Wednesday, April 30, 2008
You Have GOT To Be Kidding Me
The NYTimes looks at "ecopsychology."
The essential question from my perspective is what have we, as the church, done wrong that allows this sort of almost direct substitution of the natural for the supernatural? Of course, many would talk about secularization and rationalism, and scientism, but all those things are still the substitutes, not the cause of the substitution.
Simply put, these things are easily substitutable because the church has not done a good job of being the actual church. we have been insufficiently distinct from these substitutes - we have failed to exhibit the characteristics that would make the truth of our claims, in comparison to these others, apparent. Some of it is having adopted these various forms - faith is not happiness. Being a Christian radically affects psychotherapy, but being a Christian is far more than finding metal and emotional health. We have largely reduced our faith to an intellectual/emotional construct instead, when it is a literal remaking of our entire being on every conceivable, and inconceivable, level.
I am not sure these images adequately communicate how different real gold appears from its, even well-done, substitutes. There is a unique character to the stuff that is recognizable on site. Even when something is covered not just in gold-colored paint, but in actual gold foil, it is very different than the solid stuff itself. Working in the mining industry as I did some years ago, I have seen the raw stuff come from the ground - it is undeniable and truly distinct.
Christ did not die and was not resurrected so that we could be painted with gold paint, or covered with gold foil. Christ came to mine the gold out of us - to make us into what we are. You see, when we are but painted gold it is too easy to paint other colors. But no one would ever dream of actually painting something that is gold - in fact, paint cannot stick to a gold surface, it is too chemically inert.
The road to becoming gold instead of simply trying to paint ourselves gold begins on our knees, in confession. Rough start to a wonderful journey.
Technorati Tags:recreation, counterfeit, ecopsychology, psychology, faith, transformation
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SOME months ago, Catherine McLendon and her husband, Martin, decided to talk to a psychologist. The couple have a blended family with three adolescent sons, and they wanted guidance in easing some typical adjustment problems.If you need proof that the environmental movement has become a religion, do you really need to look further? Read that last paragraph, now, substitute "spend more time in prayer and devotion" for "spend more time outdoors," and some seminaries now have entire psychology departments dedicated to exploring how upbringing and family background affects approach to faith. This does not just hint at religion, this borrows its contours in toto.
But a few sessions in, Ms. McLendon, a floral designer, and Mr. McLendon, a bus driver, realized their worries extended beyond the demands of work, school and extracurricular sports.
Ms. McLendon was troubled by the family’s consumption habits, while Mr. McLendon worried about the disappearance of green space. In therapy, their psychologist, Sandy Shulmire, began providing the family with practical instructions for reducing anxiety, and their carbon footprint.
Dr. Shulmire is a practitioner of ecopsychology, a new form of therapy that is starting to find a following in this green-minded corner of the United States. Like traditional therapy, ecopsychology examines personal interactions and family systems, while also encouraging patients to develop a relationship to nature.
Therapists like Dr. Shulmire use several techniques, from encouraging patients besieged by multitasking to spend more time outdoors to exploring how their upbringing and family background influence their approach to the natural world.
The essential question from my perspective is what have we, as the church, done wrong that allows this sort of almost direct substitution of the natural for the supernatural? Of course, many would talk about secularization and rationalism, and scientism, but all those things are still the substitutes, not the cause of the substitution.
Simply put, these things are easily substitutable because the church has not done a good job of being the actual church. we have been insufficiently distinct from these substitutes - we have failed to exhibit the characteristics that would make the truth of our claims, in comparison to these others, apparent. Some of it is having adopted these various forms - faith is not happiness. Being a Christian radically affects psychotherapy, but being a Christian is far more than finding metal and emotional health. We have largely reduced our faith to an intellectual/emotional construct instead, when it is a literal remaking of our entire being on every conceivable, and inconceivable, level.
I am not sure these images adequately communicate how different real gold appears from its, even well-done, substitutes. There is a unique character to the stuff that is recognizable on site. Even when something is covered not just in gold-colored paint, but in actual gold foil, it is very different than the solid stuff itself. Working in the mining industry as I did some years ago, I have seen the raw stuff come from the ground - it is undeniable and truly distinct.Christ did not die and was not resurrected so that we could be painted with gold paint, or covered with gold foil. Christ came to mine the gold out of us - to make us into what we are. You see, when we are but painted gold it is too easy to paint other colors. But no one would ever dream of actually painting something that is gold - in fact, paint cannot stick to a gold surface, it is too chemically inert.
The road to becoming gold instead of simply trying to paint ourselves gold begins on our knees, in confession. Rough start to a wonderful journey.
Technorati Tags:recreation, counterfeit, ecopsychology, psychology, faith, transformation
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