The ecoself is a reimagined Indigenous concept, an understanding and expression of which restores our wellbeing. Our ecoself is who we are as individuals and communities in the context of our own natures, abilities, and experiences, our genetics, our ancestral ecological webs (ecowebs), and — for those of us who are migrants — our adopted ecowebs.

How do we approach an understanding of our ecoself?

Five different paths exist. Herein, I discuss the path of discerning knowledge to approach an intellectual understanding of the ecoself. As described previously, our ecoself is our entire being in the dimensional context of space, time, and simultaneity. Thus, understanding how the perceptible universe (i.e., the universe we perceive) evolved may help us understand the dimensional context of the ecoself. 

We first consider how the perceptible universe is thought to have evolved from the perspective of the Euro (people of European descent) framework. The Euro framework is based on externalism, which is characterized by fragmentation, reductionism, and control. In this framework, the nature of reality is believed to be a sensory dynamic reality in two dimensions (time and space), i.e., a reality that is perpetually changing (dynamic) and can be perceived by the senses or extensions thereof (sensory). Furthermore, reality is believed to consist of discrete and separate entities composed of perceptible material (matter and/or energy).

In the past about 100 years, knowledge-seekers (self-termed ‘scientists’) within the Euro framework have come to believe that the (current) material universe manifested itself after an event called the Big Bang, which took place about 13.8 billion years ago. They are unable to agree on when the material universe actually came into being or what it exactly looked like at the Big Bang or very shortly thereafter. But what there appears to be agreement on is that about a second or so after the Big Bang, the material universe was very hot, very dense, and quite uniform (i.e., relatively undifferentiated). This early material universe expanded and cooled, resulting over time in different types of energy, sub-atomic particles, atoms, molecules, and — very recently — more complex arrangements of matter and energy, such as living organisms.

Next, we consider how the perceptible universe is thought to have evolved from the perspective of Indigenous frameworks, particularly the amalgam framework of the Indian subcontinent. Reinterpreted here, the ancient Indigenous amalgam framework of the Indian subcontinent is based on internalism, comprising integrated ecoweb-rooted knowledge, technologies, and practices. In this framework, the nature of reality is conceived as dynamic reality in three dimensions (simultaneity, time, and space) together with Ekam (Oneness) reality transcending the three dimensions. Furthermore, dynamic reality is conceived as comprising a reticulum of interconnected entities that may or may not be perceptible by the senses. 

Thousands of years ago, ancient Indian knowledge-seekers discerned certain fundamentals of the nature of reality and the evolution of the perceptible universe. A reinterpretation of these fundamentals follows. The perceptible universe originates/originated in an infinite undifferentiated potential that exists/existed before the advent, or outside the constraints, of the three dimensions of simultaneity, time, and space. Within this infinite undifferentiated potential exists/existed three interwoven vibrational states in equilibrium. When this equilibrium is/was disrupted, the three vibrational states — unity, impetus, and inertia — are/were caused to manifest as the three dimensions: simultaneity, time, and space. Upon the advent of the dimensions, the evolution of the perceptible universe is then described in terms of the manifestation and interactions of the Five Great Evolvers. 

First to manifest was ākāś, having the qualitative aspect of potential. From ākāś manifested air (agitation). From air manifested fire (transformation). From fire manifested water (cohesion or duality). And from water manifested earth (differentiation). As the Five Great Evolvers began manifesting themselves, so did the three dimensions of simultaneity, time, and space manifest themselves into the three duality principles: organizing interconnectivity, energy, and matter.

To summarize, the perceptible universe arose from potential, which was agitated (triggered) into transforming into a cohesive duality, e.g., energy-matter and particle-antiparticle, which then combined in multiple ways to manifest as many differentiated entities, like molecules, proteins, cells, and living and non-living beings of various names and forms, connected to and dependent on each other within ecowebs. 

Logically then, every entity in the universe is derived from infinite undifferentiated potential. In other words, no matter how differentiated (different in form and separate in space) from each other now, everything and everyone is not only interconnected in dynamic reality (such as within ecowebs) but also fundamentally part of the same Ekam (Oneness) reality. The foregoing exposition provides a basic intellectual understanding of the dimensional context of the ecoself, which encompasses both genetic and ecological contexts.