Green Psychology: Transforming our Relationship to the Earth (Paperback)

~ Ralph Metzner Ph.D. (Author), Ralph, Ph.D. Metzner (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

If we could name the greatest environmental threat that we face, it wouldn't be the depletion of the ozone or even of the world's natural resources. In fact, it would be the depletion of the human spirit, according to ecopsychologist Ralph Metzner, Ph.D. And how did this catastrophe come about? It all happened when the religions of Western civilization were no longer based on living harmoniously with the earth. Once Western religions began to seek dominance instead of partnership with nature, we created a pathology that led to a massive destruction of the human spirit and a frightening worship of consumerism to fill the void. Simply put, by disrespecting and destroying the earth, we are disrespecting and destroying what sustains the human spirit, explains Metzner.

Although the perils of disconnecting from nature are well written and researched, this is not a book of doom and gloom. In fact, Metzner has accomplished an extremely well-written and thoroughly hopeful book. The final chapters suggest numerous solutions. Metzner also points to encouraging signs, such as the new wave of ecofeminism, as evidence of our ability to return to the earth--once again bonding spirit with nature. --Gail Hudson

From Publishers Weekly

Metzner, who worked at Harvard in the 1960s with Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert (they co-wrote The Psychedelic Experience), is currently a psychotherapist in California and the author of several books, including Maps of Consciousness. At once visionary and down-to-earth, his latest is an often profound exploration of the deeply disturbed relationship between humanity and nature, which, in his diagnosis, is leading to worldwide ecological destruction. Building on the work of Mircea Eliade, Marija Gimbutas and others, Metzner traces our dissociation from Mother Earth some 6000 years back, when invading Indo-European tribes conquered the relatively peaceful, matriarchal cultures of Old Europe, replacing Earth Goddess worship with sky-and-war-god religions and patriarchy. In later epochs, he maintains, as Christian monotheism and mechanistic science stamped out polytheistic animism, the Western psyche was increasingly marked by a "human superiority complex," along with a presumed right to dominate and exploit nature, animals and other societies. Metzner seeks the basis for an ecological ethic, not always convincingly, in shamanistic interaction with nature, alchemy, yoga and mind-expanding plants used sacramentally by indigenous cultures. Assembled from essays published in ReVision, the Sun and elsewhere, his book has a patchwork quality. On balance, however, his useful synthesis should appeal to Gaian scientists, environmentalists, students of myth and holistic thinkers. Illustrated. (Aug.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Park Street Press (June 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0892817984
• ISBN-13: 978-0892817986
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #303,597 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Worthy Compilation--but not a Coherent Work, March 14, 2001

By	Elderbear (Loma Linda, Aztlan) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

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Each chapter in this book has a different emphasis. Each one stands alone and independent. The chapters span a wide range of subjects, from ecopsychology, to natural entheogens (teacher plants, which induce an altered state of consciousness useful for spiritual journeying).

He begins with an account of his visit with the Lacandones and experience of their Balche, an entheogenic drink. His next chapter uses depth psychology to analyze the Gaian hypothesis. He then describes a vision quest experience in the Mojave Desert before moving on to a discussion of the Veriditas of Hildegard von Bingen, a 12th century mystic. He examines the role of entheogens, then broaches the subject of the psychopathology of the human-nature relationship--also examining the dissociative split within human consciousness between the spiritual and the natural. He goes back in time to contrast the Indo-Kurgan "sky gods" with the matrifocal cultures and their earth deities. He peeks at the wild deities of animistic and shamanic cultures, and then considers how the reunification of the sacred and the natural could impact both individuals and society. He shows how our current situation demands that we move to an ecological world view. Finally, he concludes with a chapter which demands that we root ourselves in our bioregions, commenting that our identity is not simply the ego baggage we have acquired, but that we also identify as beings who exist in a place. Without the stories of our "places," we are set adrift, and cannot forge a sacred union with the Natural.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Green Psychology, March 21, 2003

By	Word Ninja (Maine, USA) - See all my reviews

This book is wonderful and outlining man's relationship with nature. I found it especially helpful while also reading the poetry of William Wordsworth, who holds the man/nature relationship in high esteem. I have already taken pages of notes while reading this and will certainly incorporate some of it into my personal philosophy (especially the materialism chapter... there are hints at Buddhism throughout the book). A great read for any nature or psychology enthusiast.

Word Ninja

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Alarm Call, May 7, 2000

By	Michael M. Kostreva "Some bear" (Clemson, South Carolina) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I was a bit slow getting started reading this book, but once I began in earnest I got fascinated. It is a systems view of Man and the Environment, asking the hard questions and proposing answers from the psychologists (and common sense) point of view. There is so much management and operations management which is done without regard for the important constraints of the problem, it is getting out of hand. Can industries exist and produce without ruining the earth which supports them? Is there such a thing as a sustainable telecommunications system? Better ask these questions, and answer them, before it is too late.