Rewilding Humanity: Different is the new normal.
San Jose del Pacifico, Oaxaca - Nov. 2022
“It’s no measure of health to be well-adjusted to a profoundly sick society.”
What is Rewilding Humanity?
Different characteristics within a species ensure its survival and improve the overall productivity of an ecosystem - not just in your garden, but also in humanity.
Reading time: 12 min
Give yourself a minute and envision going into a beautiful natural forest, totally left to its resources. Imagine discovering a variety of trees, plants, mushrooms, and animals. Imagine to a take a deep breath of cold fresh air, and feeling pure oxygen going through your nostrils and filling up your lungs. Listen to the birds chirping, the woodpecker doing its work, the doe scampering through the woods. Feel your body embracing the sounds like your favorite music. Feel and realize the vibrance and vitality of the forest. Now, imagine going ahead and taking measurements of the trees and starting to judge them by "too thick, too slim, too tall, too short, too green, too brown, …“ What a ridiculous thing to do, isn't it? Isn’t it the diversity of each plant in the collective of the forest that makes the experience vivid and complete? Then why are we doing it to each other, to humanity?
Our culture shapes the norm, an evaluation system that we use to compare ourselves with. Pursuing the same ideals, which are unattainable, makes us feel not enough which eventually leads to escaping reality, a mostly unconscious and self-destructive behavior. It’s no measure of health to be well-adjusted to a profoundly sick society. But unhappiness is a measure of sickness.
The latest figures from the World Health Organization (WHO) indicate that in 2019, approximately 970 million people globally were living with a mental disorder (World Health Organization (WHO)). This number represents a significant portion of the global population and underscores the importance of addressing mental health challenges on a worldwide scale. Although adjusting to this system is making people unhappy and sick, we still run the rat race. Not only by destroying our resources but by destroying the diversity in the human collective.
Time to talk about Rewilding. Rewilding is a progressive approach to conservation. It's about letting nature take care of itself, enabling natural processes to shape land and sea, repair damaged ecosystems, and restore degraded landscapes. We see it works in nature. Let’s talk about what it means to rewild humanity.
Monoculture in Human Culture & The Importance of Diversity in Nature and Humanity
“Are you a good profit to the system or sustainable to your body? Living profitable or sustainable - it’s a choice. “
Monocultures arose in the course of the industrialization of agriculture. Since large, uniform areas can be worked better with correspondingly large machines, the landscape was practically cleared, hedges and trees had to give way, and the fields became huge. For what purpose? Profit. To what costs? Irreversible damage to nature. Monocultures are created by humans and have already shown us that they are very profitable in the short term. But not sustainable in the long term. Monocultures destroy our planet. We can transfer this analogously to humankind. A culture with a profit and performance-oriented belief system harms diversity, people suffer from this constant pressure to perform. Accompanied by the feeling of not being enough and eventually suffer mental and physical illnesses due to stress. Which is also not a long-term and sustainable solution for humanity.
The manipulation to create a monoculture in human beings starts early. The classic „ good“ and „bad“ behavior is introduced to us by our caretakers. In school we are educated the same way and are measured by the same measurements, for example, the systematics of grades from A to F. Then slowly social measurements sneak in like: too fat, too thin, too tall, too short, too smart, too stupid, too loud, too quiet, … the list is endless.
“You don't need to be a certain way - you simply need permission to be authentic.”
Remind yourself of the little imagination we did in the Introduction. Doing these measurements in a forest that is left on its own makes no sense. Eventually, it is not the individual that needs to be a certain way. The Individual simply needs permission to be authentic. If we all grow wild and trust our natural process we will eventually form a beautiful, healthy, joyful, vibrant, and vital collective. Ask yourself is that the case right now? Rather not. Pursuing an unattainable ideal, makes us feel not enough and escape into a mostly unconscious destructive behavior. We distract and numb ourselves with work, sex, drugs, sports, luxury, social media, etc. Not healthy but socially accepted. Behaviors such as binge eating, anorexia, drug addiction, self-injurious behavior, gambling addiction, shopping addiction, sex addiction, you name it. Often accompanied by strong and persistent anxiety, sadness, and self-doubt. These behaviors are not the result of weakness or bad luck. These are ways to escape reality and escape emotional pain and suffering. Ways to make us feel better. Unfortunately using drugs or using Netflix to escape for a few hours, is nothing different. Socially accepted or not, we have to finally realize that this toxic circle of soothing emotional imbalance is not addressing the actual problem. Unhealthy, unhappy people are only the symptom of our destructive culture.
“Do you dare to trust your natural inner wisdom? Nature shows us how it works.”
Nature does not know monoculture; on meadows flowers, all grow colorfully next to and with each other. Certain plant communities can be found, which are certainly not random but rather predestined by nature. This allows individual species to thrive under the best possible conditions. Nature shows us how it works. Good neighbors grow together and shade the bed; this reduces soil evaporation and almost completely prevents weeds. For example, garlic is considered a natural remedy for strawberries' gray mold (botrytis). In strong communities like this, diseases and pests have less chance to spread. Why should this be different for the human species?
Why reWilding is Essential for Mental Health
A forest in which monocultures were bred to farm is best left to itself. With no intervention in the natural healing process of nature. Only then does the ecosystem recover and with time it becomes more alive, animals come along, plants connect and a healthy balance develops. Without intervening, effortlessly and completely - nature will recover the forest. Knowing this, it's really not rocket science that each of us needs to start to follow our inner truth, regardless of the current norms of society. If we celebrate diversity and do not separate ourselves from others, then we can create a diverse culture, which supports and enriches each other and finally creates a healthy, balanced ecosystem.
Starting with ourselves means swimming against the current, against what we have learned so far and believed to be the truth. If we want to live a peaceful, vital, healthy, happy life, then the majority of people are doing something very wrong. It is interesting how many people fall ill, as we have already scientifically established that psycho-soma (to perceive the body and mind as one) is not just a medical specialty but a principle of humanity. Happiness is a measure of health and vice versa. How does it come to this erroneous belief to continue to live so profitably and performance-oriented, to behave in such a way, and to expect that humanity will suddenly be happy, healthy, and cheerful?
It seems that the wisdom of nature is not yet understood by humankind. And it will not if we only use our minds. We are nature, we are part of the ecosystem and wisdom does lie in us. But a different approach is necessary. We need to be reverent of the wisdom that lies within us, have to stop the arrogance of believing our minds know better and ultimately we should stop putting a belief system over the natural being of our human existence.
Instead of looking for someone to blame, let's start with ourselves. Who dares to stop participating in this race that hypocritically promises us happiness?
How to Rewild Yourself: 8 Key Practices
Listen to your inner voice
Any voice in your head that is judging you is not your inner voice. Make sure to question your voices and become aware of the ones, that are not unconditionally supporting you.
An example of a toxic inner dialogue: “You can't make it to sports again. You're lazy and disorganized."
If you could allow a more supportive inner dialogue, like: “Sports don't fit into your schedule again, where in your life can you make more room for your needs (Sports/ Movement) so you feel balanced?"Put your wellness first
It’s not about being egotistic - It’s about maintaining the health and vitality of your body. With every action, just ask yourself „How does that make me feel“? There is a way to put your well-being first and still manage life. Please hand the voice of your body a megaphone and when it screams „I need to use the bathroom“ go to the toilet instead of finishing the last email on your computer.Eliminate Stress
Stress is the best indicator, that you are not flowing effortlessly and intuitively through your life. Stress is not normal! It is an indicator that your nervous system is out of balance and that will make you sick. Therefore anytime you experience stress, it’s a great opportunity to question and reflect on your choices of behavior.Trust the process
Rewilding yourself means, putting yourself out in the wild. That can be terrifying. Transform your fear into bravery and trust your knowledge of your inner guide to guide you to peace, joy, and vitality. That natural intelligence is in all of us, we “just'“ need to let it happen.Reveal false beliefs
A false core belief about oneself could be something like "I am inherently unlovable." This belief might develop from early experiences of rejection or lack of affection, leading someone to internalize the idea that they are fundamentally unworthy of love or attention. Such a belief can profoundly affect one's self-esteem, relationships, and overall well-being.For example: A person with this belief may unconsciously sabotage their relationships because they anticipate rejection or believe they don't deserve love. They might withdraw emotionally, push their partner away, or engage in behaviors that undermine intimacy.
Allow authenticity
There is no other you, you could compare yourself with. Stop pleasing others for the sake of fitting in. Let your inner truth become your outer truth. Manage yourself to strive for authenticity instead of adaption to society. Become authentic and stop comparing yourself with others.Celebrate diversity
Celebrate differences, don’t separate yourself from others if you don’t share their opinion. Curiosity, tolerance, and acceptance help you to do that. Other opinions are necessary for diversity. Stand up for your opinion, even though you feel like the only one who thinks that way.
Accept life as it happens
Instead of constantly trying to control your life, just let it happen and accept live it as it comes. Reinhold Niebuhr once said: „Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.“
If we teach our children to grow wild, and if we allow ourselves, our friends, and our „enemies“ to just be, then maybe we will feel less depressed, less scared, and less angry. If we rewild ourselves, make health a priority without consideration of the belief system of our culture, and flow intuitively through our lives, then maybe our culture revokes mental health and physical sicknesses.
Be brave, rewild.
Buena Vibra,
Lisa
