The Myth of Separation

Reductionism … Separation … and Reconnection …

If you’re not already familiar with it, the concept from Charles Eisenstein [and others] is that scientific reductionism encourages us to divide things into component parts, rather than viewing whole systems. We study a tree but not the forest, or a child’s maths score - but not their overall wellbeing.

The consequence is that we have separated ourselves from nature, and from each other. This mindset is why a tree is more ‘valuable’ cut down and turned into planks than when it is left to grow. It is why we assess schools on exam results, rather than whether the children are happy and have friends.

There’s a good side to this: it means that a crucial response to the metacrisis is reconnection - with other people, and with nature. Go for a walk in the park. Grab a coffee with a friend. Even better - go for a walk with a friend!

There’s a lot of complexity involved in this work - but sometimes what we need to do is simple …

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