Many of us believe that the culture we live in mirrors innate human nature. But today’s dominant cultures of competitive destructive detachment are rare and recent. Nearly every other culture that has ever existed during our species history over millions of years has been one of connected cooperative companionship. We evolved in cooperative bands of kin and nonkin where we were nurtured and welcomed by all members of the community. We lived together, we gathered food together, we sang together, and we danced together. We knew it would have been impossible to survive on our own. But together, we thrived.
Today, we are living in a culture that goes against everything it means to be human. Our culture emphasizes toughness over tenderness, isolation instead of togetherness, even for babies. As a result, we are depressed, anxious, chronically ill, and at the bottom of every international indicator for health. We are stuck in a Cycle of Competitive Detachment where we feel disconnected from others and even ourselves, while at the same time feeling we have to compete for anything worthwhile. There is a way, not only to break this cycle, but to create a new cycle, one that reclaims our humanity and helps us heal ourselves and our culture. We can create a cycle of connected, cooperative companionship.
To heal ourselves and our world, we simply must return to this way of nurturing children and communities. And today's guest TEACHES how to restore the Cycles of Connected, Cooperative Companionship.
Darcia Narvaez is a Professor of Psychology Emerita at the University of Notre Dame, who has written extensively on issues of character, moral development and human flourishing and whose work encompasses the neurology of moral development, as well as the study of evolved parenting practices.
Narvaez is a fellow of the American Psychological Association, the American Educational Research Association and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Amongst other, she is the author of the books Neurobiology and the Development of Human Morality, and Restoring the Kinship Worldview: Indigenous Voices Introduce 28 Precepts for Rebalancing Life on Planet Earth.
She is also the founder of https://evolvednest.org, an online platform dedicated to restore human nature to its cooperative orientation, its original and "normal" human heritage.
In this episode with Dr. Darcia Narvaez, you'll discover:
-A bit of Dr. Darcia's backstory...05:16
-A brief history of humanity, and where things went wrong...08:15
-How the "Western Enlightenment" has shaped the world as we know it...12:55
-Break the cycle of dis-ease with the "Evolved Nest"...17:50
-How to nourish underdevelopment in the brain from childhood hardships...31:53
-Nurturing a sense of "mattering" as a means of thriving in life...37:27
-Connecting with the "one mind" on a deep level...44:02
-Rites of passage have tragically gone by the wayside in modern society...47:20
-How to encourage healing in adults who have experienced trauma in the past...50:15
-A practice Dr. Darcia relies on for success in life...59:40
-And much more...
Resources mentioned:
Evolved Nest website
Dr. Darcia's personal website
Restoring the Kinship Worldview: Indigenous Voices Introduce 28 Precepts for Rebalancing Life on Planet Earth
Neurobiology and the Development of Human Morality: Evolution, Culture, and Wisdom
Guest's social handles:
Facebook
LinkedIn
