Spiritual ecology
Then all that has divided us will merge
And then compassion will be wedded to power
And then softness will come to a world that is harsh and unkind
And then both men and women will be gentle
And then both women and men will be strong
And then no person will be subject to another's will
And then all will be rich and free and varied
And then the greed of some will give way to the needs of many
And then all will share equally in the earth's abundance
And then all will care for the sick and the weak and the old
And then all will nourish the young
And then all will cherish life's creatures
And then all will live in harmony with each other and with the earth
And everywhere will be called Eden, once again.
-- Judy Chicago
Says it all. Truth is that simple. It is in coming the think and act and relate to others and to the world in such a way as to make life simple that is the hard part. We are all truthseekers, in the sense that the quest for meaning is something we all share, the essential quality of being human. It’s just that penetrating the murk and bias with which politics and the social divisions sustaining such politics makes the search for truth and the promise of the simple life it holds so difficult.
‘There is no reason to accept the doctrines crafted to sustain power and privilege, or to believe that we are constrained by mysterious and unknown social laws. These are simply decisions made within institutions that are subject to human will and that must face the test of legitimacy. And if they do not meet the test, they can be replaced by other institutions that are more free and more just, as has happened often in the past.’
-- Noam Chomsky
‘The most constructive solutions are those which take into consideration the views of all persons involved and are acceptable to all. Such outcomes are the result of negotiation strategies where the needs of both sides are considered important and an attempt is made to meet all needs. These solutions are appropriately called Win-Win because there are no losers. While often difficult to arrive at, the process leading to such solutions builds interpersonal relationships, increases motivation and improves commitment. Win-Win solutions are the most desirable outcomes of conflict resolution.’
-- Peter Gabor and Carol Ing
‘Whether humanity will consciously follow the law of love, I do not know. But that need not disturb me. The law will work just as the law of gravitation works, whether we accept it or not. The person who discovered the law of love was a far greater scientist than any of our modern scientists. Only our explorations have not gone far enough and so it is not possible for everyone to see all its workings.’
-- Mahatma Gandhi
Live right, live well. Any other attitude is a betrayal of ourselves, others and the entire universe in which we live as active members. Each being lives in intimate relation with all other beings, in a mutual sharing of experiences and gifts that go far beyond instrumental value and utility.
The term 'soul' relates to the Greek 'psyche' and the Latin 'anima', goes much deeper than instrumental relations to each other and the world around us to an ethic of ends and an indwelling that expands to embrace the world as a whole. This capacity for inner and outer dwelling, a unity with differentiation, is a capacity of soul to achieve the integral personality achieving fulfilment in the inner and the outer realms.
The right character gives us the qualities for right living, providing us with the range of rich moral psychological capabilities with respect to appropriate human behaviour on the planet, at home with ourselves, non-human animals and the world around us. The idea is that we live and thrive only in communion with our living planet, living in accordance with a partnership ethic which sees the flourishing of the human community and the biotic community in terms of their mutual, living interdependence.
That said ... green spirituality and eco-mysticism will not resolve the social and ecological crises we face, and any environmental ethic we develop has to be in the context of a social transformation committed to the creation of non-exploitative social relations. And that involves a commitment to politics, to institution building, rationality, scientific knowledge and the application of technology - technics.
Human beings are a part of nature, not apart from nature, so the partnership ethic I advocate is firmly located within a social and political ecology. Whilst I emphasise the moral dimension I am sceptical of eco-spirituality, and am wary of its generalisations, the tendency to see human beings in general and as such as the source of social and environmental ills. Not so. There is a need for differentiation here. I reject the view that 'humanity' is the problem and focus instead on exploitative and alienative social relations in order to identify the destructive impacts of some individuals, groups and classes. In that respect, the ecological consciousness and sensibility we require is not the product of some spiritual transformation alone but of a social transformation. The 'metaphysical reconstruction' that EF Schumacher called for in Small is Beautiful can make sense only in light of social reconstruction. Society is the mediating term, and how we arrange our affairs with each other has a bearing on how we relate to nature. I've no interest in a spiritual ecology that overlooks specific social relations - particularly hierarchical and exploitative power structures - by reference to some general 'humanity'. Just to make it clear that my moral ecology is also a social ecology and not some vague moralism that easily degenerates into an inhumanism.