From the National Catholic Distorter (where else?): Ecopsychology: Healthy Planet, Healthy People [emphases mine]
The only discipline now that recognizes and explores this connection between the health of the planet and the wellbeing of the individual is one that is quite new. It is the emerging field of ecopsychology, sketched out for the first time in Theodore Roszak’s book The Voice of the Earth. [ecopsychology - also known as "quackery". Just sayin']The ecopsychologist asks: Does it make much sense to aspire to health in the individual when his or her surrounding and sustaining environment is on the decline in every way? Ecopsychology emphasizes the interconnectedness of the human psyche with the rest of life. [it also emphasizes that you ignore common sense, dumb yourself down and blithely accept pagan beliefs]
Fr. Diarmuid O’Murchu writes “A list of mental illness and the huge amount of stress that we suffer as humans are because of what we are doing to the planet, because of the ongoing destruction of the environment. Until we begin a new relationship with the cosmos around us, we can’t know how to relate meaningfully to anything, especially our own innermost being. [but Christ came to teach us how to relate to God (He's our Father) and with our neighbors - not to teach us some Gaia mumbo jumbo. This guy's a priest???]Without this meaningful relationship between humans and the Earth, the planet suffers profoundly and so do we suffer greviously both physically and in our psyches as well.” [the Earth doesn't care]
The emerging field of ecopsychology is just one sign in our times showing that old, tired-out views of our world are slowly beginning to yield to fresher perspectives.[more likely, it's a way of charlatans to make some $$$]
Rozsak writes: "We need a new discipline that sees the needs of the planet and the needs of the person as a continuum and that can help us reconnect with the truth that lies in our communion with the rest of creation." [This is to supplant the Biblical truth that we are stewards of creation and are to subdue it. There is nothing Christian about this stuff.]
We really cannot separate ourselves from everything else. Remnants of ancient oceans flow through our veins. [Okay, Aquaman] Ashes of expired stars provide the material for our very cells. [Whatever you say, space cowboy] When we look into the night sky, the stars and the swelling emptiness that contains them are, precisely by virtue of their vastness, the cradle that makes our awareness possible.
"Ecopsychology holds that there is a synergistic interplay between planetary and personal wellbeing," Roszak says. "The term 'synergy' is chosen deliberately for its traditional theological connotation, which once taught that the human and divine are cooperatively linked in the quest for salvation ["theological connotation" means there's no real relationship at all, if they have to resort to verbal gymnastics]. The contemporary ecological translation of the term might be: The needs of the planet are the needs of the person, the rights of the person are the rights of the planet." [He's claiming that the planet is human....or divine? Or both? Or maybe he's just crazy...]
Some issues that ecopsychology have brought into focus:
-- Consumption habits. What are the deep psychological roots of what Harvard psychologist Sarah Conn calls our 'materialistic disorders'?
-- Child psychology and development: Children are probably born closer to the ecological unconscious than they ever will be again. In what ways do we "educate" this innate consciousness of harmony with the natural world out of them?
-- Design. What would environmentally intelligent homes, workplaces, churches, cities look like? Why don't we have many such in the world today?
-- The need for wilderness. Does our mental health require access to authentic wilderness and our untamed fellow species? If so, what might be our best strategies for preserving the endangered lands and species?
Eco-psychology? Really?? These people make those folks who scream over dead trees seem somewhat rational.
The "issues brought into focus" can be answered quite easily - and because it's the season of Christmas, a time of giving - AoftheA will answer them for you. At no charge.
1) Consumption habits? "Materialistic disorders"? Simple - SIN!!! Avarice, greed, gluttony, envy, jealousy - it's different for every person.
2) Child development - "ecological unconscious"? For goodness sake, children don't spring out of the ground! This is all about indoctrination of the kids - that human beings are a dangerous virus that harms the Earth.
3) Design - "environmentally intelligent"? What does that even mean? Are we supposed to go back to caves and thatched huts because they're not destructive to the environment? You first, dude.
4) Need for wilderness - the Federal Government currently owns 1 out of 3 acres in America. How much more do they need to steal?
The article states that "A list of mental illness and the huge amount of stress that we suffer as humans are because of what we are doing to the planet..." - but fails to support that statement. But hey - if these people want to assuage their guilt by claiming if only they were nicer to an inanimate object that doesn't care or know about us because it can't care or know about us, then the world would be a better place - then go for it. Obviously, if only we were all nicer to the Earth, it wouldn't be compelled to punish us with earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes, tsunamis and tornadoes.
No mention of God, no mention of Christ. No mention of personal sin.
Pure pagan pablum. In a "Catholic" publication, no less.
