“If we are to restore the balance in
our world, we need to go beneath the surface to heal the split between spirit
and matter and help to bring the sacred back into life.”
Llewellyn
Vaughan-Lee
Introduction
Spiritual
Ecology acknowledges the critical need to recognize and address the spiritual
dynamics at the root of environmental degradation.
The
field is largely emerging through three individual streams of formal study and
activity: science and academia, religion and spirituality, and ecological
sustainability.[1]
Despite
the disparate arenas of study and practice, the principles of Spiritual Ecology
are simple: In order to resolve such environmental issues as depletion of
species, global warming, and over-consumption, humanity must examine and
reassess our underlying attitudes and beliefs about the earth, and our
spiritual responsibilities toward the planet.[2]
Thus,
ecological renewal and sustainability necessarily depends upon spiritual
awareness and an attitude of responsibility. Spiritual Ecologists concur that
this includes both the recognition of creation as sacred and behaviors that
honor that sacredness.
History
Spiritual
Ecology identifies the Scientific Revolution—beginning the 16th century, and continuing
through the Age of Enlightenment to the Industrial Revolution—as contributing
to a critical shift in human understanding with reverberating effects on the
environment. The radical expansion of collective consciousness into the era of
rational science included a collective change from experiencing nature as a
living, spiritual presence to a utilitarian means to an end.[3]
During
the modern age, reason became valued over faith, tradition, and revelation, and
industrialized society replaced agricultural societies and the old ways of
relating to seasons and cycles. With the growing predominance of a global,
mechanized worldview, a collective sense of the sacred was severed and replaced
with an insatiable drive for scientific progress and material prosperity
without any sense of limits or responsibility.[4]
Some
in the field note that our patriarchal world-view, and a monotheistic religious
orientation towards a transcendent divinity, is largely responsible for
destructive attitudes about the earth, body, and the sacred nature of
creation.[5] Thus, many identify the wisdom of indigenous cultures, for whom
the physical world has remained as sacred, as holding a key to our current
ecological predicament.
Spiritual
Ecology is a response to the values and socio-political structures of recent
centuries with their trajectory away from intimacy with the earth and its
sacred essence. It has been forming and developing as an intellectual and
practice-oriented discipline for nearly a century.[6]
Spiritual
Ecology includes a vast array of people and practices that intertwine spiritual
and environmental experience and understanding. Additionally, within the
tradition itself resides a deep, developing spiritual vision of a collective
human/earth/divine evolution that is expanding consciousness beyond the
dualities of human/earth, heaven/earth, mind/body. This belongs to the
contemporary movement that recognizes the unity and interrelationship, or
“interbeing,” of all of creation.
Visionaries
carrying this thread include Rudolph Steiner (1851-1925) who founded the
spiritual movement of anthroposophy, and described a “co-evolution of
spirituality and nature”[7] and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, a Jesuit Priest and
French Philosopher (1881-1955) who spoke of a transition in collective
awareness toward a consciousness of the divinity within every particle of life,
even the most dense mineral. This shift includes the necessary dissolution of
divisions between fields of study as mentioned above. “Science, philosophy and
religion are bound to converge as they draw nearer to the whole.”[8]
The
American Jesuit priest, Thomas Berry, (1914-2009) has been one of the most
influential figures in this developing movement, with his stress on returning
to a sense of wonder and reverence for the natural world. He shared and
furthered many of Teillard de Chardin’s views, including the understanding that
humanity is not at the center of the universe, but integrated into a divine
whole with its own evolutionary path. This view compels a re-thinking of the
earth/human relationship: “The present urgency is to begin thinking within the
context of the whole planet, the integral earth community with all its human
and other-than-human components.”[9]
More
recently, leaders in the Engaged Buddhism movement, including Thich Nhat Hanh,
also identify a need to return to a sense of self which includes the Earth.
Joanna Macy describes a collective shift – referred to as the “Great Turning” –
taking us into a new consciousness in which the earth is not experienced as
separate.[10] Sufi teacher Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee similarly grounds his
Spiritual Ecology work in the context of a collective evolutionary expansion
towards oneness, bringing us all toward an experience of earth and humanity –
all life – as interdependent. In the vision and experience of oneness, the term
“Spiritual Ecology” becomes, itself, redundant. What is earth-sustaining is
spiritual; that which is spiritual honors a sacred earth.[11]
An
important element in the work of these contemporary teachers is the call for
humanity’s full acceptance of responsibility for what we have done – physically
and spiritually – to the earth. Only through accepting responsibility will
healing and transformation occur.[12]
Historically
we see the development of Spiritual Ecology in some of the more mystical arms
of traditional religions and the more spiritual arms of environmental
conservation. And woven throughout its history, we hear a story of an evolving
universe, bringing us to an experience of wholeness in which all dualities
dissipate – dualities that have marked past eras and contributed to the
destruction of the earth as “other” than spirit.
Indigenous
Wisdom
The
above historical trajectory is located predominantly in a Judeo/Christian
European context, for it is within this context that humanity experienced the
loss of the sacred nature of creation, with its devastating consequences. But
many in the field of spiritual ecology acknowledge a distinct stream of
experience threading throughout history that has at its heart a lived
understanding of the principles, values and attitudes of Spiritual Ecology:
Indigenous Wisdom.
The
term indigenous refers to that which is native, original, and resident to a
place, more specifically to societies who share and preserve ways of knowing
the world in relationship to the land.[13] For many Native traditions, the
earth is the central spiritual context.[14] This principle condition reflects
an attitude and way of being in the world that is rooted in land and embedded
in place.[15] Spiritual Ecology directs us to look to revered holders of these
traditions in order to understand the source of our current ecological and
spiritual crisis and find guidance to move into a state of balance.
Features
of many indigenous teachings include life as a continual act of prayer and
thanksgiving, knowledge and symbiotic relationship with an animate nature, and
being aware of one’s actions on future generations. Such understanding necessarily
implies a mutuality and reciprocity between people, earth and the cosmos.
Along
with the basic principles and behaviors advocated by Spiritual Ecology, some
indigenous traditions hold the same evolutionary view articulated by the
Western spiritual teachers listed above. The understanding of humanity evolving
toward a state of unity and harmony with the earth after a period of discord
and suffering is described in a number of prophecies around the globe. These
include the White Buffalo prophecy of the Plains Indians, the prophecy of the
Eagle and Condor from the people of the Andes, and the Onondaga prophecies held
and retold by Oren Lyons.[16]
Science
and Academia
Among
scholars contributing to spiritual ecology, five stand out because of their exceptionally
high creativity, productivity and impact: Steven C Rockefeller, Mary Evelyn
Tucker, John Grim, Bron Taylor and Roger S. Gottlieb.[17]
Mary
Evelyn Tucker and John Grim are the dynamic forces behind Yale University’s
Forum on Religion and Ecology, an international multi-religious project
exploring religious world-views, texts ethics and practices in order to broaden
understanding of the complex nature of current environmental concerns.
Steven
Clark Rockefeller is an author of numerous books about religion and the
environment, and is professor emeritus of religion at Middlebury College. He
played a leading role in the drafting of the Earth Charter.
Roger
S. Gottlieb is a professor of Philosophy at Worcester Polytechnic Institute is
author of over 100 articles and 16 books on environmentalism, religious life,
contemporary spirituality, political philosophy, ethics, feminism, and the
Holocaust.
Bron
Taylor at the University of Florida coined the term “Dark Green Religion” to
describe a set of beliefs and practices centered around the conviction that
nature is sacred.[18]
Each
of the above has cultivated his or her own niche in this emerging field of
academic thought and pragmatic action. Taken together they may be best
considered as mutually reinforcing in synergy. There is a very substantial
qualitative difference in the status of Spiritual Ecology prior to and since
their work.
Other
leaders in the field include: Leslie Sponsel at the University of Hawai'i [1],
Sarah McFarland Taylor at Northwestern University, Mitchell Thomashow at
Antioch University New England and the Schumacher College Programs.
Within
the field of science, Spiritual Ecology is emerging in arenas including
Physics, Biology (see: Ursula Goodenough), Consciousness Studies (see: Brian
Swimme; California Institute of Integral Studies), Systems Theory (see: David
Loy; Nondual Science Institute), and Gaia Hypothesis, which was first
articulated by James Lovelock and Lynn Margulis in the 1970’s.
Religion
and Ecology
Within
many faiths, environmentalism is becoming an area of study and advocacy.
Christian environmentalists emphasize the ecological responsibilities of all
Christians as stewards of God's earth, while contemporary Muslim religious
ecology is inspired by Qur’anic themes, such as mankind being khalifa, or
trustee of God on earth (2:30). There is also a Jewish ecological perspective
based upon the Bible and Torah, for example the laws of bal tashchis (neither
to destroy wantonly, nor waste resources unnecessarily). Engaged Buddhism
applies Buddhist principles and teachings to social and environmental issues. A
collection of Buddhist responses to global warming can be seen at Ecological
Buddhism.
All
major world traditions currently seem to include a subset of leaders committed
to an ecological perspective. The “Green Patriarch,” Bartholomew 1, the
Ecumenical Patriarch of the Eastern Orthodox Church,[19] has worked since the
late nineties to bring together scientists, environmentalists, religious
leaders and policy makers to address the ecological crisis. These religious
approaches to ecology also have a growing interfaith expression, for example in
The Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development (ICSD) where world religious
leaders speak out on climate change and sustainability.
Spirituality
and Ecology
While
religiously-oriented environmentalism is grounded in scripture and theology,
there is a more recent environmental movement that articulates the need for an
ecological approach founded on spiritual awareness rather than religious
belief. The individuals articulating this approach may have a religious
background, but their ecological vision comes from their own lived spiritual experience.
The difference between this spiritually-oriented ecology and a religious
approach to ecology can be seen as analogous to how the Inter-spiritual
Movement moves beyond interfaith and interreligious dialogue to focus on the
actual experience of spiritual principles and practices.[20] Spiritual Ecology
similarly explores the importance of this experiential spiritual dimension in
relation to our present ecological crisis.[21]
The
Engaged Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh speaks of the importance of
mindfulness in taking care of our Mother Earth, and how the highest form of
prayer is real communion with the Earth.[22]Sandra Ingerman offers shamanic
healing as a way of reversing pollution in Medicine for the Earth. Franciscan
monk Richard Rohr emphasizes the need to experience the whole world as a divine
incarnation. Sufi mystic Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee directs our attention not just
to the suffering of the physical world, but also its interior spiritual self,
or anima mundi (world soul). Bill Plotkin and others are involved in the work
of finding within nature the reconnection with our soul and the world soul.[23]
These are just a few of the many different ways practitioners of Spiritual
Ecology within different spiritual traditions and disciplines bring our
awareness back to the sacred nature of creation.
Environmental
Conservation
The
environmental conservation field has been informed, shaped, and led by
individuals who have had profound experiences of nature’s sacredness and have
fought to protect it. Recognizing the intimacy of human soul and nature, many
have pioneered a new way of thinking about and relating to the earth.
Today
many aspects of the environmental conservation movement are empowered by
spiritual principles and interdisciplinary cooperation.
Women—by
instinct and nature—have a unique commitment and capacity to protect the
earth’s resources. We see this illustrated in the lives of Wangari Maathai,
founder of Africa’s Green Belt Movement, which was initially made up of women
planting trees; Jane Goodall, innovator of local sustainable programs in
Africa, many of which are designed to empower girls and women; and Vandana
Shiva, the Indian feminist activist working on a variety of issues including
seed saving, protecting small farms in India and protesting agri-business.
Other
contemporary inter-disciplinary environmentalists include Wendell Berry, a
farmer, poet, and academic living in Kentucky, who fights for small farms and
criticizes agri-business; and Satish Kumar, a former Jain monk and founder of
Schumacher College, a center for ecological studies.
References
^ Sponsel,
Leslie E. (2012). Spiritual Ecology: A Quiet Revolution. Praeger. pp. xiii.
ISBN 978-0-313-36409-9.
^ This theme
is developed further in the work of Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, Sandra Ingerman,
Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim: http://fore.research.yale.edu, Leslie
Sponsel: http://spiritualecology.info, and others.
^ Mary
Evelyn Tucker, “Complete Interview”, Global Oneness Project video. See also:
Worldviews & Ecology: Religion, Philosophy, and the Environment, Mary
Evelyn Tucker and John A. Grim (eds.), and the Yale Forum on Religion and
Ecology
^ Ibid.
^ See
Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, The Return of the Feminine and the World Soul, ch. 3,
“Patriarchal Deities and the Repression of the Feminine.”
^ See
Leslie E. Sponsel, Spiritual Ecology: A Quiet Revolution, ch. III, “Branches”,
69-83 and specifically ch. 12, “Supernovas.”
^ Leslie
E. Sponsel, Spiritual Ecology: A Quiet Revolution, p. 66.
^ Pierre
Teilhard de Chardin, The Phenomenon of Man, p. 30.
^ Thomas
Berry, The Great Work, p. 105.
^ See
Joanna Macy and The Great Turning
^ See
http://www.spiritualecology.org and http://www.workingwithoneness.org
^ Ibid.
Also see the video: “Taking Spiritual Responsibility for the Planet” with
Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, and Engaged Buddhism
^ John
Grim, “Recovering Religious Ecology with Indigenous Traditions”, available
online at: Indigenous Traditions and Ecology, Yale Forum on Religion and
Ecology.
^ Mary
Evelyn Tucker and John A. Grim (eds.), Worldviews & Ecology: Religion,
Philosophy, and the Environment, p. 11.
^ Tu
Wei-Ming, “Beyond Enlightenment Mentality”, published in Worldviews &
Ecology: Religion, Philosophy, and the Environment, Mary Evelyn Tucker and John
A. Grim (eds.), p. 27.
^
"Chief Arvol Looking Horse Speaks of White Buffalo Prophecy"
SaveFrom.net, YouTube video, ; "An Invitation", Global Oneness
Project Video about the Eagle and Condor prophecy; and "Moyers/Oren Lyons
the Faithkeeper", a film about the Onondaga prophecies
^ Leslie
E. Sponsel, Spiritual Ecology: A Quiet Revolution, ch. 12, “Supernovas.”
^ See
http://www.brontaylor.com
^ See
http://www.patriarchate.org
^
Interspirituality moves a step beyond interfaith dialogue and is a concept and
term developed by the Catholic Monk Wayne Teasdale in 1999 in his book The
Mystic Heart: Discovering a Universal Spirituality in the World’s Religions.
Also see “New Monasticism: An Interspiritual Manifesto for Contemplative Life
in the 21st Century”, by Rory McEntee & Adam Bucko, p. 22, and Wayne
Teasdale, A Monk in the World, p.175. Furthermore, interspirituality has an ecological
dimension. See “The Interspiritual Age: Practical Mysticism for a Third
Millennium”, Wayne Teasdale, (1999).
^ See
http://www.spiritualecology.org
^ Thich
Nhat Hanh, Beyond Environment: Falling Back in Love with Mother Earth
^ See
http://www.natureandthehumansoul.com
Further
reading
Berry,
Thomas, The Dream of the Earth. Sierra Club Books, San Francisco, 1988. ISBN
1578051355
Berry,
Thomas, The Sacred Universe. Essays edited by Mary Evelyn Tucker. Columbia
University Press, New York, 2009. ISBN 0231149522
Hayden,
Thomas, The Lost Gospel of the Earth. Sierra Club Books, San Francisco, 1996.
Jung,
C.G., The Earth Has A Soul, The Nature Writings of C.G. Jung, North Atlantic
Books, Berkeley, 2002. ISBN 1556433794
Laszlo,
Ervin & Allan Coombs (eds.), Thomas Berry, Dreamer of the Earth: The
Spiritual Ecology of the Father of Environmentalism. Inner Traditions,
Rochester, 2011. ISBN 1594773955
Macy,
Joanna, World as Lover, World as Self. Parallax Press, Berkeley, 2007. ISBN 188837571X
Nelson,
Melissa (ed.), Original Instructions, Indigenous Teachings for a Sustainable
Future. Bear & Co., Rochester, 2008. ISBN 1591430798
Maathai,
Wangari, Replenishing the Earth: Spiritual Values for Healing Ourselves and the
World. Doubleday Religion, New York, 2010. ISBN 030759114X
McCain,
Marian Van Eyk (ed.), GreenSpirit: Path to a New Consciousness. O Books,
Washington, 2010. ISBN 184694290X
McDonald,
Barry (ed.), Seeing God Everywhere, Essays on Nature and the Sacred. World
Wisdom, Bloomington, 2003. ISBN 0941532429
Newell,
John Philip, A New Harmony, The Spirit, The Earth, and The Human Soul.
Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, 2011. ISBN 0470554673
Plotkin,
Bill, Nature and the Human Soul: Cultivating Wholeness and Community in a
Fragmented World. New World Library, Novato, 2007. ISBN 1577315510
Plotkin,
Bill and Thomas Berry, "Soulcraft: Crossing into the Mysteries of Nature
and Psyche". New World Library, Novato, 2003. ISBN 1577314220
Stanley,
John, David Loy and Gyurme Dorje (eds.), A Buddhist Response to the Climate
Emergency. Wisdom Publications, Boston, 2009. ISBN 0861716051
Thich Nhat
Hanh, The World We Have. Parallax Press, Berkeley, 2008. ISBN 1888375884
SOURCE: http://www.spiritualecology.org/about-spiritual-ecology#wisdom
Stephanie Doty
Simply Amazing
March 21, 2014
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/Simply Amazing
March 21, 2014
