Articles by Anthony J. Marsella
We found 137 results.
WEEDS . . . Metaphors . . . WARS
Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
29 Sep 2014
I speak here of weeds growing across our land,
Wild, uninvited, unwelcome, festering!
I speak here of weeds inhabiting gardens and lawns,
Growing amidst driveways, sidewalks, curb cracks.
As I Age . . . Thoughts on Memory and Cosmos
Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Sep 2014
The reality is the omnipresence of memories — as we recall them, as wish to recall them, and as we wish to forget them. Memories are always present — waiting to be released. And with each memory, comes an endless flow of associations. Memories work their way to the surface — the immediacy of the present moment.
→ read full articleAge: Choices for Being-in-the-World
Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Aug 2014
There are many ages! Some are objective (i.e., quantifiable, legal), and some are subjective (i.e., private, perception, personal, psychological). We need to recognize the full range of age choices to avoid stereotypes and categorical conclusions. Obviously, physical and mental limitations and disabilities impose constraints.
→ read full articleJustice as Arbiter: Educating for Moral Authority, Legitimacy, and Credibility
Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Aug 2014
This paper is about justice! The term “justice” is widely used in our daily life in media, politics, economic, and religion sectors. This has resulted in surplus meaning, and perhaps a dulling of its implicit power as a historical force. There can be no doubt “justice” is an enduring human virtue and value.
→ read full articleChoice: The Measure of All Things . . .
Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Aug 2014
Reflecting on Human Nature and Oppression – What then is the measure of a person’s life? By what criteria should we judge, evaluate, and/or assess a person’s life?
→ read full articleThe “Just Enough” Policy: Behavioral Control of Collective Protest through Minimum Reward
Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 Jun 2014
“A society can assume unlimited diversity, as long as it provides equal access to opportunity.” It is the disproportion in opportunity, rights, and freedoms that lead to resentment, struggle, and violence.
→ read full articleLifeism: Beyond Humanity
Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Mar 2014
Lifeism is very relevant to our relentless savaging of life across the world. We need to identify with life — this is the most important identity. Identification with gender, ethnicity, race, nations is secondary. We are first and foremost creations of life.
→ read full articleSome Thoughts on Creativity . . . And Life
Anthony J. Marsella – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Mar 2014
Diversity, though life itself, is considered too difficult to accommodate, and so they are moving us toward, uniformity and conformity. How easier to control! How much easier to dominate! Consider the pantheon of “Big” in our world today – Big Pharm, Big Ag, Big Energy, Big Transportation, Big Education, Big Auto, Big Med, Big Government, Big Military, and “Banks too Big to Fail,” so they remain in control of our lives and life.
→ read full articleThe Moral Cost of Torture
Anthony J. Marsella – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Feb 2014
Psychologists for Social Responsibility is a national organisation but it is now establishing an international network. Its members are psychologists around the world who are concerned with issues of peace and social justice. At the moment we are particularly concerned with the use of psychologists in the exercise of torture and the use of psychology in violation of human rights.
→ read full articleIn Honor of the Legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Jan 2014
Answering ML King’s call, and the call of the thousands of others who have responded to injustice in our time, will not be easy! It will add burdens to your conscience, responsibilities to your daily rounds, and threats to your safety. In answering the call, your life will not be the same.
→ read full article“Human is as Human Does:” Reflections on Human Nature
Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Jan 2014
Conventional views of human nature we hold are gradually and rapidly becoming obsolete in the face of scientific, technological, and medical developments. These developments are of such proportion and consequence that they are altering human nature as we one knew it – or thought we knew it?
→ read full articleGuidelines for Leading a Spiritual Life: Some Resolutions for the New Year
Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 Dec 2013
The term “spirituality” should not be limited to “ecclesiastical” contexts. “Secular spirituality” has emerged to describe non-materialistic individuals or ways-of-being that are not necessarily associated with membership or belief in a formal religion.
→ read full articlePopular American (USA) Culture: A Dysfunctional and Destructive Life Context
Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Nov 2013
We are — amidst pauses and respites for comfort from pizza, beer, shopping, TV football games, and “unreality” shows — caught in a bewildering and conflicted response to the world about us. We are aware something is wrong — unfamiliar, strange, frightening – but we cannot seem to grasp its sources.
→ read full articleWhat Does “Agree” Mean?
Anthony J. Marsella – TRANSCEND Media Service,
16 Sep 2013
Sometimes words lose their meaning and purpose because we abuse them. I suppose the same can be said for refugees and internally displaced people trying to survive.
→ read full articlePlease Mr. President: “No more “War Tactics.” We want a “Peace Strategy”
Anthony J. Marsella – TRANSCEND Media Service,
16 Sep 2013
Mr. President: Develop a foundation for domestic and global peace. Restore confidence in the USA, not because of its fearful military, political, and economic might, but because of its commitment to the enduring human values, and its constitutional guarantees.
→ read full articleWar
Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Sep 2013
What more can be said of war,
That has not already been eulogized
On fields of battle
Where lives were lost, minds seared,
And historians’ crafts polished
With the biased narratives of victors:
Waterloo, Hue, Fallujah?
There is no winner in war!
A Lexicon of “War (Redux):” Does Excessive Word Use Result in a Loss of Meaning?
Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Mar 2013
I must admit, as I gathered the terms, I found myself “shocked” by the widespread use of the word “war.” Was it possible that within the context of our global era, replete with its increased inter-dependencies, we had come to find the tensions of competition for resources and survival itself, pushing us toward “wars” at all levels of interactions? In my opinion, a “versus” mentality had arisen that was pitting different people, organizations, nations, and products against one another in a win-lose arena.
→ read full article“It’s the culture, stupid!”
Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Jan 2013
I would like to build on this iconic utterance, that captures so much in so few words, by calling attention to the dominate sources of continued mass violence that exists in the USA today. Even as well intentioned public and private response to the Sandy Hook massacre seek solutions in highly specific policies, laws, and practices (e.g., background checks, gun registration, armed guards), these will ultimately prove insufficient, and acts of mass violence will continue. “When you go forward for revenge, dig two graves.” It “trickles down.”
→ read full articleWhose Side is God, god, g_d On?
Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Jan 2013
Lessons from 19th Century Imperialism – The following is a listing of some of the enduring lessons that came to mind as I reflect on the endless mass violence and wars of our times. With Gladstone’s words ringing in my ears, I offer them to you.
→ read full articleWhy Are There So Few Peace Psychology Courses Taught?
Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
31 Dec 2012
What Can We Do To Change This? Although we have no exact figures on the number of courses in peace psychology that are taught in undergraduate and graduate psychology departments the United States, it seems to me on the basis of available materials that there it is at best a limited number.
→ read full articleThe Complex Calculus of the Permanent Unemployment Crisis: Players, Causes and Consequences
Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Dec 2012
As I listen to explanations, solutions, and promises from “experts,” economists, financiers, social commentators, politicians, and also lived experiences of the unemployed, underemployed, and hopelessly unemployed, I have become convinced the complex calculus of players, causes and consequences cannot lead to a resolution – a revolution, perhaps, but not a resolution.
→ read full articleWhat Child Is This?
Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Dec 2012
What child is this? Whose child is this? Now this child rests amidst the dust and debris of war . . . lifeless . . . torn and shattered… killed by someone whom she or he never knew and would probably never meet. Death from a distance. . . a bomb from a drone or plane, a shell from a mortar, a strap of explosives . . . intentional and willing, calculated and planned, a measured effort to destroy.
→ read full articleGenocide: The Ecology of Pathways to Ending Lives and Life
Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Nov 2012
I dislike being a Cassandra, Jeremiah, or any other voice that keeps calling attention to the many challenges ahead for humanity and for the world. And yet, it seems to me that if I do not, then somehow I have betrayed my responsibilities, duties, and obligations as professional psychologist, citizen, and human being. This article is in some ways a lament. But in other ways, it is voice in the wilderness calling for an awakening to what is occurring as we choose silence as others cry in pain and humiliation.
→ read full articlePeople Come Into Our Lives . . .
Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Nov 2012
People enter our lives at unexpected times
Changing us in profound ways . . .
A glance, a smile or frown,
A word — spoken or written —
American Popular Culture: Socializing and Homogenizing Mind, Nation, and World
Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Nov 2012
It is said that a fish does not know or recognize the water about it until it is caught and raised from the depths of its milieu so necessary for survival. It is then it may understand the essence of its survival. It seems to me that the same analogy may be applied to American citizens. We are embedded in a popular American culture to which we seem to be oblivious. Figure 1: The Socialization of American Culture, Society, and Psyche:
→ read full articleThe United States of America: A “Culture of Violence”
Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Nov 2012
Charting a “Culture of Violence:” Causes and Consequences – As Figure 1 demonstrates, the manifestations and consequences of violent acts are extensive. This suggests the existence of a “culture of violence” that is generated, sustained, and promoted by acts that arise from individual and collective impulse and intent, and that too often find tier tolerance and approval across political, economic, educational, military, and moral policies of institutions.
→ read full articleThe Lexicon of Madness
Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
22 Oct 2012
My purpose in writing this commentary is to call attention to the perils of language use and abuse that characterize the “mental” health professions and the public. As the introduction of the DSM V approaches, it is essential we understand the many underlying issues that exist at this time regarding the terms professionals and the public use when referring to “mental” health problems, especially with regard to their denotative and connotative meanings.
→ read full articleLexicon of War
Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
15 Oct 2012
Overwhelmed by the endless violence and wars in our world, I wrote an email to a number of listservs where I listed a number of different adjectives preceding the word “war.” And I added a request to readers to make any additions they felt were appropriate. The email brought many replies that both suggested additions and that acknowledged the implications of the emerging “lexicon of wars.” Thus I share with you an updated and more comprehensive lexicon of wars, with a figure (in the end) that suggests a socialization process for wars.
→ read full articleThe Conditions for Human Health and Well Being Reside within the Psychosocial Contexts of Life
Anthony J. Marsella – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Sep 2012
As our concern for human health and well being grows with each day, we too often find ourselves seeking solutions within the limitations of our health-care system. We call for more medical services, lower medical costs, more health professionals, better medical technologies, improvements in medical records, greater accessibility and acceptability of health care, and more and more committees, evaluations, and reports to determine why the system is failing for the elderly, poor, minorities, veterans, and youth.
→ read full articleConsequences and Costs of War (Graphic Illustration)
Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Jun 2012
Reflections on the costs and consequences of war and violence.
→ read full articleJustice in a Global Age: Becoming Counselors to the World
Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
16 Jan 2012
Invited Keynote Address, Counselors for Social Justice, American Counseling Association – I have no hesitation in telling you that I, like many of you, am deeply troubled and saddened by the abuses of privilege and power that are now occurring in our government, business, and religious sectors. Indeed the strategic convergence of shared interests and agendas among these three sectors of our society, in combination with a media failing to meet its responsibilities to accurately report news and to conduct investigative journalism, now constitutes, in my opinion, a serious threat to the foundations of our society, and ultimately, to global peace and harmony.
→ read full articleReflections on the Myths and Ethoses That Promote and Sustain War as a “Way of Life” and Acceptable Moral Code for the USA
Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D. - TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Jan 2012
The unassailable truth is that the United States of America is a culture of war! A culture of war is a shared set of meanings and behaviors that are socialized by macrosocial and microsocial institutions via support for certain cultural myths and ethoses that present war and associated acts of violence and aggression as an acceptable action for pursuing domestic and national goals and purposes.
→ read full articleThe Fukushima, Japan Mega-Disaster (updated)
Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Apr 2011
The Fukushima, Japan Mega-Disaster that occurred on March 11, 2011 (2:45 PM Japan Time) will continue to unfold its tragic consequences for years to come. The tragedy must not pass without extensive public and private discussions and reports of the lessons learned from the disaster.
→ read full articleThe Fukushima, Japan Mega-Disaster
Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Apr 2011
In a global era in which all of our lives and the lives of all living beings, including the environment, has become increasingly interdependent, efforts must be made to promote an understanding of the growing frequency, severity, and consequences of natural and human-made disasters.
→ read full articleGuidelines for Living a Spiritual Life
Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D. - TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Mar 2011
1. Awareness
I resolve to be more aware and responsive to the spiritual dimensions of my being and my nature.
Identity: Beyond Self, Culture, Nation, and Humanity to “LIFEISM”
Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Feb 2011
This article explores the nature and meaning of identity and its personal, cultural, and national nuances and consequences. In this presentation, I note, as have many others, that meaningful personal and social identities are at the core of a meaningful human existence. But this assertion raises critical questions about what is a meaningful identity, and what is a meaningful existence. These questions assume greater importance and consequence in the context of our emerging global era, in which the development, shaping, and assertion of certain personal and social identities can have life-affirming or life-harming consequences for all of us.
→ read full articleIDENTITY: BEYOND SELF, CULTURE, NATION, AND HUMANITY TO “LIFEISM”
Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D.,
22 Oct 2008
President, Psychologists for Social Responsibility Summary: This article explores the nature and meaning of identity and its personal, cultural, and national nuances and consequences. In this presentation, I note, as have many others, that meaningful personal and social identities are at the core of a meaningful human existence. But this assertion raises critical questions about […]
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