Psychosynthesis Made Easy

I'm reading an interesting book at the moment, from O Books new "Made Easy" series, about to be launched at Watkins, the esoteric bookshop in London.

Psychosynthesis Made Easy has been written by Stephanie Sorrell, who trained at the Institute of Psychosynthesis in London and is an Applied Practitioner in the discipline.

This is a short, easy to read volume, ideal for the layman who would like to understand what psychosynthesis is all about. Stephanie illustrates the idea throughout with her own personal life experiences to which many, myself included, will be able to relate. Psychosynthesis, we are told, allows psychology, soul and spirituality to meet on mutual ground.

I was particularly interested in the chapter towards the end of the book linking psychosynthesis with ecopsychology, or eco-therapy. It has been understood since the mid 1900's, Stephanie tells us, that nature has healing power for humans, and that our empathy for the plants and animals we share the planet with is an essential part of our personal well being.
But this of course has a far wider significance for our world, a social significance, as we would surely not damage our world so much with our unsustainable living if we felt a greater empathy for all the life that it contains. And by our thoughtless actions we not only induce climate changes but we damage the very soul of nature that could help us most in our own healing.

"If we do not allow the natural world to speak to us, if we do not let the fierceness give us solace, or the silence reach and heal us, then we can turn our wounds, our own brokenness, against the natural world. And that is what we are doing.
"This powerful source of healing is itself now hurt. Nature has become the docile dog that will savage the child who innocently pokes it in the eye. We are hurting our planet. If we do not act quickly, it may turn on us and destroy us"

These latter sentiments come from my own book, Healing this Wounded Earth, where I write in one chapter of the healing power of nature, and the effect we are having on its fine balance by our present lifestyles, with a call for healing and change. But I further explore the need in some detail for empathy and compassion in all aspects of our lives, at work and at leisure, in our creativity and finances, in our faith and our healthcare, and of course in our relationships and our communities. This must be the future of a better world for us all, and for our children and grandchildren to inherit.

© Eleanor Stoneham 2011

A Tree Blessing

May you be like a tree whose roots quarry deep

Into the earth’s wisdom,

so that your mind is filled with vision and inspiration.

May you grow strong like a tree knowing your growth,

however slow and painful, is not just for yourself.

but for this lovely planet.

May you pause like the tree to feel the gentle winds of heaven upon you, 

    and the heart of the Creator warm and golden within you.

May you be wise as the tree who taps the centre of its

being for truth,

so that amidst every storm that shakes your roots

you will know that all is well.

Within your still centre may you know the magic

of love that opens all doors and heals all pain.

May you always be strong and firm and beautiful as a tree.

Stephanie Sorrell

I think that is so beautiful. It is in Stephanie's lovely new book, Nature as Mirror: an Ecology of Body, Mind and Soul.

Nature is a mirror, she explains, reflecting back at us the fractures and chasms within our own psyche. Because of this, nature can also be used as a powerful healing tool, and this book explains how to use nature’s own natural cycles and patterns to heal our own souls. Also, and importantly, until we develop an intimate sense of our union with nature, we will continue to work against the natural environment, with all that this implies in environmental destruction. If we do not heal our relationship with nature it will destroy us. Here are her links to Amazon, and do check out her poetry whilst you are there.

The Scientific and Medical Network

I was in a conference centre in Hampshire last weekend for the annual meeting of the Scientific and Medical Network, and what a stimulating time it proved to be. Aside from the lively AGM, which provoked lots of discussion and ideas, we had a line up of excellent speakers for the theme; Towards an Integral World-View: Inner and Outer.

In addition to the scheduled speakers, one of the sessions at this conference gives members a chance to talk for a short while, half an hour or so, about their own interests, book, research, whatever, within the theme of the event as a whole. And one such member caught my particular attention. Jean Hardy is writing a book, A Wiser Politics, to be published by O Books in due course. In this, her third book, she draws on her own background in political philosophy, psychosynthesis and holistic ecology to explore the need for a wider vision in politics of values and spirituality, in other words beyond the usual pragmatic and managerial issues which seem to dominate political thinking of all three main parties. Where, she asks, is the wider vision. Can we really hope to change our policies to form a better world unless we view our current system from a different and more spiritual perspective?

I have expressed my own hope for more politicians who will not be shy or afraid of letting the world know their own faith -driven or spiritual values. We need such politicians who can reflect those values in policies in a way that still appeals to the electorate and does not antagonize them.
I know Barack Obama has somewhere made a similar observation. We need spiritual politicians
who are compassionate, indeed empathic to the needs of the populace. In fact we need spirituality, compassion, empathy and good old fashioned morality all round, in ourselves as well as in our politicians. And we need changes of heart and mind in us all.

Jean argues in her book "for a way of thinking that links, as many earlier societies have done, Cosmos, with Polis, and also with Psyche." If we are to change the political and world paradigm in which we seem to be stuck, we must understand where myths and stories came from that are established often deep in our psyche, she told us.

If Jean writes with the same easy style she used to talk to us, this book will be a joy to read and I look forward to its publication very much indeed.