Stephan Harding and His More-Than-Planetary Legacy
Date created: September 5, 2024
My first conversation with Stephan Harding was in England, where I was introduced to him by the visionary author and activist Satish Kumar. Satish had just invited me to study a master's program called Holistic Science at Schumacher College, a school he co-founded with Stephan. Sitting across from each other in the garden, full of energy, Stephan asked me, "So, you want to do the master's program?" Yes! From that afternoon in 2015 onward, he became my mentor, friend, professor, and the supervisor of my thesis, which explored ten possible ways to foster emotional connection with the Amazon rainforest.
A few days ago, Stephan Harding left his body behind and his soul soared into infinity. In the years and decades before departing, he planted seeds in the hearts and minds of his friends, family, students, and colleagues. He spread his legacy across the world in countless ways. If you care about this planet, you should get to know him, or get to know him better. I am happy to help make that connection, following Satish’s example. After all, as his student, I won’t write a text extolling his (incredible) résumé, which you can easily Google. No, it's much more than that. Come with me.
Through the window of that small upstairs room, the tree branches swayed gently, moved by the autumn wind. Slowly, leaves floated to the ground, signaling renewal and the start of a new cycle, preparing the earth with more nutrients for the times ahead. Inside the quiet room, a group of about 14 students sat in a circle on a comfortable carpeted floor. Birds sang outside in harmony with the breeze’s cold whistle.
At the center of the room, in front of us, was Stephan. We didn’t know what to expect from the silence. We discovered it slowly, curiously, when he finally smiled and picked up his guitar. He told us, “Today we’re going to study Gaia Theory, but before we begin, I want to play a song for her.” Gaia is the Greek mythological name for Earth. So, the first act of the class: a song for the planet.
The melody, composed by him and inspired by Indian songs, brought us into an unusual and rare state of presence through its musical notes. His composition had a depth that almost automatically drew us inward. When he finished, he calmly set aside his guitar, and the room remained silent for a few more moments. I wondered, what kind of teacher is this? I had never seen anyone start a class like that! Wow.
"Now, let's talk about the Gaia Theory." He stood up and, with a playful and engaging approach, he immersed us in the discoveries of Lynn Margulis and James Lovelock, with whom he collaborated and whom he had intensively and presciently championed since the 1970s. Only recently has the "modern" scientific community started to accept what he and his colleagues had advocated for more than 40 years: that planet Earth is a living organism capable of self-regulation, just like you and me.
Stephan was like that: teaching was always accompanied by feeling, intuiting, sensing and thinking. He wanted us to experience life and the content of his lessons fully, as taught by one of his great inspirations, the psychologist Carl Gustav Jung. For Jung, these are the core actions of a human being living at their fullest potential. So, with each class, we delved a bit deeper into our internal oceans. It was as if Stephan took us by the hand and said each time: "Okay, let's go a little further now." In everything he did, he applied Deep Ecology, a philosophy and movement that inspires planetary ethics, starting from the principle that all living beings have the right to life, which humbles us and brings a sense of self-responsibility for our choices and ways of living.
With Stephan, we experienced what he called the Deep Time Walk. Together, we walked 4.5 kilometers along the Devon coast, across mountains and cliffs by the sea, to let our bodies feel, understand, and integrate what 4.5 billion years of Earth's history means. Stephan asked us to reflect on “500,000 years” with each step, pausing along the walk to explain the most significant moments in Earth’s evolution until we reached the present day. At the end, when we were all in awe, he reminded us with a ruler that humanity has only existed in the last 30 centimeters of this timeline, and that the future depends immensely on our decisions within this giant organism floating in space, of which we are an integral part. Can you grasp what it was like to learn from him?
He was a professor like no other, disruptive, passionate about the planet, creative, irreverent, and a genius. Beyond that, he was a friend, patient and generous. He always encouraged me to develop myself in areas that were most challenging for me, spoke about my potential, and urged me to reinvent myself into the new Karina that I was becoming—and continuing to become. Our last words were exchanged just a week before his passing, and he encouraged me to keep working for the planet with strength and joy.
Stephan touched the hearts of thousands of students worldwide with his way of teaching. He demonstrated different aspects (all of which are essential), to make the science of nature more accessible, responsible, connected, respectful, playful, and philosophical. One of his methods for teaching "how" was to develop a master's degree in Holistic Science, something no one had dared to do before.
To ensure that this text is not just filled with my words only, which are insufficient to honor this professor, I would like to share some words of other students.
Azul Thomé said that Stephan radically transformed her way of seeing and being in the world. Vanessa Sancho Morales shared that she learned from him that the Earth's gravity is a form of love, which makes her feel safe and to know she is part of "something much greater." Agi Berec said she cried in his classes and that since then, the living planet has been with her every day.
Even physicist Fritjof Capra published a few words about Stephan this past Tuesday: “For twenty years, he contributed significantly to all my courses at Schumacher College, with lectures on Deep Ecology and the Gaia Theory. His unique teaching style combined brilliant explanations of key ecological concepts with an unforgettable and contagious sense of humor.”
During one of our Deep Time Walks (I participated in many), when he told me the sun is expected to explode in 500 million years, I did the math. Using the metric of each step representing 500,000 years, I realized that after 1000 more steps (an analogy for Earth’s age), not only would the sun die, but our planet would too. Suddenly, 500 million years seemed like nothing, just around the corner.
I was surprised and even a little scared when I realized this.
“Stephan, what’s the point of all this, then? We have so much work to care for the planet, and in the end, it’s going to die anyway?” To which he responded, with his ever-present wisdom: “Karina, whatever we do on Earth will resonate forever throughout the entire universe.” Okay, Stephan... I smiled, wiped my tears, and understood what the master was saying, through the expanded lens of his giant heart, combined with Deep Ecology, Complexity Theory, science, and cosmology. That was Stephan.
Dear professor, everything you did for the planet and for us will resonate forever throughout the universe.
Your legacy is secure.