A critical survival instinct that enables the infant to bond with their parents or other primary caregivers is the recognition of facial patterns. Indeed, we are hardwired to recognize faces and their attendant patterns from birth.
“Among other social cues in the environment, faces are probably the most important to us as humans, since they convey relevant social information, such as identity, age, gender, emotions. Humans are experts in processing faces, and evidence from behavioral, brain lesion, and neuroimaging studies suggests that, in adults, face processing involves specific face processing strategies carried out by dedicated brain areas. (Simon, et.al., 2015)
Tim Valentine coined the term “face space” in 1991, which he defined as a “multidimensional space, in which each individual face is coded as a point in a continuum where the average face lies at the center of the space”. Evidence from adults’ studies has shown that faces are special and are processed in a more holistic way than objects. So, it appears that all of us are essentially capable of perceiving, processing, and evaluating our world through a pandimensional view, from the time that we arrive upon this planet.
Within her Science of Unitary Human Beings nursing theory framework, Dr. Martha Rogers identified reality as pandimensional, nonlinear, open, and infinite, and one in which humans and the environment are simultaneously and cohesively evolving a reality that is infinite and without limit. She noted that planet Earth is integral with the larger world of human reality, and that “change is continuous, relative, and innovative. The increasing diversity of field patterning characterizes this process of change, and a universe of open systems underwrites the growing diversity of people and their environments.” (Rogers, 1992)
We are talking only to ourselves. We are not talking to the rivers, we are not listening to the wind and stars. We have broken the great conversation. By breaking that conversation we have shattered the universe. All the disasters that are happening now are a consequence of that spiritual “autism.”
Recognizing the interconnectedness of humanity and the Earth, and our innate ability to recognize patterns of interconnection, one needs only consider the current happenings in the world to feel a measure of grief in our collective human experience. Clinical psychologist and spiritual teacher John Welwood described how we contract ourselves to avoid pain, developing an overall pattern of avoidance, denial, and bypass, and that the first step in healing is to become vulnerable and expose our wound and disconnectedness from ourselves and the pain that caused this disconnection. It is in this vulnerability that we crack open the heart and begin to engage in healing presence.
Roshi Joan Halifax similarly notes that, “Often our so-called strength comes from fear, not love; many of us have a defended front shielding a weak spine. If we strengthen our back, and develop a spine that’s flexible but sturdy, then we can risk having a front that’s soft and open, moving past fear into a place of genuine tenderness. I believe it comes about when we can be truly transparent, seeing the world clearly – and letting the world see into us.”
Joanna Macy, eco-philosopher and spiritual activist notes, “the crisis that threatens our planet, whether seen in its military, ecological, or social aspects, derives from a dysfunctional and pathological notion of the self…the delusion that the self is so separate and fragile that we must delineate and defend its boundaries; that it is so small and so needy that we must endlessly acquire and endlessly consume; and that as individuals, corporations, nation-states, or a species, we can be immune to what we do to other beings.”
As an antidote to this delusional perspective, Macy argues for a “greening of the self”, a recognition of the interrelationship and interconnectedness of ourselves with all life forms upon this planet. Once there is that recognition, then we no longer have to appeal to humanity’s often broken morality to become more caring for the planet and its beings, but rather, simply appeal to our self-interests.
I had been intoxicated, again, by my human need to draw connections, to recognize patterns.”
The world, our planet is calling us to be vulnerable and crack open our hearts and allow light to enter; to actualize the attributes of the heart and become a healing presence; to maintain a soft heart with a strong back and become truly transparent and allow the world to fully see us; to cultivate and embody a greening of the self; and to view the world as a multidimensional being that is truly one with us. Our means by which to accomplish this is through love and compassion, the great transformers residing within our heart centers. May this be our intention and action. May it be so.
References
Macy, J. (2007) World as Lover, World as Self: Courage for Global Justice and Ecological Renewal. Berkeley, CA. Parallax Press.
Rogers ME. Nursing science and the space age. Nurs Sci Quarterly. 1992 Spring;5(1):27-34.
Simion F, Giorgio ED. Face perception and processing in early infancy: inborn predispositions and developmental changes. Front Psychol. 2015 Jul 9;6:969.
Valentine T. (1991). A unified account of the effects of distinctiveness, inversion, and race in face recognition. J. Exp. Psychol. 43, 161–204.
Valentine T, Lewis MB, Hills PJ. Face-space: A unifying concept in face recognition research. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove). 2016 Oct;69(10):1996-2019
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About the Author
Lisa Anselme RN, BLS, HN-BC, CHTP, CHTI, RM
Lisa Anselme has been a Registered Nurse for over 45 years and a passionate advocate, practitioner and visionary for holistic and integrative health and biomedical ethics for more than 30 years. A consultant in integrative health for 25 years, she is Executive Director for Healing Beyond Borders. Lisa holds a Bachelors degree in Liberal Studies from the University of Iowa and pursued graduate coursework in Biomedical Ethics.
She has co-taught biomedical ethics to University of Iowa medical students under the tutelage of bioethicist Dr. Robert Wier and served on panels for ethical decision making at the University of Iowa and on the Ethics Committee for Healing Touch International.
A Certified Healing Touch Practitioner and Instructor through Healing Beyond Borders, Certified Holistic Nurse through the American Holistic Nurses Credentialing Corporation, Reiki Practitioner and Teacher, she teaches courses 1–5 of the HTI Healing Touch Certificate Program within the USA and internationally. As a nurse clinician specialist at the largest teaching and research hospital within the USA for 20+ years, she has expertise in the clinical areas of pediatrics, nephrology, transplantation, and biomedical ethics, and held certification as a Clinical Transplant Coordinator for many years.
Lisa has published and presented widely to both professional and lay audiences on the topics of nephrology, integrative health care, energy therapies, holistic practice and biomedical and energy ethics. She is editor of Healing Beyond Borders’ quarterly publication Perspectives in Healing, co-author of Foundations and Practice of Healing Touch 1st and 2nd Ed. (2017, 2024), Healing Touch: Enhancing Life through Energy Therapy (2014), contributing author to Collaborative Mediations (2023), Past President and co-founder of LifeSpark Cancer Resources and Energy Partners program, (Denver) and an instructor in the Integrative Health Program at Red Rocks College, Denver, CO. Lisa maintains a private practice in holistic nursing and energy therapies in Lakewood, CO.