Listening to the voice of the more-than-human. Meditative conversations with Yr Afon Tâf. An autoethnographic exploration of meditative conversations with a local river.

The polycrisis we are currently facing has the frightening potential to cause catastrophic and irreversible destruction of natural and social systems (Lawrence et al., 2022). To stare in the face of the climate crisis, the nature crisis, the mental health epidemic, increasing socioeconomic deprivation, and to realise their global scale and apocalyptic magnitude, would seem to result in a sense of overwhelming hopelessness and futility. This seems particularly prescient when we acknowledge that the rapid spread, and deep structural grip, of a pernicious neoliberal, consumerist ontology throughout the globe is both the cause of this predicament and causes us to “uncare” (Weintrobe, 2021). Consequently, more-than-human voices are ignored and left unheard. Moreover, our mainstream education systems seemingly not only reflect but exacerbate these perilous dominant discourses (Paulsen & Hawke, 2022). However, Keller (2021) states that an “alarm is not a requiem” and calls for “a dreamreading of our apocalypse” (Keller, 2021, p.2). Drawing on the original Greek concept of apokálypsis as a “removal of the veil” (Keller, 2021, p.5), she calls for an “apocalyptic mindfulness” so we may “embrace our creaturely interconnectivity” (Keller, 2025, p.61).