Arne-Naess on deep ecology

Quote: "We must find and develop therapies which heal our relations..." Arne Naess

Fri, 03 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

“We must find and develop therapies which heal our relations with the widest community, that of all living beings.” —Arne Naess

quote-all-living-beings-have-intrinsic-value-arne-naess

Thu, 25 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

“All living beings have intrinsic value.” – Arne Naess

Source: Ecology, Community and Lifestyle

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Thu, 25 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

“Deep ecology asks for a radical rethinking of values, not only technology.” – Arne Naess

Source: Ecology, Community and Lifestyle

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Thu, 25 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

“Identification, not moralizing, often leads to beautiful actions.” – Arne Naess

Source: Ecology, Community and Lifestyle

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Thu, 25 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

“Intrinsic value is independent of usefulness to humans.” – Arne Naess

Source: Ecology, Community and Lifestyle

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Thu, 25 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

“Quality of life is not reducible to higher material standards.” – Arne Naess

Source: Ecology, Community and Lifestyle

quote-selfrealization-means-widening-the-self-identification-arne-naess

Thu, 25 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

“Self-realization means widening the self: identification with a larger Self.” – Arne Naess

Source: Ecology, Community and Lifestyle

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Thu, 25 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

“Self-realization often leads us to protect what we identify with.” – Arne Naess

Source: Ecology, Community and Lifestyle

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Thu, 25 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

“The flourishing of life requires respecting richness and diversity.” – Arne Naess

Source: Ecology, Community and Lifestyle

quote-the-richness-and-diversity-of-life-arne-naess

Thu, 25 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

“The richness and diversity of life contribute to quality of life.” – Arne Naess

Source: Ecology, Community and Lifestyle

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Thu, 25 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

“The ultimate aims of deep ecology can be summarized in a simple imperative: maximize self-realization! In other words, maximize our potential as living beings. We need beings to awaken.” – Arne Naess

Source: Ecology, Community and Lifestyle

Profile: Arne Naess

Thu, 29 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Arne Naess was a Norwegian philosopher who coined the term “deep ecology” in 1973, fundamentally reshaping environmental thought and activism. Born in Oslo in 1912, he became Norway’s youngest professor at age 27 and would spend seven decades developing a philosophy that challenged humanity’s relationship with the natural world.

In 1937, Naess built a small mountain hut called Tvergastein at 1,500 meters above sea level in the mountains of central Norway. This austere retreat became the birthplace of his most influential ideas. There, surrounded by stone and sky, he developed what he called “Ecosophy T” - a personal ecological philosophy that integrated insights from Spinoza, Gandhi, and Buddhist thought with his direct experience of nature’s grandeur.

Quote: Arne Naess; ““The smaller one comes to feel…”

Thu, 29 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

“The smaller one comes to feel compared to the mountain, the nearer one comes to sharing in its greatness. I don’t know why this is so.” - Arne Naess

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Quote: Arne Naess; “Now is the time to share with all life…”

Thu, 29 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

“Now is the time to share with all life on our maltreated earth by deepening our identification with all life-forms, with the ecosystems, and with Gaia, this fabulous, old planet of ours. we need the immense variety of sources of joy opened through increased sensitivity toward the richness and diversity of life, through the profound cherishing of free natural landscapes.” - Arne Naess

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The Development of the Deep Ecology Process

Tue, 10 May 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Our Philosophy page describes Arne Naess’s call for “therapies which heal our relations with the widest community, that of all living beings”, and notes that the processes answering that call were developed largely by his coauthors on Thinking Like a Mountain. What follows traces that development more closely: how a workshop first conceived in response to the nuclear threat became, over four decades and in two hemispheres, the body of practice now generally offered as the Work That Reconnects.

Philosophy in the Mountains: ABC radio show about Arne Naess and interview with John Seed.

Sun, 01 May 2022 00:00:00 +0000

https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/philosopherszone/philosophy-in-the-mountains—arne-naess/3176186

“Arne Næss, who died in January just a couple of weeks short of his ninety-seventh birthday, was a great mountaineer and part of the history of twentieth-century philosophy. He started out as a member of the great philosophical school the Vienna Circle but was better known as the founder of the movement known as deep ecology. This week, we pay tribute to the man and his work.”

—arne-naess/3176186

Video: The Deep Ecology Movement with Alan Drengson

Sun, 01 May 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Audio of an interview with Alan Drengson from Greenradio on youtube,

R. Alan Drengson explains the origins and principles of the deep ecology movement, while speaking of its founder, Norwegian philosopher Arne Næss. In particular, Dr. Drengson identifies the importance of contextual knowledge and of engaging conversations at the intersections of difference. Radio interview by Simon R. Watson and Jordan Poppenk for the Green Majority on CIUT 89.5 FM at the University of Toronto. Originally aired June 6, 2008.

Article: Self-Realization Beyond the Human: Arne Næss and Norwegian Deep Ecology

Fri, 22 Apr 2022 00:00:00 +0000

“As if this simplicity and inaccessibility were not enough, Næss built, with his own hands, a three-by-three-meter refuge some 200 meters higher up on the crags of the Hallingskarvet massif, which he dubbed “Skarveredet” (roughly meaning “a nest” in a mountain “notch”). By his own admission, this bivouac-like sanctuary gave him “‘the feelings of being on the very brink of the abyss’ and ‘of a raven perched on the cliff for long periods’”

Article: The Shallow and the Deep, long-Range Ecology Movement, A Summary, by Arne Naess

Fri, 22 Apr 2022 00:00:00 +0000

“The emergence of ecologists from their former relative obscurity marks a turning point in our scientific communities. Their message, however, is twisted and misused. A shallow, but currently rather powerful movement, and a deep, but less influential movement compete for our attention” - Arne Naess

In this seminal essay, Arne Naess coins the term Deep Ecology, and outlines its distinction from other forms of ecological distinction.

See for an embedded version of the essay visit Essay: The shallow and the Deep, long Range Ecology Movement

The Deep Ecology Platform

Fri, 22 Apr 2022 00:00:00 +0000

In April 1984, during the advent of Spring and John Muir’s birthday, George Sessions and Arne Næss summarized fifteen years of thinking on the principles of deep ecology while camping in Death Valley, California. They articulated these principles in a literal, somewhat neutral way, hoping that they would be understood and accepted by persons coming from different philosophical and religious positions.

Readers are encouraged to elaborate their own versions of deep ecology, clarify key concepts and think through the consequences of acting from these principles.

Documentary: The Call of the Mountain ~ Arne Naess and the Deep Ecology Movement (full version)

Wed, 16 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +0000

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wf3cXTAqS2M

For a full transcript of the Interview with Arne Naess in this documentary visit: http://www.naturearteducation.org/R/Interviews/Naess1.htm

Book: Thinking Like a Mountain-HTML version

Tue, 15 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +0000

This post holds an HTML version of the text of the book “Thinking Like A Mountain – Towards a Council of All Beings”. Published in 1988, this seminal text by John Seed, Joanna Macy, Arne Naess and Pat Fleming outlines their collective vision for a “Council of All Beings” group process. These workshops, aimed at healing humanities’ illusion of separation from the natural world, were a response to the multifaceted challenges which face us to day in the form of intersecting ecological and social crises. Later developments gave rise to what are now referred to as “Deep Ecology” Workshops, and the “Work that Reconnects”.

Book: Thinking Like a Mountain - PDF

Sun, 27 Feb 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Below you will find an embedded PDF version of the seminal book by John Seed, Joanna Macy, Pat Fleming and Arne Naess which gave rise to the “Council of All Beings” group work, later referred to as “Deep Ecology” workshops.

Embedded PDF: