MY QUEST FOR WHOLENESS

I remember sitting in therapy decades ago, grappling with the pain from ancestral, childhood, and adulthood life challenges had thrown my way. I was searching for wholeness, but the conventional therapy approaches used by my therapist often left me feeling more fragmented—like something fundamental was missing. 

Decades later, now as a therapist myself, I began to see this pattern in my clients too: unsustainable wholeness and a persistent sense that our suffering was not just personal; it was part of something much bigger. I realized that the wholeness we were all seeking could not be found by focusing solely on the human experience. 

We needed to look deeper within, among, and beyond ourselves.

THE SITUATION

For generations, we have been told a story of objectification—that places humans at the top and are separate from and superior to "non-humans" and "nature."

These separation biases emerged from four systemic shifts: modernization (progress over harmony), industrialization (mechanization over sustainability), colonization (subjugation over sovereignty), and urbanization (expansion over balance)—collectively referred to as MICU—which have created and sustained fractured relationships within, between, and beyond us.

This narrative is driven by six inhibitory trends: illusions (believing we are separate from the collective), melancholism (seeing pain as suffering), patriarchism (equating dominance with success), ethnocentrism (valuing independence above connection), anthropocentrism (prioritizing human needs over all others), and dualism (viewing polarized opposites as the only reality).

MICU and its six ensnaring I.M.P.E.A.D. trends have led us to distance and disengage from one another and the world as a whole. This runaway feedback loop perpetuates our exploitation of both human and beyond-human members of our Nature Family—self, fellow humans, plants, animals, places, planetary elements, seasons, and the cosmos.

THE COMPLICATION

These deep-seated stories of separation and inhibition have created ecological, social-cultural, and personal rifts or polarizations that we feel every day. We feel them in our strained relationships and in the pervasive anxiety that lingers beneath the surface leaving us in fight, flight, and freeze modes. 

We feel them in the collective grief we carry for the planet and each other—a grief I call Nature Family Grief (NFG). It is the pain we feel when a cherished forest is destroyed or a beloved animal goes extinct or a familiar place is decimated and paved to become a new mall—that pain is NFG.

This grief reflects the pain of our distancing and disengagement from the natural world and its myriad beyond human and human lifeforms. NFG, left unacknowledged, comes with a risk of ongoing exploitation of all beings beyond human and marginalized by MICU'S I.M.P.E.A.D. 

Conventional therapies inconsistently address our social-cultural and person struggles but most often fail to acknowledge the broader ecological rifts that underpin our collective pain.

We have been trying to heal in isolation, while the root of our suffering lies in the illusion of separation from the Nature Family that sustains us all.

THE QUESTION

The situation and complication lead us to ask:

How can we truly achieve wholeness when our lives have been shaped by centuries of ecological, socio-cultural, and interpersonal polarization?

How do we reconcile within ourselves, with each other, and with the natural world after generations of harm and exploitation?

MY ANSWER

In the quiet of my meditations, I found an answer that has been calling from the collective cries of those who came before us, are here now, and are still to come: to re-indigenize our approaches to wholeness. This concept reaches back to a time before humans divided themselves by culture, geography, or ethnicity—a time when our relationships with the land, each other, and all living beings were harmonious and interdependent.

Re-indigenization differs from indigenization, which integrates ancestral knowledge into existing frameworks. Re-indigenization seeks to restore a more ancient, universal kinship—honoring the wisdom of our human and beyond-human ancestors from before MICU. It invites us to reconnect with a shared origin that transcends human-made divisions, rekindling our understanding that all life is a part of the whole.

This vision inspired me to create The Re-Indigenization Project (TRIP), a radical approach to wholeness. TRIP aims to restore our kinship with the Nature Family and heal the attachment injuries in our "original family of origin." It views Nature Family Grief (NFG) as an opportunity to transform intra- and interpersonal pain into collective, transpersonal purpose. TRIP challenges the multigenerational habit of objectifying and exploiting those who are different by re-subjectifying beyond humans as "Ki," "Kin," "We," and "Nature" instead of "it," "other," "they," and "nature."

TRIP is not about imposing new ideas but inviting all to reconnect with an ancient, shared understanding—a collective heterarchy that honors all life as equally vital. By acknowledging the NFG within our separation and taking steps to heal these rifts, we can return to the wisdom of our ancestors, rebuilding our kinship bonds within ourselves, with each other, and with all beyond-human kin.

MY INVITATION

So, I ask you: Are you ready to answer the call to re-indigenize? To turn toward the pain and transform it into purpose—not just for ourselves, but for all beings?

We stand at a pivotal moment, one where our choices today can shape the world of tomorrow. Together, we have the power to co-create a future where every life co-flourishes as equal parts of one Nature Family. This journey to wholeness is not about perfection; it is about progress. It starts with small steps—steps that we can take together, with open hearts and open minds.

The path to wholeness begins now—with you, with me, and with the courage, creativity, and clarity to reconcile and restore our kinship. We have been through challenges before, and we have always found a way forward. This time, let us do it with a renewed sense of kinship, of belonging to a whole greater than our immediate circles and even our human species.

I am inviting you to be part of this counterculture quest for wholeness. Let us, together, rise to the occasion and rebuild a legacy of true oneness for future generations. 

Will you join me?