The Voice of the Earth: An Exploration of Ecopsychology

Theodore Roszak

Red Wheel/Weiser, Jan 1, 2001 - Nature - 377 pages

What is the bond between the human psyche and the living planet that nurtured us, and all of life, into existence? What is the link between our own mental health and the health of the greater biosphere? In this "bold, ambitious, philosophical essay" (Publishers Weekly), historian and cultural critic Roszak explores the relationships between psychology, ecology, and new scientific insights into systems in nature. Drawing on our understanding of the evolutionary, self-organizing universe, Roszak illuminates our rootedness in the greater web of life and explores the relationship between our own sanity and the larger-than-human world. The Voice of the Earth seeks to bridge the centuries-old split between the psychological and the ecological with a paradigm which sees the needs of the planet and the needs of the person as a continuum. The Earth's cry for rescue from the punishing weight of the industrial system we have created is our own cry for a scale and quality of life that will free us to become whole and healthy. This second edition contains a new afterword by the author.

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LibraryThing Review

User Review  - TnPeters - LibraryThing

Arguably, the leading Author, since its publication, on the relationship of human mind and human behavior with Earth's ecosystems (the natural environment).

THE VOICE OF THE EARTH

User Review  - Jane Doe - Kirkus

Repeatedly, in this scholarly survey of cultural history, Roszak (History/California State Univ.; Flicker, 1991, etc.) evokes a back-to-nature philosophy, contrasting the rational philosophy of the ...

Contents

• Preface EcoPSVCHOLOGYA RECONNAISSANCE: 13
• MODERN PSYCHOLOGY IN SEARCH OF ITS SOUL: 48
• A SPECULATIVE: 74
• COSMOLOGY: 97
• THE SEARCH FOR GAIA: 136
• WHERE GOD USED TO: 160
• THE MEANING OF OMEGA: 182
• ECOLOGY: 213
• THE MORAL EQUIVALENT: 247
• NARCISSISM REVISITED: 263
• TOWARD AN ECOLOGICAL EGO: 282
• ATTENDING THE PLANET: 306
• Epilogue ECOPSYCHOLOGYTHE PRINCIPLES: 319
• Appendix GOD AND COSMOLOGY: 333
• Notes: 347
• Bibliography: 363
• Index: 369

About the author

Theodore Roszak was born in Chicago, Illinois on November 15, 1933. He received a B.A. from UCLA and a Ph.D. in English history from Princeton University. He taught at Stanford University, the University of British Columbia, San Francisco State University, and California State University, Hayward. His only lengthy departure from academia was when he served as editor of Peace News in London during 1964 and 1965. His writings and social philosophy have been controversial since the publication of The Making of a Counter Culture in 1968. His other nonfiction works include Where the Wasteland Ends, Person/Planet, The Voice of the Earth, The Cult of Information, and Ecopsychology: Healing the Mind, Restoring the Earth. He also wrote several novels including Flicker, The Devil and Daniel Silverman, and Memoirs of Elizabeth Frankenstein, which won the Tiptree Award. He died of cancer on July 5, 2011 at the age of 77.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Voice of the Earth: An Exploration of Ecopsychology; Alexandria Bks
• Author: Theodore Roszak
• Edition: illustrated, reprint
• Publisher: Red Wheel/Weiser, 2001
• ISBN: 1890482803, 9781890482800
• Length: 377 pages
• Subjects: Nature / Ecology