The USian Way of Squelching Souls

Let’s return to species-normality

BabiesDecolonization/Re-wildingEvolved Nest
By Darcia Narvaez, PhD
Adobe/The 2R Artificiality

I went to the farmer’s market today and despite purchasing beautiful local flowers, got disheartened. I saw strapped-down prisoners everywhere. Listless, they were resigned to their fate as if it were a habit.

I tried to catch each one’s eye as I walked by, but sometimes they were too dissociated or depressed.

You can’t approach the prison guards. You’d be considered a crazy person. No, they are following what the culture expects: control, detachment, dismissal. They don’t have much freedom to do otherwise.

In certain quarters, there is a focus on how human consciousness is evolving away from domination and separation to a planetary or unitive consciousness, as if it is a new stage in human consciousness.

The blindness of this belief is rooted in the dominant culture that has taken over the world in the last 300 years or so. The tyranny of the contemporary leads to people not taking up authentic baselines.

The deep belief in separation and domination that characterizes the dominant culture is rooted in the experiences of those aforementioned prisoners. Babies and young children, of course. Right when the brain and sense of self and relationships are establishing functions and parameters, babies are separated and manipulated—undernurtured, unnested.

We’ve gathered enough empirical evidence of the harm done from missing evolved nestedness, including neurodevelopmental delays and missed capacities.

Nested communities around the world do not feel separate, are not domineering unless they become patriarchal and concerned about property and ownership, rare in our existence but forced on the world today.

Our species has been around for about 300,000 years. Like all wild animals, species-normal humans feel connected to Nature, self, others. They don’t promote separation and domination during sensitive periods of development. They evolved ways to control the primate domination tendencies that have gotten out of control today.

So instead of evolving to some new consciousness, humanity first needs to return to species-normal consciousness through species-normal practices for its development. Instead of squelching children’s souls, we can help them reach their potential. The future of humanity likely depends on it.

The Nesting Ambassador Program at NestedWorld.org is training people around the world to help restore species-normal humanity. Join us!

Nesting Ambassador Program Dates for 2027 (*=mandatory sessions)

*January 9 –Introduction to Kinship Worldview.

Before January 9: Read introductory text and watch Dr. Darcia’s opening lecture, Human Pasts, Global Futures: Trauma or Wellness?

*January 16 – Mandatory Course Orientation and Classroom Tour

*January 23 – Topic: Nature Immersion and Partnership (Evolved Nest Component 1)

January 30 – Praxis Gathering.

*February 6 – Topic: Restorative Healing (Component 2)

February 13 – Praxis Gathering.

*February 20– Topic: Free Play (Component 3)

February 27 – Praxis Gathering.

*March 6 – Topic: Responsive Relationships (Component 4)

March 13 – Praxis Gathering.

*March 20 – Topic: Positive Touch (Component 5)

March 27 – Praxis Gathering.

*April 3 – Topic: Welcoming Social Climate (Component 6)

April 10 – Praxis Gathering.

*April 17 – Topic: Multiple Mutual Nurturers (Component 7)

April 24 – Praxis Gathering.

*May 1 – Child-Directed Breastfeeding (Component 8)

May 8 – Praxis Gathering.

*May 15 – Soothing Perinatal Experiences (Component 9)

May 22 – Praxis Gathering.

*May 29 – Death, Transition and Ancestral Continuity (Component 10)

June 6: Graduation

REFERENCE TO CHECK OUT

Narvaez, Darcia (2014). Neurobiology and the Development of Human Morality: Evolution, Culture and Wisdom. W.W. Norton.

Related Terms:
Darcia Narvaez, PhD

Darcia Narvaez is a Professor of Psychology Emerita at the University of Notre Dame. She is the president of Kindred World and the co-founder of the public and professional educational outreach project The Evolved Nest Initiative whose nonprofit mission is to share her science research into developing appropriate baselines for lifelong human wellness by meeting the biological needs of infants. This wellness-informed baseline is imperative at this time as the United States ranks 41st out of 41 developed countries in public policies that support families.

In a 2020 analysis of top scientists, Narvaez emerged in the top 2% of scientists worldwide. Of the eight million scientists in the world, the analysis concerned those who had at least five articles published in scientific journals between 1996 and 2017-- over six million scientists. Individuals were ranked according to various criteria, including number of citations of their work.

In 2022, she was named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science(AAAS), the largest international body of professional scientists in the world and publisher of the prestigious journal Science. Narvaez was honored for her distinguished contributions illuminating typical and atypical development in terms of well-being, morality and sustainable wisdom. Narvaez examines how early life experience — the “evolved nest” — influences moral functioning and well-being in children and adults. She integrates evolutionary, anthropological, neurobiological, clinical, developmental and education sciences in her work. The election of AAAS fellows is an honor bestowed upon members by their peers.

Narvaez’s book, Neurobiology and the Development of Human Morality: Evolution, Culture and Wisdom, was chosen for the 2017 Expanded Reason Award from among more than 360 total entries from 170 universities and 30 countries. Narvaez received the prize, including a substantial monetary award, at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences in Vatican City on September 27, 2017. The book also received the William James Award from the American Psychological Association in 2015.

Narvaez hosted interdisciplinary conferences at the University of Notre Dame regarding early experience and human development in 2010, 2012, and 2014. In 2016 she organized a conference on Sustainable Wisdom: Integrating Indigenous KnowHow for Global Flourishing. (Click on the links to see the full conferences in video on the Evolved Nest's YouTube Channel.)

She is the author or editor of numerous books and articles, see The Science page for listings.

She is the president of the venerable American nonprofit, Kindred World, a contributing editor to Kindred, the first global eco-parenting magazine, an advisory board member of Attachment Parenting International and the Association for Pre- and Perinatal Psychology and Health, APPPAH.

Her recent book, Neurobiology and the Development of Human Morality: Evolution, Culture and Wisdom (2014), won the 2015 William James Book Award from the American Psychological Association, as well as the 2017 Expanded Reason Award. She is former executive editor of the Journal of Moral Education.

You might also like More from author
Leave A Reply

Your email address will not be published.