Human Race Must Embrace Eco-spirituality to Save
World's Biodiversity
By Dr. Michael A. Bengwayan Business Mirror
As planet Earth stumbles to the
brink of ecological collapse, from
irreversible climate change impact caused by man, survival of species,
including Homo sapiens, is a vital
issue. How can flora and fauna,
thousands of species of which are now
either threatened or endangered, be sustained?
How can economic growth like food production be sustained in a world now
exceeding its carrying capacity without sacrificing remaining biodiversity
habitats? How can we tame our energy-intensive appetite for luxury without effecting
negative trade-offs in our ecosystems? How
can we rein-in an economy based on greed totally detached from the web
of life? Are we doing enough of our inter-generational responsibility to ensure
that those yet unborn, may be able to benefit from today’s biodiversity?
The time of Descartes and Newton
in the 17th and 18th centuries ushered in a “modern
devotion”, a movement that went full steam ahead towards domination of nature
and exploitation of its apparent
unlimited riches.
But all of a sudden, at the turn
of the 20th century, we are facing the grave ecological consequences
of this domineering and disenchanting approach to the physical and natural
world.
Development for What and For Whom?
All through 500 years until the dawn of this 21st century humans
toiled, scarcely slowing down, bogged by the consciousness of progress and development. Yet, the dusk of
the last century also brought in a reenchantment of reality-- awareness of the
limits of growth, the dwindling natural resources and the place of nature in
man's search for sustainability.
The economic models of growth were based on industries that although
brought high standard of living for the Western nations, has entailed treating
the world as an object of endless manipulation, alienating humans from their
surroundings.
Today, the global cost for a high standard of living is enormous and
hard to sustain. Worse, we have
trespassed, raped and looted the resources meant for the unborn generations.
With thousands of floral and faunal species entering the Red Handbook of
endangered, threatened and extinct species of the International Union for the
Conservation of Nature (IUCN), there are
signs that the historical stage of carefree over-development is coming to an
end.
Man's march to progress, now spells more doom than boom. Adverse climate change impacts mean
environmental bills are coming. We are paying the price.
As our economic and environmental limits become more obvious, we are
obliged to shift into a new framework and approach of thought in development.
Making Room for God
We need a to live not only in a new paradigm, view and live our
world as a cosmos of organic system whose parts, both human and non-human, form
an intricate network of interdependent components but more importantly put eco-spirituality in our approach to
development wrote Charles Cummings, a
monk of Holy Trinity Abbey, in
Huntsville, Utah, USA.
Cummings, who holds a degree in formative spirituality
from Duquesne University says in his
book “Eco-Spirituality” there must
be a spiritual dimension to our ecological approach because the universe
is a deliberate result of a Creator with
creative capacity and inexhaustible imagination.
The indigenous and tribal
peoples of the world understood the
relationship with the Earth much better, because of spirituality which allowed
them to physically sustain it. This is often manifested in their ways of life,
and expressed through their rituals and prayers.
The spirituality can be sensed in
the way they respect their surroundings as they
live in peace and wonder at the
natural world around them, something rarely valued by modern man's economic images of progress.
“God created heaven and earth”, Cummings quoted Genesis 1:1 of the
Bible. But we misread our mandate, he says, misunderstanding the Genesis when it said “subdue and master Earth. We
believed we have dominion, can control and exert power, and to dominate. Dominance led to
devastation, he wrote.
We must reflect a divine image, to mirror God's own way, as faithful
caretakers of God's garden which is this world, he said.
Caretakers Not
Stewards
“Humanity does possess the unchallenged right to use the goods of the
Earth but use has become abuse. The proper role of humans on earth is that of
caretaker. The caretaker model incorporates the best features of stewardship
model and adds the quality of faithful, respecting loving care,” Cummings
explained.
The stewardship model defines
that humans are agents or trustees of God charged with the safekeeeping of the
Earth's resources for the benefit of all. In Luke 12:42, Jesus praised the
trustworthy steward who gave their allowance of food at the proper time but
pointed out the danger of a steward growing careless or being concerned only for
his own welfare, a likely reference of today's reality.
Stewards are responsible for maintaining the integrity of the earth and will have to give an account
to God of how we have used or abused our position. “Draw me up an account of
your stewardship” says the master in a parable of Jesus in Luke16:2.
Cummings says to give a spiritual dimension to stewardship, we need to
include the soul in caring for planet Earth. The stewardship model does no go
far enough and it is ambivalent as there are honest and dishonest stewards.
“The caretaker model never exploits, never acts like a tyrant, he is not
the owner but then guardian, God is the owner, maker.”To him belongs the sea
and the land,” Cummings quoted Psalms 95:4. “The caretaker's task is to
nurture, heal and restore fostering the life and harmony everywhere, “ Cummings
wrote.
A State of Disconnection
It is not difficult to analyze that
the root cause of our ecological crisis is the absence of our connection to
conscious awareness to life and all that gives life. Reverence is the
foundational principle behind eco-spirituality. Everything that gives life must
be treated as sacred.
This of course moves against the
current irreverence of today's society. A society that allows trees to be
massacred to put up malls and parking spaces, dumping of garbage in the seas
and rivers and tolerates animals to be slain for their tusks, fins or
bileducts.
These societies have lost their
reverence toward life, are irreverent
toward the Earth. The hectic pace most people maintain in our post industrial
culture is inimical to the spirit of
reverence. Hasty living has no time to pause, no time to ponder the
beautiful, haste is blind to everything except the deadline it is rushing to
meet. Whatever gets in its way is likely to be run over with no regret. Haste is intrinsically irreverent.
The challenge now is to
bring in spirituality in our relation with Earth, develop a values-based
development structure, that is not concerned solely with our material
well-being, but embraces reverence and
love for the rich biodiversity of the Earth.
The human race must explore and work out ways that humanity can be
served in its deepest sense, where Earth's resources we use are not just
commodities to be consumed, but part of the living fabric of a sacred Earth.
This may seem idealistic and
impractical to most, but only a few decades ago organic farming, a practice of
our ancestors, which respects the well-being of the soil, insects, microorganisms, cleanliness of
water, diversity of heirloom, was
considered uneconomic and idealistic. Now it is recognized and accepted as the
only environmentally approach to sustainable farming
Humans must reconnect with a way of life that respects and includes the
soul as well as the land, water, landscape and every living and non living
thing like the air, sun, moon and the forces of nature. Through spiritual
values that respect both the individual and the environment, we will be able to
comprehend God’s gifts and how central they are to the world we will leave to
our children and grandchildren.
We are left with no choice, eco-spirituality will eventually usher new
ways that support the idea that the best
business environment is the environment.
But ours is the first move, to love, care
and treat nature with reverence
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