Eco-Connect
Dr Michael J. Cohen, who directs several university programmers in Applied Eco-psychology, integrates both the scientific and spiritual approaches by creating ways in which effective environmental education and action spring from a deeply felt personal reconnection with Earth and nature. An accidental scientific discovery in 1953 by Cohen has evolved into a social restoration tool, a free online course and the USA Presidential Platform for 2004.Dr Cohen’s Institute of Global Education, Project
Nature Connect and website www.ecopsych.com are in the forefront of environmental education. He had also developed the 1985 International Symposium ‘Is the Earth a Living Organism?’ According to Cohen, we, and all of nature, are built of attraction bonds that hold atoms and the world together. We are not taught that in us, at least 53 of these bonds register emotionally and spiritually as ‘biophilia’, a binding, 53-sense
love of nature. Our nature-disconnected ways de-energize biophilia out of our awareness. We instead believe we have only five senses.
Also, while we concentrate on science, economics and technology, we have been robbed of integrity by a seldom recognized but easily curable mental
health disorder known as Natural Attraction Desensitization Syndrome (NADS).
Our educational, professional and personal lives are spent indoors. This addictive, excessive separation of contemporary thinking from the integrity and wellness of natural systems within and around us underlies our greatest discontents and social or environmental disorders. Thus NADS is not just an environmental issue. Its destructive effects include greed,
relationship problems, prejudice, diseases, abusiveness, violence and social injustice.
We, society and the environment hurt from our extreme loss of contact with our origins in nature. Whenever a story or
relationship reminds us of this loss, we feel the hurt. This makes us fearful, defensive, and apathetic. But our society is in denial. We accept this disconnection as normal trying to compensate with misguided social and economic practices aimed at conquering nature. Hundreds of studies have vindicated Cohen`s findings by illustrating that nature-separated organisms suffer from limited sensory stimulation which de-energizes natural growth and
relationship sensitivities.
To counter the ill-effects of NADS, Cohen created a Nature-reconnecting psychology called the Natural Systems Thinking Process (NSTP) born out of his 30 years of all-season travel and study in over 260 national parks, forests and subcultures. The critical contribution of NSTP is that it empowers individuals to create ‘‘moments that let Earth teach’’. NSTP teaches individuals to make conscious sensory contact with Nature`s authentic intelligence and incorporate it in their thinking. This therapeutically nurtures the 53 inherent natural senses. They energize and increasingly remain in our awareness. Everyone can use, teach and benefit from these unadulterated sensory connections to attraction energies in nature, which help restore us and regenerate integrity, spirit and the environment. These connections help people to beneficially recycle, purify and transform their destructive bonds for constructive relationships.
‘‘You must nurture your felt
love for nature. Never deny it. It is your connection with the unifying essence that organizes, preserves and regenerates
life relationships at every level. Its profound loss in our thinking produces our destructiveness and imbalance,’’ says Cohen. ‘‘Because we are part of nature, when we thoughtfully reconnect with nature, nature’s recycling energies begin to reverse our mental contamination, just as they do any other contamination…Hundreds of irrefutable studies document what even a short walk in the park can show you: our thinking benefits from this restorative, purifying, support. Insurmountable problems along with apathy fade as we transform our discontents into more sensible, constructive participation,’’ he asserts. Cohen’s ecopsychology is in truth a rediscovered and repackaged version of the ancient wisdom that underlines the importance of connecting to the universal source without interference from our outdated conditionings.
Prabhath P
Eco-Connect
Dr Michael J. Cohen, who directs several university programmers in Applied Eco-psychology, integrates both the scientific and spiritual approaches by creating ways in which effective environmental education and action spring from a deeply felt personal reconnection with Earth and nature. An accidental scientific discovery in 1953 by Cohen has evolved into a social restoration tool, a free online course and the USA Presidential Platform for 2004.Dr Cohen’s Institute of Global Education, Project Nature Connect and website www.ecopsych.com are in the forefront of environmental education. He had also developed the 1985 International Symposium ‘Is the Earth a Living Organism?’ According to Cohen, we, and all of nature, are built of attraction bonds that hold atoms and the world together. We are not taught that in us, at least 53 of these bonds register emotionally and spiritually as ‘biophilia’, a binding, 53-sense love of nature. Our nature-disconnected ways de-energize biophilia out of our awareness. We instead believe we have only five senses.Also, while we concentrate on science, economics and technology, we have been robbed of integrity by a seldom recognized but easily curable mental health disorder known as Natural Attraction Desensitization Syndrome (NADS).
Our educational, professional and personal lives are spent indoors. This addictive, excessive separation of contemporary thinking from the integrity and wellness of natural systems within and around us underlies our greatest discontents and social or environmental disorders. Thus NADS is not just an environmental issue. Its destructive effects include greed, relationship problems, prejudice, diseases, abusiveness, violence and social injustice.
We, society and the environment hurt from our extreme loss of contact with our origins in nature. Whenever a story or relationship reminds us of this loss, we feel the hurt. This makes us fearful, defensive, and apathetic. But our society is in denial. We accept this disconnection as normal trying to compensate with misguided social and economic practices aimed at conquering nature. Hundreds of studies have vindicated Cohen`s findings by illustrating that nature-separated organisms suffer from limited sensory stimulation which de-energizes natural growth and relationship sensitivities.
To counter the ill-effects of NADS, Cohen created a Nature-reconnecting psychology called the Natural Systems Thinking Process (NSTP) born out of his 30 years of all-season travel and study in over 260 national parks, forests and subcultures. The critical contribution of NSTP is that it empowers individuals to create ‘‘moments that let Earth teach’’. NSTP teaches individuals to make conscious sensory contact with Nature`s authentic intelligence and incorporate it in their thinking. This therapeutically nurtures the 53 inherent natural senses. They energize and increasingly remain in our awareness. Everyone can use, teach and benefit from these unadulterated sensory connections to attraction energies in nature, which help restore us and regenerate integrity, spirit and the environment. These connections help people to beneficially recycle, purify and transform their destructive bonds for constructive relationships.
‘‘You must nurture your felt love for nature. Never deny it. It is your connection with the unifying essence that organizes, preserves and regenerates life relationships at every level. Its profound loss in our thinking produces our destructiveness and imbalance,’’ says Cohen. ‘‘Because we are part of nature, when we thoughtfully reconnect with nature, nature’s recycling energies begin to reverse our mental contamination, just as they do any other contamination…Hundreds of irrefutable studies document what even a short walk in the park can show you: our thinking benefits from this restorative, purifying, support. Insurmountable problems along with apathy fade as we transform our discontents into more sensible, constructive participation,’’ he asserts. Cohen’s ecopsychology is in truth a rediscovered and repackaged version of the ancient wisdom that underlines the importance of connecting to the universal source without interference from our outdated conditionings.
Prabhath P