Mental Health as a Vision of Ecological Safety | Part 5

John P. Flynt, PhD
Oct 31, 2023
2 min read

Updated: Nov 10, 2023

Safety in Rituals of Mental Health

Health through Sharing

Wulf celebrates Humboldt as a product of the French Revolution. He celebrated democracy, was what can be identified as a feminist, detested slavery, and promoted the knowledge of science as the property of all. He was passionately convinced that his work as a writer and speaker involved sharing his knowledge to the general public. Later in life, he even donated his library of 17,000 books to what can be viewed as a public cause. If the vision of Chimborazo is a form of discovery that enabled Humboldt to visualize information about nature, another moment in his life arises from his spirit of sharing. In the act of sharing– communicating– he provides an example of a phase of ritual discovery that involves performance.

Wolf also participates in this activity when she makes it visible to her audience. This becomes evident in Wulf’s account of an event in Humboldt’s later life, when he presented a series of public seminars at the Singakademie (music hall) in Berlin. This commenced in December 1827 and continued on for several months, introducing to Germany the public face of science. Sessions of his lectures were packed, widely celebrated public events. Wulf describes Humbolt’s style of presentation as “lively, exhilarating and utterly new” (Wulf, IN, 120). She emphasizes that “By not charging any entry fee, Humboldt democratized science; his packed audiences ranged from the royal family to coachmen, from students to servants, from scholars to brick-layers – and half of those attending were women” (Wulf, IN, 128).

With Humboldt and Wulf, sharing confirms fulfillment. By sharing, they follow a path that extends their experiences and creates meaning in their lives and the lives of others. This type of intrapersonal and interpersonal involvement is essential in the journey of ritual discovery. What is realized through discovery culminates with performance; and this basic pattern, discovery-performance, is an essential aspect of mental health and wellness.