I am not familiar with Bill Plotkin’s work, though the premise that the self discover, or soul work, leads us to find our niche is very aligned with my own thinking. I’ll have to check his writing out!
As for the fraught concept of a hierarchy, I much prefer Ken Wilber’s notion of a “holarchy”, which recognizing how an emergent whole can exist as a composite made up of discrete individuals, without subsuming the the individuality of the “parts”. This gets us away from confusing a hierarchical system of command and control with an integrative system in which individuals come together and create something in which all are included. This is an important difference, and I’d love to keep discussing this with you.
I'm curious if you're familiar with eco-depth psychologist Bill Plotkin's work. In his book Nature and the Human Soul, he defines the human soul in healthy, eco-soulcentric cultures as an ecological niche. That niche is discovered via soul work and developmental practices, and is expressed through one's social role. So, for example, two people could be elementary school teachers but have different ecological niches that they occupy.
That word "hierarchy" is so fraught and carries so much baggage in the West. When I encountered Christian Hermeticism via Valentin Tomberg (and central to his thinking is the reality of the celestial hierarchies), I had to take the time to think through this concept instead of immediately dismissing it. I almost wonder if the concept of keystone species would help us better understand what hierarchy (and the orientating activity it entails) is from an ecological standpoint.
I am not familiar with Bill Plotkin’s work, though the premise that the self discover, or soul work, leads us to find our niche is very aligned with my own thinking. I’ll have to check his writing out!
As for the fraught concept of a hierarchy, I much prefer Ken Wilber’s notion of a “holarchy”, which recognizing how an emergent whole can exist as a composite made up of discrete individuals, without subsuming the the individuality of the “parts”. This gets us away from confusing a hierarchical system of command and control with an integrative system in which individuals come together and create something in which all are included. This is an important difference, and I’d love to keep discussing this with you.
I'm curious if you're familiar with eco-depth psychologist Bill Plotkin's work. In his book Nature and the Human Soul, he defines the human soul in healthy, eco-soulcentric cultures as an ecological niche. That niche is discovered via soul work and developmental practices, and is expressed through one's social role. So, for example, two people could be elementary school teachers but have different ecological niches that they occupy.
That word "hierarchy" is so fraught and carries so much baggage in the West. When I encountered Christian Hermeticism via Valentin Tomberg (and central to his thinking is the reality of the celestial hierarchies), I had to take the time to think through this concept instead of immediately dismissing it. I almost wonder if the concept of keystone species would help us better understand what hierarchy (and the orientating activity it entails) is from an ecological standpoint.