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GETTING THROUGH DENIAL: How the Green Party can be more effective in reaching its objectives and potential.
FROM:
INSTITUTE OF GLOBAL EDUCATION
Special NGO consultant to the
United Nations Economic and Social Council
"Anyone who has ever enjoyed a good experience with nature --back country, backyard or with their pet, or with the wind, sea or stars-- has the power to benefit from Green nine-leg thinking...if they don't deny it."
- Michael J. Cohen
Green Party Members and Leaders, Who's the Boss of You?
Due in part to efforts by the U.S. National Park Service and many nature and environmental educators and writers, today:
- 87 percent of the population agrees, "We need to treat the planet as a living system."
- 83 percent agree, "We need to rebuild our neighborhoods and small communities."
- 82 percent say, "We are meant to be stewards to nature and preserve it."
- 75 percent agree, "Humans are part of nature, not it's ruler."
- 68 percent said, "I want to return to a simpler way of living with less emphasis on consumption and wealth." *
Reasonable wholeness
These agreements make whole (nine-leg) sense
because they support life in people and the environment. They are personally and globally logical. So is the Green Party platform.
In reality, however, about 1/3 of the people in the above study vote to continue the present Republican platform, another 1/3 vote Democratic platform; another 1/3 don't vote.
Obviously the thinking and wishes of the population have little connection to people's ability to act/vote in reasonable wholeness.
Act now: books, courses, degrees, grants, recovery and self-help www ninelegs.com
The logic of the psyche
The thinking that goes into voting makes a different kind of sense. it is not logical, it is psychological; it uses the logic of the psyche.
Since the birth of humanity, to promote survival the natural logic of the psyche seeks fulfilling, life supporting rewards for its sensory attractions, for example for: thirst, trust, hunger, touch, belonging, color, place, reason, community, music, respiration and 44 other natural senses. But, in contemporary society these senses are trained/programmed to gain fulfillment in the destructive and unreasonable ways of corporate globalization that further the insanity of our pollution, stress and abusiveness.
Money and materials become the addictive rewards for our natural sensory attractions; they replace the rewards of personal, social and environmental well being that are found in healthy natural systems.
This unreasonable psyche-logical situation will remain until the Green Party platform, or some other parties, become sensible enough to address the psychological foundations that are leading people and the environment astray.
At this time, however, not in sight is a Green Party platform that includes a readily available public psychology and/or green psychologists. This must become a vital part of the Green's political game strategy to address our destructive psychologicaql conflicts and help us resolve them. That would make the Green Party very attractive to a large majority of the population who seek this assistance.
Our destructive rewards situation is similar to that of a store manager who was going broke and hired a consultant to
determine what was wrong. The consultant detected the manager's inadequate selection of workers to be the problem.
"Be logical, improve how you hire people," the consultant said, "Ask prospective employees, 'How much is 2 + 2?' and hire the person who gives the most reasonable answer."
Three candidates applied for the next job opening and were tested. The first answered "2 + 2 = 22,"
The second said "2 + 2 = 5"
The third was perfect. She said, "2 + 2 could be 4 or 22 depending upon your meaning. I love gathering complete information and considering long term effects to produce solutions that best benefit all."
The manager selected the candidate who said "2 + 2 = 5."
"But, why?" asked the flabbergasted consultant. "Because she's the boss's wife," came the reply.
In denial
At a Green Party meeting on October 2, 2004 in Friday Harbor, WA, Green Party Presidential Candidate, David Cobb, said that a vast majority of people are bonded to the corporate money "boss" of destructive thinking, relationships and technologies that produce our discontents. (For example, no matter how rich or poor we may be, most of us feel we need 15% more money). Cobb agreed that our denial of our psychological bonding or addiction to our destructive personal, social or environmental ways prevents us from taking advantage of constructive Green alternatives that are available.
A psychologist in the audience asked Mr. Cobb, "Since our destructive bonding/addiction is a potent psychological denial phenomenon, what psychological tool does the Green Party use or offer to address it?" Cobb's response was that none was used, that he had no knowledge of such a tool and he eagerly wanted to know more.
The tool, a "nine-leg" form of thinking and relating, has long been used in nature-connected counseling and education and is easily accessible (see www.ninelegs.com)
Our psychological problems demand psychological solutions. How do Greens or others expect to deal with our problems if we are not using presently available effective tools that will help us deal with them? How, in this case, are we different from the resistance shown by others to whom we offer powerful alternatives?
Act now: books, courses, degrees, grants, recovery and self-help www ninelegs.com
Addiction to destructive ways
The logic of our psyche operates by knowing that to sustain survival it is reasonable to satisfy inborn sensory/emotional attractions (this includes the attraction of the sense of reason to be reasonable). However, if other senses and emotions are excessively stimulated or "hooked," they override the sense of reason. With sufficient repetition of this hooking, a person becomes conditioned, programmed or addicted to a stimulus, often no matter its unreasonableness or destructive side effects.
When our mind discovers this dilemma and how it has become psychologically addicted to the horrors perpetrated by our stupid addictive foolishness, it goes into denial. It claims the addiction does not exist or it finds a new rationale for it. Needed change does not occur.
Sound familiar?
Act now: books, courses, degrees, grants, recovery and self-help www ninelegs.com
Disconnection from origins
Today, on average, contemporary people spend over 95 percent of their time indoors, separated from nature. To our great loss, over 99 percent of our thinking is disconnected from its sensory rewarding origins in the natural world. These rewards lie in the regenerative perfection of nature's
balancing grace, beauty and restorative powers.
We are in denial. We deny that our socialization psychologically addicts us to many destructive money, power and indoor technologies and relationships. At the same time we are now fully aware of, and alarmed by, their/our adverse effects.
Psychological problems demand psychological solutions. But, having the same socialization as the general public, the Green Party is in denial, along with the rest of the public. The Greens neither offer nor use the easily accessible "nine leg' means to globally transform our addiction to our environmentally destructive "Boss" into the cooperative, constructive relationships we desire with people and the environment.
Act now: books, courses, degrees, grants, recovery and self-help www ninelegs.com
A psychological tool
Shouldn't the Green Party develop a platform that includes an easily learned green psychology, psychologists and counselors and training for this skill? This should become part of the Greens political game strategy but it is presently not in sight.
For those of us who individually or collectively want to use a green psychology to address our psychological dilemma, the tools to this end are easily accessible on line at www.ninelegs.com.
GREENS: To increase your ability to deal with our society's denial of our destructive addiction to money and power, visit Green Learning, Educating and Counseling with Nature.
A release is available for your immediate use. It is also available by sending an email request to nature@interisland.net
"If addiction is judged by how long a dumb animal will sit pressing a lever to get a "fix" of something, to its own detriment, then I would conclude that netnews is far more addictive than cocaine"
-Rob Stampfli
"A moderate addiction to money may not always be hurtful; but when taken in excess it is nearly always bad for the health."
- Clarence Day
Also available:
A letter that helps leaders address our insanity.
A survey of beneficial outcomes from using the tool.
Articles from different sources that you may review or reprint.
A Free Online Green Psychology Course that is accredited and transferable for academic or professional purposes. A short version of this course is also available
.Training or Degree Programs online with financial assistance.
An application used for all programs.
"Within and around us, our use of a tool that helps us genuinely reconnect our mind to nature's balance, beauty and healing powers enables our thinking to reduce our troubles and increases our love of nature. We protect and save what we love."
*Ray, Paul and Anderson, Sherry (2002). Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People Are Changing the World. New York: Three Rivers Press, pp 218-219.
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INSTITUTE OF GLOBAL EDUCATION Special NGO consultant United Nations Economic and Social Council
PROJECT NATURECONNECT
Readily available, online, natural science tools
for the health of person, planet and spiritP.O. Box 1605, Friday Harbor, WA 98250
360-378-6313 <email> www.ecopsych.com
ORGANIC ADVANCED ECOPSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION
The Natural Systems Thinking Process
Dr. Michael J. Cohen, Director
send email
All programs start with the Orientation Course contained in the book
The Web of Life Imperative.Return to top of page
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