Ecopsychology as Modern Pragmatic Spirituality

Discuss philosophical questions regarding theism (and atheism), and discuss religion as it relates to philosophy. This includes any philosophical discussions that happen to be about god, gods, or a 'higher power' or the belief of them. This also generally includes philosophical topics about organized or ritualistic mysticism or about organized, common or ritualistic beliefs in the existence of supernatural phenomenon.
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Psychearth
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Ecopsychology as Modern Pragmatic Spirituality

Post by Psychearth »

Throughout the evolution of human culture on Earth, a large amount of time was spent in the psychological mode of "hunter-gatherer" or primitive/proto-agriculture. Philosophical and scientific arguments can be made against the advent of agriculture, but that is not necessarily the point of this open-ended inquiry. Modern industrial capitalist psychology is extremely new on the planet, as opposed to what it evolved from: a constant direct/immediate experience with the ecological world. How can the branching-off and compartmentalization of studies (especially the bifurcation between the sciences and the humanities) re-integrate into a unified whole through something called "ecopsychology"? Is the psychology of modern humans the cause of atheistic and confused or pseudo-insights about religion and spirituality? The slow destruction of the planet's biodiversity? Can a re-integration with the natural environment bring about psychological changes which correlate with the religious and spiritual experience? What is the spiritual/religious experience as it relates to the insights of ecology and the Earth sciences? In all, I am curious about the inherent relationship between theology, psychology, and how we approach socioecological sustainability in this "postmodern" age.
Spectrum
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Re: Ecopsychology as Modern Pragmatic Spirituality

Post by Spectrum »

Is the psychology of modern humans the cause of atheistic and confused or pseudo-insights about religion and spirituality?
I believe it is the other way round.

Theists [theism is a practical psychological necessity at present, not the future] are ignorant of their fundamental 'eVopsychology' and why they are theists in the first place.
It is this ignorance that drive SOME [a critical quantum nevertheless] to commit terrible violence and all sorts of evils all around the world in the name of religion and theism. In the present situation the overall cons of theism is progressively outweighing its pros [in the past] and thus is becoming a net liability to humanity in the present and the future.

Those who are not-theists are sufficiently intelligent and rational to understand the 'eVopsychology' [encompassing eCopsychology] elements and negative baggage of theism and religions, thus their indifference to theism [with its negative baggage].

Note, non-theists are into Pragmatic Spirituality but not Theistic Spirituality.
Not-a-theist. Religion is a critical necessity for humanity now, but not the FUTURE.
Prothero
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Re: Ecopsychology as Modern Pragmatic Spirituality

Post by Prothero »

Psychearth wrote:Throughout the evolution of human culture on Earth, a large amount of time was spent in the psychological mode of "hunter-gatherer" or primitive/proto-agriculture. Philosophical and scientific arguments can be made against the advent of agriculture, but that is not necessarily the point of this open-ended inquiry. Modern industrial capitalist psychology is extremely new on the planet, as opposed to what it evolved from: a constant direct/immediate experience with the ecological world. How can the branching-off and compartmentalization of studies (especially the bifurcation between the sciences and the humanities) re-integrate into a unified whole through something called "ecopsychology"? Is the psychology of modern humans the cause of atheistic and confused or pseudo-insights about religion and spirituality? The slow destruction of the planet's biodiversity? Can a re-integration with the natural environment bring about psychological changes which correlate with the religious and spiritual experience? What is the spiritual/religious experience as it relates to the insights of ecology and the Earth sciences? In all, I am curious about the inherent relationship between theology, psychology, and how we approach socioecological sustainability in this "postmodern" age.
Where to begin? One could write a book (or several books) about such questions.
For starters lots of religions or spiritual outlooks (especially indigenous native religions) worship nature and give thanks to it.
If one wants to restrict the survey to Western Christianity, lots of different strains of theological thought come into play.
Traditionally the notion was one of mans special status as the crown of creation, the earth as the center of the universe, and the ultimate goal to achieve immortality or eternal life in another (spiritual realm). These notions led to a certain disregard for this world, and a certain sense that the world itself was created for man's use and so ecological notions like environmental protection or preservation of species or the natural order did not play a large role in religious teaching or thinking.
I think in more modern times lots of folks (even lots of religious individuals) accept man as having evolved, our sun and planet as one of billions and belief in heaven and hell or life after death have diminished so religion and ecology no longer find themselves as much at odds. Instead preservation of creation, and a certain sense of having arisen from the world and being dependent on that world have taken their place so stewardship of the natural world is replacing previous notions of dominion.
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Psychearth
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Re: Ecopsychology as Modern Pragmatic Spirituality

Post by Psychearth »

I think in more modern times lots of folks (even lots of religious individuals) accept man as having evolved, our sun and planet as one of billions and belief in heaven and hell or life after death have diminished so religion and ecology no longer find themselves as much at odds.
Yes, this is the re-unification of illusory "inner" and "outer" epistemology that science has revealed. In "Voice of the Earth," Theodore Roszak discusses the origin of religion as a form of social/communal healing and inter-communing with the immediate living world. He states, "'Stone-age psychiatry' may offer an instructive contrast with modern psychotherapy, but its peculiar healing power derives from an animistic experience of nature that seems hopelessly lost to the modern world."

Could the world's monotheistic religions be playing the role of the prodigal son? Is God returning to the Earth through greater awareness of our organic spaceship?
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