Biophilia
Definition
The innate human affiliation with other living systems. The term was developed by E. O. Wilson in his 1984 book Biophilia and refers to the genetic and evolved orientation of human beings toward other forms of life as a source of meaning, attention, and recovery.
Literal meaning
From Greek bios (life) and philia (affectional love). Wilson's usage names a hypothesis: that humans evolved within close ecological relation to other species and that the residue of that long association persists in our cognitive and emotional response to nature. Edward Wilson, Biophilia (Harvard University Press 1984); Stephen Kellert and Edward Wilson eds., The Biophilia Hypothesis (Island Press 1993).
Esoteric meaning
Biophilia provides modern empirical support for the Netist principle that the practitioner's wholeness is bound up with the wider field of life. Where the spiritual tradition speaks of right relation to the green world as a discipline, biophilia research provides the measurement: time among trees, exposure to flowing water, contact with non-human animal life all measurably reduce stress markers, improve attention recovery, and shift mood toward equilibrium.
Extended meaning
Roger Ulrich's 1984 study showing faster post-surgical recovery for patients with views of trees was an early empirical demonstration; the Japanese practice of shinrin-yoku (forest bathing) has been studied extensively by Qing Li and others, with measurable cortisol and natural-killer-cell-activity effects. Biophilic design has become a recognized discipline in architecture and urban planning, applying the research to the construction of spaces that maintain the sensory contact with natural systems that human cognition requires.
Comparative tradition
Hindu and Jain principles of ahiṃsā extended to ecological care. Indigenous traditions of relational personhood with non-human kin. The Christian-monastic tradition of garden cultivation as part of contemplative practice.