Green Psychology: Transforming Our Relationship to the Earth

SPIRITUALITY / PSYCHOLOGY / ECOLOGY It is becoming more and more apparent that the causes and cures for the current ecological crisis are to be found in the hearts and minds of human beings. For millennia we existed within a religious and psychological framework that honored Earth as a partner and worked to maintain a balance with nature. But somehow a root pathology took hold in Western civilization--the idea of domination over nature--and this led to an alienation of the human spirit that has allowed an unprecedented destruction of the ecosystems that support all life on this planet. In Green Psychology Ralph Metzner explores the history of this global pathology and examines the ways that we can heal this rift and restore a healing relationship with nature. His search for role models takes him from shamanic ceremonies with the Lacandon Maya of Mexico to vision quests in the California desert, from the astonishing nature mysticism of the 11th-century abbess Hildegard von Bingen to the black goddesses and green gods of our pagan ancestors. He examines the historical roots of the split between humans and nature, showing how first sky-god worshiping cultures, then monotheisms, and finally mechanistic science continued to isolate the human psyche from the life-giving Earth. His final chapters present a solution, revealing that many disciplines such as deep ecology and ecofeminism are simultaneously creating a worldview in which the mind of humanity and the health of the planet are harmoniously intertwined. Green Psychology is inspiring reading for all those concerned with the future of the planet and finding their rightful place in it. RALPH METZNER, Ph.D., has been exploring states of consciousness and transformational practices ever since he helped found the Harvard Psilocybin Project in 1960. He is a psychotherapist and professor at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, and the author of many books, including The Psychedelic Experience (with Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert), Maps of Consciousness, Opening to Inner Light, The Well of Remembrance, and The Unfolding Self. He lives in Sonoma, California, with his wife and two children.