-an-island-finding-our-place-in-the-natural-world.html","og_site_name":"Mindfulness Matters","article_published_time":"2011-01-29T13:24:57+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/mindfulnessmatters\/files\/import\/lazypoint.jpg"}],"author":"Dr. Arnie Kozak","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/2011\/01\/the-self-is-not-an-island-finding-our-place-in-the-natural-world.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/2011\/01\/the-self-is-not-an-island-finding-our-place-in-the-natural-world.html","name":"The Self is not an Island: Finding Our Place in the Natural World - Mindfulness Matters","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/2011\/01\/the-self-is-not-an-island-finding-our-place-in-the-natural-world.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/2011\/01\/the-self-is-not-an-island-finding-our-place-in-the-natural-world.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/mindfulnessmatters\/files\/import\/lazypoint.jpg","datePublished":"2011-01-29T13:24:57+00:00","dateModified":"2011-01-29T13:24:57+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/#\/schema\/person\/5f92cf2ae15fbe04e74ca47527ac68d8"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/2011\/01\/the-self-is-not-an-island-finding-our-place-in-the-natural-world.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/2011\/01\/the-self-is-not-an-island-finding-our-place-in-the-natural-world.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/2011\/01\/the-self-is-not-an-island-finding-our-place-in-the-natural-world.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/mindfulnessmatters\/files\/import\/lazypoint.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/mindfulnessmatters\/files\/import\/lazypoint.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/2011\/01\/the-self-is-not-an-island-finding-our-place-in-the-natural-world.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Self is not an Island: Finding Our Place in the Natural World"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/","name":"Mindfulness Matters","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Arnie Kozak","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/#\/schema\/person\/5f92cf2ae15fbe04e74ca47527ac68d8","name":"Dr. Arnie Kozak","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/6ab\/6abd6f3205265768510a13d66ac2aff7x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/6ab\/6abd6f3205265768510a13d66ac2aff7x96.jpg","caption":"Dr. Arnie Kozak"},"description":"Recognized as an innovator in the field of mindfulness-based psychology, Dr. Arnie Kozak is northern New England's leading expert in the field. Dr. Kozak's ability to translate ancient healing traditions into pragmatic applications suitable for modern lifestyles through the use of metaphors have made him a strong voice in healthcare and business. Beginning with a journey to India in the 80\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s where he took the Bodhisattva vows from His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Arnie Dr. Kozak began his lifelong practice in mindfulness meditation. Intent on finding a way to bring the practical healing attributes of mindfulness he began incorporating these techniques in his private practice. In 2002 Dr. Kozak created Exquisite Mind in Burlington, Vermont as a vehicle that could expand his wisdom to larger audiences beyond individual psychotherapy to professionals and corporations, health care providers, public groups and, most recently with Exquisite Mind Golf, amateur and professional golfers. His award-winning new book, Wild Chickens and Petty Tyrants: 108 Metaphors for Mindfulness (Wisdom Publications, 2009) is a thoughtful, funny, and inspiring translation of mindfulness practice through the inventive use of metaphor applicable to our daily lives. In addition to his work with Exquisite Mind, Arnie Kozak, Ph.D., Licensed Psychologist\u00e2\u20ac\u201dDoctorate has been a Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Vermont and is a Clinical Instructor in Psychiatry and Medicine, University of Vermont College of Medicine. He has studied and practiced clinical psychology, meditation, and yoga for more than 25 years. He has studied with several meditation masters, including S. N. Goenka, Larry Rosenberg, Gurumayi Chidvilasananda, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. After receiving his bachelors degree with honors from Tufts University, he was awarded a Presidential Fellowship to get his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University at Buffalo. He completed his training as a Psychological Fellow at the Harvard Medical School. Prior to founding the Exquisite Mind in 2002, Arnie worked ten years in the private sector for the PKC Corporation consulting on mental health content for this revolutionary software company.","sameAs":["http:\/\/exquisitemind.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/author\/akozak"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/268"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}