Mapping Meaning, the Journal (Issue No. 1)

In Conversation with Consciousness
Weston G. W. Wood
“Rivulets run down this patterned
landscape of ridges and ravines, smelling
sharp of sap and soaked earth. Course,
meandering but inextricably linked. As I
listen to a breeze of various pitches course
through the budding oak and stubborn
conifers, I remove my hand from this
bark and notice the stark similarities
between it and the larger lay of the land –
homonymous but far from monotonous.
It required being alone in this space, far
more than spectacle, to realize sensuously
that I am not alone. As humans, we never
have been, and hopefully never will be,
alone in natural spaces. I suspect that I,
among many, have been a poor listener.”
So goes the introductory paragraph
of my Honors Thesis for my H.B.S. in
Communication at the University of Utah,
Consciousness is a Conversation: Towards
an Eco-Dialogical Theory of Communication
(Wood, 2017, p. 1). My thesis meandered
between many themes, topics, problems
and perspectives, but was motivated by
the pathos that I located in the Wasatch
Mountains as described above. In the paper
you now read, I will share the metalogue
methodology that I used to explore
my relationship to myself and to larger
ecosystems. I hope to assume the role of
storyteller rather than researcher and convey
the significance of this methodological
experiment as I experienced it.
This outward oriented inner-work originated
in a coalescence of various ecological
theories and my work on interpersonal
dialogue with Dr. Leonard Hawes, my
thesis supervisor. This resulted in a series
of transcribed and analyzed conversations,
or metalogues, in which I studied both the
process and text. Of particular importance
to this piece, and indeed myself, is the
potential for this method to lend awareness
to how larger ecosystems and socio/
economic/political/etc. structures flow
through us, how these lines of contact may
manifest discursively, and the implications
for mental health.
Metalogue can reveal the relationality which I
argue is intrinsic to the self. Whether spoken,
written, or thought, our conscious existence
is conversational and our relationships with
others, systems and structures leave spoken
traces that can be etched and analyzed. I
think metalogue can activate our inherent
agency to improve our collective wellbeing
by acknowledging these voices and “editing”
these conversations that are always already
occurring. I will include selections from the
thesis that I think are most relevant, and
frame them with paragraphs of reflection.
A Coalescence of Theory and Very
Personal Praxis
My thesis was motivated by my desire
to interrogate mental health from an
environmental humanities lens. I took
Dr. Hawes’ class Culture & Dialogue in
which he uses critical theory to construct
a non-hierarchal space where students
are encouraged to examine their own
communication (as opposed to abstract
analysis of communication). In this space,
students are empowered to speak truth
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