What is Noetic Ecology?

Different ways of knowing 'nature'

Noetic ecology is about exploring the human~nature relationship through direct experience and different ‘ways of knowing’. It encourages open dialogue, meaningful inquiry and embodied practices to support deep learning and collective action in service of a new story: one that embraces our interconnectedness with the world.

Noetic [from the Greek noētos, nous and noein] meaning ‘a perception’ or ‘intelligence’, pertaining to the mind.

Ecology [from the Greek oikos] meaning ‘house, place, habitation’; the study of the relations of living things to one another and their environment.

Nous refers to ‘matters of the mind’ and whilst often simply translated as  ‘intellect’ (as a noun) it refers more deeply to the innate human capacity for directly acquiring ‘an intelligence’ (as a verb): that is, accessing information, knowledge and understanding aside from using only logic, reasoning and ‘usual’ or habitual modes of perception.

This idea of ‘direct knowing’ or ‘direct perception’ is inherent to most ancient traditions (e.g. Hunter-Gatherer, Greek and Eastern cultures) but has been displaced by the overtly dualistic, rational and materialist empiricism of modern science as the favoured (and often exclusive) means of gaining knowledge of oneself, humankind and our relationship with the world.

Philosopher William James (1902) referred to noetic as “insight into depths of truth unplumbed by the discursive intellect”. For example, the ‘noetic quality’ of a profound experience is the sense of epiphany. In this sense, noetic includes both grounded reasoning and ‘inner knowing’ as acquired through other illuminating forms of awareness (e.g. intuition, insight and revelation) that go beyond what is usually available to our normal senses and power of intellectual reason.

Importantly, ‘noetic’ includes what we pay attention to (noema) and how we pay attention to it (noesis). In practicing how and where we focus attention, noetic approaches can repattern habitual perception and cultivate a shift in worldview.

Noetic therefore encompasses fuller understandings of consciousness and the diverse ‘ways of knowing’ that shape how we perceive ‘the other’ and participate in the world. It acknowledges that multiple – even opposing – realities may coexist.

Ecology is derived from the Greek oikos meaning ‘house, place, habitation’. It is often understood as the branch of scientific inquiry dealing with the relations of living things to one another and their physical environment. The field of ecology seeks to therefore understand how we, as the human species, live in relationship with other species in this shared home we call earth.

Noetic ecology applies insights gleaned from direct and profound experience to shape how humans can live in harmony with the earth and cosmos.

Noetic ecology is inspired by the work of the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) which has for decades been at the forefront of supporting individual and collective change through consciousness research, transformative learning and applied practices that support heightened awareness and connectedness in our daily lives.

Noetic ecology is motivated by the view that humans are wired for connection, creativity and co-operation; and can orient consciousness as a quality of awareness to influence how we attune, participate and co-evolve with earth and the cosmos. We have the capacity to thrive when this circuitry is fully engaged.

Noetic ecology is a ‘practice’,  a ‘field’ and a ‘movement’.

As a dedicated practice, it is essentially the art of noticing: the how and what we pay attention to in nature. It is a fundamental appreciation that the quality of attention determines not only the quality of our experience (and the benefits derived from our nature interactions), but is capable of profoundly changing the world we perceive.

As an open field of learning, it applies transdisciplinary approaches to rigorously explore the full spectrum of human-nature experience. Utilising scholarly inquiry, it draws on cross-cultural science and wisdom traditions to further understandings of interconnectedness and how it can best guide and support regenerative living.

As an inspired philosophical movement, noetic ecology invites ‘active hope’ through ‘delicate activism’: cultivating receptivity, awareness and compassion as a basis for authentic action. It provides practices that allow us to see the world with new eyes and to take a fresh view of realities different to our own. It focuses on what inspires us and what we can tangibly do in our lives. It invites us to utilise the power of consciousness – through intention and attention – to generate deep connection with nature, people, self and our greater source of purpose. As agents of change, it requires us to embody what we wish to see – from the inside out.

In practice, noetic ecology is inclusive and pragmatic. At this moment in human history, it recognises that integration is as important as innovation. It therefore embraces diverse modalities that adhere to a worldview of interconnectedness, reawaken the unity of mind-body-spirit and ‘re-member’ our affiliation with earth.

Noetic ecology fuses our primal origins with futurist aspirations. It urges us to remember humanity’s intimate ancestral relationships with wilder nature that shaped our evolution and allowed us to become fully human. From a futuristic perspective, it invites a new story (cosmology): reimagining our becoming in a way that harnesses the collective potential of humanity to act in service of the whole.

Noetic ecology therefore both grounds and elevates the agency of consciousness and humans’ ability to exercise it as the generative power for effecting profound change. Organisations and networks inspired by noetic ecology ultimately aim to co-create transformative pathways for remembering our core humanity, rediscovering our bond with all life and re-visioning a regenerative future…