Highlights the views of two proponents of the search for the bond
between man and nature. Article by Michael J. Cohen, pioneer of
integrated ecology, in 'The Humanistic Psychologist' (Vol. 21, No. 3);
His Project NatureConnect; Edward O. Wilson's contention that people have
an inherent biological need to be in contact with the out-of-doors, which
he calls 'biophilia.'
By
Paul Glanzrock, published on May 01, 1994
Nature Counselor
From the druids of the Celtic forests to the great tribes of
American Indians, people have sought peace and wisdom by living according
to the laws of Mother Nature. Unfortunately, this century will be
remembered for unprecedented exploitation of nature--and widespread
psychological disturbance of individuals.
No coincidence to Michael Cohen, Ed.D., pioneer of what he calls
integrated ecology. A synthesis of ecology and psychology, integrated
ecology proposes that both the destruction of the Earth's environment and
people's deep feelings of isolation and dysfunction stem from a
fundamental denial of our connection to nature. And by going into the
woods we can get out of the woods.
Western civilization emphasizes only the faculties of sight,
reason, and language, forcing most of us to suppress our natural
senses--all 53 of them, by Cohen's reckoning. Among them: hunger, thirst,
compassion, color, sex, and peace. With over 95 percent of our lives
spent cloistered and indoors, human evils--cigarette smoking to greed to
violence--naturally follow.
Cohen is not a lone hunter of the bond between man and nature.
According to Pulitzer-Prize winning sociobiologist Edward 0. Wilson,
Ph.D., of Harvard, people have an inherent biological need to be in
contact with the out-of-doors. He calls it "biophilia," and believes that
nature may hold the key to our aesthetic, intellectual, cognitive, and
even spiritual satisfaction. Our childhood love of animals and natural
myths and fairy tales may be early evidence of our basic affinity for
nature and its instructive and healing properties.
Therapy by campfire? Cohen has devised therapeutic vacations that
re-create many conditions of earlier hunting, gathering, and communal
living. In The Humanistic Psychologist (Vol. 21, No. 3), he reports that
while on these retreats, patients' personality and eating disorders
subside, learning and other cognitive abilities improve, and violence and
prejudice dissolve.
From his home base at the World Peace University in Roche Harbor,
Washington (206-378-6313), Cohen runs Project NatureConnect, which offers
workshops, training programs, and information about ecologically oriented
therapeutic methods.
PHOTO: Trees
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