I will simply call it “participatory consciousness,” or a heightened, world-reshaping awareness of participation with the visible and invisible; embodied and numinous; past, present and future beings, relationships and energies among whom we dwell. This mode contrasts with the Cartesian bifurcation – or mind/matter and subject/object separation – into which most Western people are indoctrinated. It is a more porous consciousness, a felt-sense of interpenetration and reciprocity; a psychic and somatic openness to the Others and to the mysterious terrain of imagination and dream; openness to what Joanna Macy calls “deep time” – or an awareness of connection with both ancient and future beings and events.

~ Geneen Marie Haugen

Autumn Forest – photo by sozelmel, bigstockphoto.com