The Delicate Empiricism of Goethe: Phenomenology as a Rigorous Science of Nature

Abstract

This article describes individual and collective experiences of engaging and connecting with nature using a mindful perception approach, the MAPIN Strategy. It represents a qualitative review of the worksheets completed by participants during a number of MAPIN nature connection sessions. This article presents the range of cognitive, affective, and spiritual responses for constituent activities that constitute a MAPIN session, some of the insights and reflections by participants, and participant's reflections about their experiences of connection. The essence of the overall collective experience of connection was described as an immersive, relational, and loving one of being bonded and nurtured by nature, or some aspect of a natural area, characterized by a variety of positive cognitive, affective, and spiritual states of mind that led to increased awareness, perspective, and an expanded sense of self and being-in-the-world. The article ends with a suggestion of why the MAPIN Strategy may be an effective tool for evoking and/or heightening experiences of connection with nature. © Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.