Ecosymbolism Philosophy

Welcome to the Library of Human Symbols

Symbols surround us. They encompass almost every inch of human creativity.

They are our voice, our music, our drawings, our designs, our inventions, our science, our art and our history. Everything humanity has created becomes part of an immense library of symbols accumulated through our evolution.

Symbols have propelled humanity forward because they allow knowledge to travel.

We receive them from those who came before us. We interpret them, question them, imitate them, transform them and create new ones. Through them we communicate what we have discovered, what we fear, what we imagine and what we hope may still be possible.

They give us the ability both to create and to destroy.

I invite you to follow this train of communication as you would follow the rhythm and notes of a symphony, each sound connecting with another.

Follow the dialogue.

Search for knowledge.

Introspect.

Question.

Challenge what you believe you know.

And allow yourself to be propelled toward the future and toward the unknown.

The Question

Within a question there is already the possibility that an answer exists.

Our job is to search for the keys.

We may not find the answer immediately. We may discover that we asked the wrong question. We may fail, correct ourselves and try again.

But within the act of wondering, questioning and challenging ourselves exists the promise of the possibility of hope.

Not security.

Not certainty.

Not the promise that everything will work as we wish.

Possibility.

That possibility gives us a reason to continue—to follow the rhythm into the unknown, to adapt, to thrive and to evolve.

The Challenge Before Us

Perhaps one of humanity's greatest dilemmas today is remembering that although we are individuals, we also exist as a colony.

The challenges before us cannot always be solved by one person, one discipline, one generation or one idea.

We need the library.

We need the accumulated knowledge of those who came before us and the creativity of those who are here now.

We need dialogue so that knowledge can travel.

We need freedom so that ideas can reveal themselves.

We need introspection so that we can question ourselves.

We need merit so that the strongest ideas can be developed.

We need creativity so that new possibilities can emerge.

And we need each other so that what one person discovers does not end with that person.

Together, we can search.

Together, we can test.

Together, we can correct.

Together, we can adapt.

And perhaps together we can find solutions that none of us could have discovered alone.

The Invitation

The Dance does not end here.

Every answer creates another question.

Every discovery becomes another symbol.

Every symbol can enter another mind and create another echo.

And every echo has the possibility of returning transformed.

So I leave you with the same challenge that Ecosymbolism asks of each of us:

What else can I do?

What can I do better?

What else can I try?

Welcome to the library of human symbols.

The Dance continues.