Jeanine M. Canty, PhD, is a visionary scholar whose groundbreaking work illuminates the profound connections between consciousness, thought, and our relationship with the natural world. Her teaching weaves together social justice, ecological wisdom, and transformation. As a professor at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) and guest professor at both Pacifica Graduate Institute and Naropa University, Jeanine has developed and shared her deep understanding of how mind and spirit intersect with ecological healing. Her acclaimed Nautilus Book Award-winning work Returning the Self to Nature: Undoing Our Collective Narcissism and Healing Our Planet, demonstrates how spiritual alienation from the earth creates the narcissistic patterns plaguing our society and social landscape. Her integration of contemplative practice with rigorous scholarship—drawing from Buddhist philosophy and transformative learning—offers tools for expanding our worldviews to heal our inner landscapes and our planet. Within this introductory talk, her first event at The New School as Visiting Scholar, we dive into the dualities within the western human’s psyche in order to reclaim our ecological and transpersonal identities and to access pathways for healing. Jeanine M. Canty, PhD Jeanine is a professor of transformative studies at CIIS, telecommuting from Boulder, CO. Formerly the chair of environmental studies at Naropa University, she continues to guest teach at Naropa and at Pacifica Graduate Institute. A lover of nature, justice, and contemplative practice, her teaching intersects issues of social and ecological justice, ecopsychology, and the process of worldview expansion and change. She is author of Returning the Self to Nature: Undoing Our Collective Narcissism and Healing Our Planet and her most recent edited book is an expanded, second edition of Ecological and Social Healing: Multicultural Women’s Voices (2025). Jeanine M. Canty, PhD Jeanine is a professor of transformative studies at CIIS, telecommuting from Boulder, CO. Formerly the chair of environmental studies at Naropa University, she continues to guest teach at Naropa and at Pacifica Graduate Institute. A lover of nature, justice, and contemplative practice, her teaching intersects issues of social and ecological justice, ecopsychology, and the process of worldview expansion and change. She is author of Returning the Self to Nature: Undoing Our Collective Narcissism and Healing Our Planet and her most recent edited book is an expanded, second edition of Ecological and Social Healing: Multicultural Women’s Voices (2025). *** The New School is Commonweal’s learning community and podcast — we offer conversations, workshops, and other events in areas that Commonweal champions: finding meaning, growing health and resilience, advocating for justice, and stewarding the natural world. We make our conversations into podcasts for many thousands of listeners world wide and have been doing this since 2007. Please like/follow our YouTube channel for access to our library of more than 400 great podcasts. Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.