In her book The Four-Fold Way, Angeles Arrien (1993) says that deep ecological awareness is spiritual awareness. This line of thinking embodies Theodore Roszak's eight principles of ecopsychology. Roszak's principles have influenced my life and I seek to further integrate them on a daily basis.

Roszak's first principle states, "The core of the mind is the ecological unconscious. For ecopsychology, repression of the ecological unconscious is the deepest root of collusive madness in industrial society. Open access to the ecological unconscious is the path to sanity" (Roszak, 2005, 7). What this principle means to me has do to with the deep disconnection that I once felt when I didn't embrace my connection with the earth and all things. After I come off a long fast, I always feel a sense of loss and sadness because I feel that many of the people around me don't recognize themselves or the world around them. I feel as if I'm a stranger in a strange land. When we fail to recognize our ecological unconscious, it's easy to feel collusive madness because we deny our true nature.

Roszak's second principle of ecopsychology states:
"The contents of the ecological unconscious represent, in some degree, at some level of mentality, the living record of cosmic evolution, tracing back to distant initial conditions in the history of time. Contemporary studies in the ordered complexity of nature tell us that life and mind emerge from this evolutionary tale as culminating natural systems within the unfolding sequence of physical, biological, mental, and cultural systems we know as "the universe." Ecopsychology draws upon these findings of the new cosmology, striving to make them real to experience" ( 8).

Perhaps this principle is best summed up in Roszak's comment, "Each of us shares the whole of life's time on Earth" ( 3). Under this guise, each of us carries all of the knowledge of all of our ancestors in a type of collective consciousness. Though spiritual practices, I'm constantly striving to be connected with the larger consciousness that bonds us together. By accessing the collective consciousness, I learn from the experiences of others.

In his third principle of ecopsychology, Roszak says, "Just as it has been the goal of previous therapies to recover the repressed contents of the unconscious, so the goal of ecopsychology is to awaken the inherent sense of environmental reciprocity that lies within the ecological unconscious" ( 9). This is a principle of awareness that I've developed by praying and meditating for the earth and all its inhabitants. It's also meant being environmentally responsible, being vegetarian, driving a hybrid vehicle, and giving back to the earth that has so graciously given to me.

Roszak's fourth principle says, "For ecopsychology as for other therapies, the crucial stage of development is the life of the child...as if it were a gift, in the newborn's enchanted sense of the world...To do this, it turns to many sources, among them traditional healing techniques of primary people, nature mysticism as expressed in religion and art, the experience of wilderness..." ( 10). Because I was adopted at birth, the history of this lifetime is somewhat of a mystery to me, similarly to previous lifetimes. I've been a Native American and the earth and sky resonate in me. I feel the life of the animals. I have a connection with all living things and we are one. I live in wonder and awe as I sail along in this relation ship.

In his fifth principle, Roszak says, "The ecological ego matures toward a sense of ethical responsibility to the planet that is as vividly experienced as our ethical responsibility to other people. It seeks to weave that responsibility into the fabric of social relations and political decisions" ( 11). I look for ways to promote a healing of the earth, through organic farming, alternative fuel sources, and creating a world with peace. I feel a deep sense of ethical responsibility towards my planet and I want to extend the opportunity to others to share in this experience.

Roszak's sixth principle states, "Among the therapeutic projects most important to ecopsychology is the re-evaluation of certain compulsively "masculine" character traits that permeate our structures of political power and which drive us to dominate nature as if it were an alien and rightless realm" ( 12). I seek to bring harmony into the relationships between the earth and its inhabitants. Harmony does not look like the current state of domination, rape and pillage of the earth and its resources, but is reverence and respect.

According to Roszak's seventh principle, "Whatever contributes to small scale social forms and personal empowerment nourishes the ecological ego. Whatever strives for large-scale domination and the suppression of personhood undermines the ecological ego. Ecopsychology therefore deeply questions the essential sanity of our gargantuan urban-industrial culture" ( 13). This principle represents the manner in which our culture has separated us from each other and the earth. How much time do each of us spend in nature as opposed to being inside on the computer or watching television? How accurately does what we do on the computer or what we see on T.V. reflect our real life relationships with each other and with our mother planet and her inhabitants? It's no wonder we've been driven to distraction, depressed, medicated, porn-addicted and confused. We've misplaced our priorities and created a lecherous passivity. I work actively every day to reverse the effects my culture has on me. Upon awakening, I meditate and pray for the earth and the consciousness of my fellows.