The field of psychology is dedicated to the awakening of human consciousness. Undeniably the most ancient truth of such awareness, as mentioned by James Hillman, lies in the fact that humans cannot be perceived and studied apart from their planet.
Monsoon madness seems to have struck us all. The endless pitter patter of rain drops I believe has a strong effect on our psyche in much the same way that we have an effect on her existence. Being human we often forget this basic reality of life that we are nature and nature is us. We go to great lengths to make sure that we create this boundary of superiority and try hard to maintain it. An inherent arrogance fringed with carelessness to the environment. Very early on in life we are fed with this doctrine that we are the most intelligent and superior of all living creatures. We do not regard or respect our own limitations as humans, believing in an almost ethnocentric selfishness that we are beyond damage or destruction. It is such a premise that motivates all our idiosyncratic actions.
Why else would educated people with authority overload a weed dragger, which is meant to hold a single person, with many people, and then go into a creek filled with sewage and expect it not to capsize? Risking their own life and those others, who for their own reasons decided to join the charade of goodwill? It makes for a good WhatsApp forward and a hearty laugh, but the truth stinks as much as the creek itself forcing the most crucial question. Why has a beautiful creek become a sewage dump?
It’s not only the St Inez creek in question that requires this soul searching answer, but most of Goan creeks, beaches and roads need to be looked at with the same concern. Why are we so insensitive to the increasing garbage, sewage and ecological disasters all around us? Yes, the monsoon washes most of our sins away for us and the green carpets around cover the plastic beneath, but this cover is temporary while the effects long lasting.
We consider ourselves intelligent, forgetting that we are perhaps the only species on this planet that is risking with great pride and pomp the destruction of the only place presently available in the universe to house our survival.
We also believe that we own the earth. That it belongs solely and primarily to us as humans. We not only forget its other inhabitant but most importantly we forget that our survival depends on the synergy with these multitude spices, foliage and physical matter. No matter how hard we try, or how much money we spend or which God we worship, we will not survive on our own. We are in sense a mere extension of our environment.
Monsoon madness is about looking around you and seeing the earth choke on plastic filled creeks and flood on building locked land. Of the probability of sudden natural disasters, or about useless drainages that have become breeding grounds for dengue and malaria. The emerging orientation of eco-psychology draws on the premise that the humans and nature are connected and understands and seek ways to realize this connections.
Our environment directly affects our behavior and in turn we play an integral role in the predictability of weather. The University of Michigan tried to establish the effect of environment on behavior. Spending time outdoors in warm, sunny weather improves mood, memory and broadens cognitive styles (openness to experience and creative thoughts).
Their research points to the fact that optimal temperatures for optimal mood in most people is about 28 degrees centigrade with mood fluctuating when temperature rises or decreases.
It is not surprising thus that after the scorching summer heat the monsoons is a welcome. The rain, its sudden arrival, its absence and its analogies have been elements that symbolizes every emotion through literature and art, be it heart break, joy, sadness or fear.
Continuous rains and gloomy clouds can affect our mood though. Seasonal affective disorder, can be triggered by gloomy clouds. People with SAD will tend to display prolonged sleep patterns, lack of energy and craving for sweet and starchy foods. Though symptoms are not severe they can trigger depression if added stressors act up.
Heavy monsoons can also cause worry when there are natural calamities like hurricanes or floods. During such an event, people can experience post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD). These symptoms mostly include intense fear, helplessness or horror, inability to concentrate, recurring, intrusive thoughts about the event, frustrations, irritability, insomnia, physiological distress, hallucinations and depression.
Our collective actions as human can predict the display of global warming. This year the predicted is that we will see heavy rain this monsoon and we have already received more than our normal share of rain showers. There are concerns that the rain might be so heavy that it could affect our crops and flooding. Are we ready for such calamities?
Human- environment relations is an obvious fact and we have to make conscious efforts to recognize the depth and closeness of this relationship. Unless we acknowledge this reality and seek ways to an ecofriendly life we shall always live in the constant fear of a mad monsoon.
Dr Aldina Braganza e Gomes is a clinical psychologist, psychotherapist and associate professor, HOD, Dept of Psychology Carmel College
