2019/02/03

Ecospirituality - Wikipedia

Ecospirituality - Wikipedia



Ecospirituality

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigationJump to search
Ecospirituality connects the science of ecology with spirituality. It brings together religion and environmental activism.[1] Ecospirituality has been defined as "a manifestation of the spiritual connection between human beings and the environment."[2] The new millennium and the modern ecological crisis has created a need for environmentally based religion and spirituality.[3] Ecospirituality is understood by some practitioners and scholars as one result of people wanting to free themselves from a consumeristic and materialistic society.[4] Ecospirituality has been critiqued for being an umbrella term for concepts such as deep ecologyecofeminism, and nature religion.[3][5]
Proponents may come from a range of faiths including: IslamJainismChristianity(CatholicismEvangelicalism and Orthodox Christianity); JudaismBuddhism and Indigenous traditions.[6] Although many of their practices and beliefs may differ, a central claim is that there is "a spiritual dimension to our present ecological crisis."[7]According to the environmentalist Sister Virginia Jones, "Eco-spirituality is about helping people experience 'the holy' in the natural world and to recognize their relationship as human beings to all creation.[1]
Ecospirituality has been influenced by the ideas of deep ecology,[8][9] which is characterized by "recognition of the inherent value of all living beings and the use of this view in shaping environmental policies" [10] Similarly to ecopsychology, it refers to the connections between the science of ecology and the study of psychology. 'Earth-based' spirituality is another term related to ecospirituality; it is associated with pagan religious traditions and the work of prominent ecofeminist, Starhawk.[11] Ecospirituality refers to the intertwining of intuition and bodily awareness pertaining to a relational view between human beings and the planet.[12]

Origins[edit]

Ecospirituality finds its history in the relationship between spirituality and the environment. Some scholars say it "flows from an understanding of cosmology or the story of the origin of the universe." [13] There are multiple origin stories about how the spiritual relationship with people and the environment began. In Native America philosophy, there are many unique stories of how spirituality came to be. A common theme in a number of them is the discussion of a Great Spirit that lives within the universe and the earth represents its presence.[13]
Ecospirituality has also sprung from a reaction to the Western world's materialism and consumerism, characterized by ecotheologian Thomas Berry as a "crisis of cosmology."[13] Scholars have argued that "the modern perspective is based on science and focused on the human self with everything else being outside, resulting in the demise of the metaphysical world and the disenchantment with the cosmos." [13]Therefore, ecospirituality originates as a rebuttal to the emphasis on the material as well as Western separation from the environment, where the environment is regarded as a set of material resources with primarily instrumental value.

Ecological crisis[edit]

Ecospirituality became popularized due to a need for a reconceptualization of the human relationship with the environment. Terms such as environmental crisis, ecological crisis, climate change, global warming all refer to an ongoing global issue that needs to be addressed. Generally the ecological crisis is referring to the destruction of the earth’s ecosystem.[14] What this encompasses is a highly controversial debate in scientific and political spheres.[15] Globally we are faced with pollution of our basic needs (air, and water) as well as the depletion of important resources, most notably food resources.[15]
Annette Van Schalkwyk refers to the environmental crisis as “man-made”.[16] It is arguably the result of a “mechanistic and capitalistic world view”.[16] Whether it is man-made, or as some argue, a natural occurrence, humans are not helping. Pollution and depletion of resources play a major role in the ecological crisis.[16] Bringing religion into the ecological crisis is controversial due to the divide between religion and science. Ecospirituality is prepared to acknowledge science, and work in tandem with religion to frame the environment as a sacred entity in need of protection.
Mary Evelyn Tucker notes the importance of religion and ecology connecting with sustainability. Due to the environmental crisis, perceptions of sustainability are changing.[17] Religion and ecology, and the way people experience ecospirituality, could contribute to this changing definition of sustainability.

Research on ecospirituality[edit]

Ecospirituality has been studied by academics in order to understand a clearer definition of what individuals label as ecospirituality and the framework in which they create this definition. One study focused on holistic nurses, who themselves characterize their profession as having a fundamentally spiritual nature and a sense of the importance of the environment.[18] Researchers performed a phenomenological study where they assessed the nurses' ecospiritual consciousness. For the purpose of their study, they defined ecospiritual consciousness as "accessing a deep awareness of one's ecospiritual relationship."[18] They then narrowed down their findings to the five principles of ecospiritual consciousness, which are: tending, dwelling, reverence, connectedness, and sentience.[18]
  1. Tending was defined as "being awake and conscious," with "deep, inner self-reflection."[18]
  2. Dwelling was defined as "a process of being with the seen and the unseen."[18]
  3. Reverence was defined as "rediscovering the mystery present present in all creation and is embodied sense of the sacred," focusing on the earth.[18]
  4. Connectedness was defined as an "organic relationship with the universe." [18]
  5. Sentience was defined as "a sense of knowing."[18]
Another study looked at medical effects of ecospirituality by having patients with cardiovascular disease practice "environmental meditation" and log regular journal entries about their experiences.[19] Researchers started out with the research question of, "What is the essence of the experience of ecospirituality meditation in patients with CVD?" CVD is an acronym for cardiovascular disease.[19] From analyzing journal entries of participants, researchers abstracted four major themes of ecospirituality meditation: entering a new time zone, environmental reawakening, finding a new rhythm, and the creation of a healing environment.[19]
  1. Entering a new time zone was described by researchers as "the expansion of time during meditation."[20]
  2. Environmental Reawakening was described by researchers as "opened participants’ eyes to vistas not previously noticed"[20]
  3. Finding a new rhythm was described by the researchers as "enhanced relationships with their family, friends, coworkers, and even their pets."[21]
  4. The creation of a healing environment was described by the researchers as "With raised consciousnesses, they became aware of the choices they had regarding what types of intentions and energy that wanted to put out in their environment"[21]
This research was driven by the goal of raising awareness among healthcare professionals about ecospirituality and the medical importance of both self and environmental consciousness. Anecdotal evidence showed a decrease in blood pressure.[22] However, the psychological benefits of environmental meditation were the main focus for the researchers.

Dark Green Religion[edit]

Dark Green Religion is one way in which people, both secular and religious, connect with nature on a spiritual level. Bron Taylor defines Dark Green Religion as "religion that considers nature to be sacred, imbued by intrinsic value, and worthy of reverent care" in his book Dark Green Religion: Nature Spirituality and the Planetary Future. [23]Nature religion is an overarching term of which Dark Green Religion is a part of. A key part of Dark Green Religion is the "depth of its consideration of nature." [23] Dark Green Religion differs from Green Religion. Green Religion claims that it is a religious obligation for humans to be environmental stewards, while Dark Green Religion is a movement that simply holds nature as valuable and sacred.[24] Spiritual types of Dark Green Religion include Naturalistic and Supernaturalistic forms of Animism and of Gaianism.[25] The diverse views within Dark Green Religion are not without the idea that the earth is sacred and worthy of care. The perceptions of Dark Green Religion are global and flexible. Taylor's use of the word 'Dark' gestures toward these negative possibilities. According to Taylor, Dark Green Religion has the possibility to "inspire the emergence of a global, civic, earth religion."[26] Dark Green, Green and Nature Religions are arguably all a part of ecospirituality. The term ecospirituality is versatile and overarching.

Ecofeminism and spirituality[edit]

The umbrella term "ecospirituality" covers the feminist theology called Ecofeminism.[27]The term ecofeminism was first coined by the French writer Françoise D'Eaubonne in her book, Le Féminisme ou la Mort in order to name the connection between the patriarchal subjugation of women and the destruction of nature.[28] In it, she argues that women have different ways of seeing and relating to the world than men.[29]These differences can give rise alternative insights on interactions between humans and the natural world when women's perspectives are considered.[29] The suppression and control of woman and the natural world are connected.[29] On the ecofeminist view, women are controlled because they are thought to be closer to primitive nature.[29] By understanding the connection between femininity and nature and by exploring feminine ways of seeing and relating, ecofeminism asserts that humans can realize positive ways of interacting with the natural world and with each other.[29]

Ecofeminism and Christianity on the ecological crisis[edit]

A significant figure in Christian ecofeminism is Rosemary Radford Ruether. Ruether argues that feminism and ecology share a common vision, even though they use different languages.[30] In her work, Gaia and God: An Ecofeminist Theology of Earth Healing Ruether provides three recommendations on ways to move forward with repairing and "healing" the ecological crisis.[30] The first recommendation is that "the ecological crisis needs to be seen not just as a crisis in the health of nonhuman ecosystems, polluted water, contaminated skies, threatened climate change, deforestation, extinction of species, important as all these realities are. Rather one needs to see the interconnections between the impoverishment of the earth and the impoverishment of human groups, even as others are enriching themselves to excess."[30] The second recommendation is that "a healed ecosystem – humans, animals, land, air, and water together – needs to be understood as requiring a new way of life, not just a few adjustments here and there."[30] The third and final recommendation is that the need for a new vision is necessary: "one needs to nurture the emergence of a new planetary vision and communal ethic that can knit together people across religions and cultures. There is rightly much dismay at the role that religions are playing in right-wing politics and even internecine violence today. But we need also to recognize the emergence of new configurations of inter-religious relations."[30]

Ecofeminism and Christianity in liberation theology[edit]

According to Ivone Gebara, in Latin America, particularly in Christian Churches in Brazil, it is difficult to be a feminist, but more difficult to be an ecofeminist.[31] Gebara explains ecology as one of the "deepest concerns of feminism and ecology as having a deep resonance or a political and anthropolocial consequence from a feminist perspective."[31] Gebara believes that it is the task of different groups of Latin American women to "provide a new order of meaning including marginalized people."[31] This task is both challenging and political. Gebara says: "We can choose the life of the planet and the respect of all living beings or we choose to die by our own bad decisions."[31]

World religions and ecospirituality[edit]

Ecospirituality and paganism[edit]

Paganism is a nature-based religion that exists in a multitude of forms.[32] There is no official doctrine or sacred text that structures its practice.[32] Due to its lack of structure, many Pagans believe that it should be used as a tool to combat the current ecological crisis because it is flexible and can adapt to the environment's needs.[33]Ecospirituality advocates contend that an ecology-based religion that focuses on the nurturing and healing of the earth is necessary in modernity.[16] As paganism is already based in nature worship, many believe it would be a useful starting point for ecospirituality.[34] In fact, neopagan revivals have seen the emergence of pagan communities that are more earth-focused. They may build their rituals around advocacy for a sustainable lifestyle and emphasize complete interconnectedness with the earth.[33] Paganism understands divine figures to exist not as transcendent beings, but as immanent beings in the present realm,[32] meaning that their divine figures exist within each of us, and within nature.[32] Many pagans believe in interconnectednessamong all living beings, which allows them to foster moments of self-reflection before acting.[32] These pagan ideals coincide with ecospirituality because pagans understand the environment to be part of the divine realm and part of their inner self. Therefore, in their view, harming the environment directly affects their wellbeing.[35]Pagans have already recognized the importance of incorporating environmental ideologies with their own religious beliefs.[33][36] The Dragon Environmental Network is a pagan community based in the UK. They are committed to practicing "eco-magic" with the intention of recognizing the earth as sacred and divine.[36] Their four goals are as follows:[36]
  1. Increase general awareness of the sacredness of the Earth.
  2. Encourage pagans to become involved in conservation work.
  3. Encourage pagans to become involved in environmental campaigns.
  4. Develop the principles and practice of magical and spiritual action for the environment.
Paganism combines religion with environmental activism. Pagans organize protests, campaigns, and petitions with the environment in mind while staying true to their religious beliefs. Bron Taylor, argues that their core Pagan beliefs greatly improves their environmental activism.[36] Additionally, the Pagan community has recently released a statement on the ecological crisis.[34] It explains that Pagans lead lives that foster “harmony with the rhythms of our great Earth" and that they view the Earth as their equal in stating “we are neither above nor separate from the rest of nature”. It states that we are part of a web of life, and are fully interconnected with the biosphere. This connection to all living beings is seen as spiritual and sacred. And in turn it provides a framework that Pagans can use to combine their religious beliefs with environmental activism. It calls for a return to ancient understandings of the earth by listening to ancient wisdom. It asks Pagans to practice their religion in all aspects of their lives in order to give the Earth room to heal. The statement concludes by stating “building a truly sustainable culture means transforming the systems of domination and exploitation that threaten our future into systems of symbiotic partnership that support our ecosystems”.[34]

Ecospirituality and Christianity[edit]

Most Christian theology has centered on the doctrine of creation.[27] According to Elizabeth Johnson, in recent years, this has led to growing ecological awareness among Christians.[27] The logic of this stance is rooted in the theological idea that since God created the world freely, it has an intrinsic value and is worthy of our respect and care.[27] In 1990, Pope John Paul II wrote a letter on ecological issues.[27] He concluded the letter with a discussion of Christian belief and how it should lead to ethical care of the earth.[27] He ended the letter with the principle "respect for life and the dignity of human person must extend also to the rest of creation."[27]
The doctrines of Christ that Christians follow also have the potential for ecological spirituality for they support interpretations that are consistent with ecospirituality.[27]According to Elizabeth Johnson, Jesus' view of the Kingdom of God included earthly wellbeing.[27] According to Thomas Berry, Christians recognize a need for an Earth Ethic.[37] The Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, leader of the Greek Orthodox Church, has organized major religion and science symposia on water issues across Europe, the Amazon River and Greenland.[37] He has issued statements – including a joint statement with John Paul II in 2002 – calling destruction of the environment "ecological sin."[37] Bishop Malone, president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops has said: "The Church stands in need of a new symbolic and affective system through which to proclaim the Gospel to the modern world."[38] In the ecotheology of the late Thomas Berry, he argues that Christians often fail to realize that both their social and religious wellbeing depend on the wellbeing of Earth.[38] Earth provides sustenance for physical, imaginative and emotions, and religious wellbeing.[38] In Thomas Berry's view, the Christian future will depend on the ability of Christians to assume their responsibility for Earth's fate.[39] An example of such responsibility-taking can be seen in the founding of an association called "Sisters of Earth," which is made up of nuns and laywomen.[40] This network of women from diverse religious communities is significant, both for the movement of general concern for the natural world and for the religious life in Christian contexts.[40]

Ecospirituality and Hinduism[edit]

Many teachings in Hinduism are intertwined with the ethics of ecospirituality in their stress on environmental wellbeing. The Hindu text called the Taittariya Upanishadrefers to creation as offspring of the Supreme Power, paramatman. Thus, the environment is related to something that is divine and therefore deserves respect.[4]Since the late 1980s when the negative effects of mass industrialization were becoming popularized, India instituted administrative policies to deal with environmental conservation. These policies were rooted in the ways that the Hindu religion is tied to the land.[4]
In the Hindu text Vajur Veda (32.10), God is described as being present in all living things, further reinforcing the need to show respect for creation.[4] Passages such as this lead some Hindus to become vegetarian and to affirm a broader type of ecospiritual connection to the Earth. Vishnu Purana 3.8.15. states that, "God, Kesava, is pleased with a person who does not harm or destroy other non-speaking creatures or animals." [4] This notion is tied in with the Hindu concept of karma. Karma means that the pain caused to other living things will come back to you through the process of reincarnation.[4]
Ecospirituality can also be seen in the Prithivi Sukta which is a "Hymn to Mother Earth."[4] In this text, the Earth is humanized into a spiritual being to which humans have familial ties. Through ecospirituality, the notion of praising and viewing the Earth in this way brings about its strong connections to Hinduism.

Ecospirituality and Jainism[edit]

Contemporary Jaina faith is “inherently ecofriendly.”[41] In terms of the ecological crisis, Jains are “quite self-conscious of the ecological implications of their core teachings.”[42]
Jain teachings center on five vows that lead to reverse the flow of or release karma. One of these vows is ahimsa or non-violence. Ahimsa “is said to contain the key to advancement along the spiritual path (sreni). This requires abstaining from harm to any being that possesses more than one sense”[43] The principles of the Jaina tradition are rooted in environmental practices. The Jaina connection to nature is conducive to ecospirituality.

Ecospirituality and Islam[edit]

Some scholars argue that while looking at the scriptural sources of Islam, you can see it is an ecologically orientated religion.[44] Looking at textual sources of Islam, the shari'a preach a number of environmentally focused guidelines to push environmentalism, in particular, "maintenance of preserves, distribution of water, and the development of virgin lands."[44] Much of Muslim environmentalism is a result of the Qur'anic stress of stewardship which is explained through the Arabic concept khilafa.[44] A quote translated from the hadith states, "verily, this world is sweet and appealing, and Allah placed you as vice-regents thereinl he will see what you do."[44]Within the Islamic faith, there is a set importance to following the messages set forth in scripture, therefore the environmentalism spoken through them has led to a spirituality around the environment. This spirituality can also be seen with Qur'anic concept of tawhid, which translates to unity.[44] Many Muslim environmentalists see this meaning spiritually as "all-inclusive" when in relation to the Earth.[44]
A majority of Muslim writers draw attention to the environmental crisis as a direct result of social injustice.[44] Many argue that the problem is not that, "humans as a species are destroying the balance of nation, but rather that some humans are taking more than their share."[44] Muslim environmentalists such as Fazlun KhalidYasin Dutton, Omar Vadillo, and Hashim Dockrat have drawn a correlation between the capitalist nature of the global economy to being un-Islamic and essentiality leading to ecological crisis.[44]
The issues of environmental degradation are especially important to Muslims as majority of Muslims live in developing countries where they see the effects of the ecological crisis on a daily basis.[44] This has led to conferences discussing Islam and the environment to take place in Iran and Saudi Arabia as well as the introduction of environmental nongovernmental organizations.[44]

Ecospirituality and Buddhism[edit]

Buddhism has been around for hundreds of years, however with the modern knowledge on topics such as global warming, many Buddhist scholars have looked back at how Buddhist teaching would respond to the environmental crisis and created what is called Green Buddhism.[45] One of the key players in this introduction was Gary Snyder who brought to light where Buddhist practice and ecological thinking intertwine.[45] Green Buddhism made waves in the 1980s when they publicly address the ecological crisis to create awareness and in 1989 when the Dalai Lama won a Noble Peace Prize for the proposed introduction of Tibet as an ecological reserve.[45]Buddhism has been open to working with other world religions to combat the environment crisis seen at an international conference for Buddhist-Christian studies that addressed the environment.[45] Although Green Buddhism has not commented much on technical issues such as air and water pollution, they use their spirituality to focus heavily on "rich resources for immediate application in food ethicsanimal rights, and consumerism."[45]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Jump up to:a b Bonfiglio, Olga (21 April 2012). "Celebrating Earth Day Through Eco-Spirituality". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
  2. ^ Lincoln, Valerie (September 3, 2000). "Ecospirituality". Journal of Holistic Nursing. 18(3): 227. doi:10.1177/089801010001800305.
  3. ^ Jump up to:a b van Schalkwyk, Annalet. "Sacredness And Sustainability: Searching For A Practical Eco-Spirituality." Religion & Theology 18.1/2 (2011): 77–92. Academic Search Complete. Web. 26 Oct. 2015.
  4. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g Gottlieb, Roger S., ed. The Oxford handbook of religion and ecology. "Hindu Religion and Environmental Well-being." O.P. Dwivedi. Oxford University Press, 2006.
  5. ^ Taylor, Bron Raymond. Dark green religion: Nature spirituality and the planetary future. Univ of California Press, 2010.
  6. ^ Ritz, Janet (8 September 2007). "Thoughts on Eco-Spirituality". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
  7. ^ Vaughan-Lee, Llewellyn (17 May 2013). "Eco-spirituality: towards a values-based economic structure". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
  8. ^ Aburrow, Yvonne. "Eco-spirituality and theology". Sermons from the Mound. Pantheos. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
  9. ^ "Eco-spirituality". Acton Institute. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
  10. ^ Drengson, Alan. 2012. "Some Thought on the Deep Ecology Movement." Foundation for Deep Ecology. http://www.deepecology.org/deepecology.htm
  11. ^ Blumberg, Antonia (11 December 2013). "Celebrate The Winter Solstice With Los Angeles' Own Eco-Pagans". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
  12. ^ Lincoln, Valerie. American Holistic Nurses' Association. p. 227 http://journals2.scholarsportal.info/pdf/08980101/v18i0003/227_e.xml. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  13. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Delaney, Colleen. "Ecospirituality: The Experience of Environmental Meditation in Patients With Cardiovascular Disease". Holistic Nursing Practice. 23 (6): 362.
  14. ^ Mayhew, Susan (2015). "Ecological Crisis". A Dictionary of Geography. Oxford Reference. doi:10.1093/acref/9780199680856.001.0001/acref-9780199680856-e-999.
  15. ^ Jump up to:a b "What is Climate Change?". David Suzuki Foundation. 2014. Retrieved 2015-12-07.
  16. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Van Schalkwyk, Annalet (2011). "Sacredness and Sustainability: Searching for a Practical Eco-Spirituality". Religion and Theology.
  17. ^ Tucker, Mary Evelyn (2008-11-01). "World Religions, the Earth Charter, and Sustainability". Worldviews: Global Religions, Culture, and Ecology. 12 (2): 115–128. doi:10.1163/156853508X359930. ISSN 1568-5357.
  18. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g h Lincoln, Valerie (September 2000). American Holistic Nurses' Association. p. 227.
  19. ^ Jump up to:a b c Delaney, Colleen. "Ecospirituality: The Experience of Environmental Meditation in Patients With Cardiovascular Disease". Holistic Nursing Practice. 23(6): 362.
  20. ^ Jump up to:a b Delaney, Colleen. "Ecospirituality: The Experience of Environmental Meditation in Patients With Cardiovascular Disease". Holistic Nursing Practice. 23(6): 366.
  21. ^ Jump up to:a b Delaney, Colleen. "Ecospirituality: The Experience of Environmental Meditation in Patients With Cardiovascular Disease". Holistic Nursing Practice. 23(6): 367.
  22. ^ Delaney, Colleen. "Ecospirituality: The Experience of Environmental Meditation in Patients With Cardiovascular Disease". Holistic Nursing Practice. 23(6): 368.
  23. ^ Jump up to:a b Taylor, Bron. "Dark green religion." Nature Spirituality and the Planetary Future. UC Berkeley (2009). xi.
  24. ^ Taylor, Bron. "Dark green religion." Nature Spirituality and the Planetary Future. UC Berkeley (2009). 10.
  25. ^ Taylor, Bron. "Dark green religion." Nature Spirituality and the Planetary Future. UC Berkeley (2009). 14.
  26. ^ Taylor, Bron. "Dark green religion." Nature Spirituality and the Planetary Future. UC Berkeley (2009). x.
  27. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g h i Elizabeth A Johnson on Ecofeminism (Burke Lecture: An Ecological Inquiry – Jesus and the Cosmos) University of California Television, 2010.
  28. ^ Clifford, Anne. Introducing Feminist Theology. Marknoll: Orbis Books: 2001.
  29. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e Does the Spirit Move You? Environmental Spirituality – Annie L. Booth, Faculty of Natural Resources and Environmental Studies University of Northern British Columbia, Environmental Values Vol. 8, 1999.
  30. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e Ruether, Rosemary Radford. Gaia and God: An Ecofeminist Theology of Earth Healing. San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1992.
  31. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Gebara, Ivone. “Ecofeminism: A Latin American Perspective.” Crosscurrents, Spring 2003.
  32. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e Davy, Barbara Jane (2006). Introduction to Pagan Studies.
  33. ^ Jump up to:a b c Collins, Harper. "Sacred Ecology". The Green Fuse.
  34. ^ Jump up to:a b c Halstead, John. "A Pagan Community Statement on the Environment". Ecopagan.
  35. ^ DeWaay, Bob (1995). "Neo-paganism and Environmental Ethics". Critical Issues Commentary Scholarly.
  36. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Taylor, Bron (2005). "Dragon Environmental Network" (PDF). Religion and Nature. London & New York: Continuum.
  37. ^ Jump up to:a b c Berry, Thomas. The Christian Future and the Fate of Earth. Orbis Books: New York, 2009.
  38. ^ Jump up to:a b c Thomas Berry, "Christian Cosmology." The Christian Future and the Fate of Earth, 1985, page 26.
  39. ^ Thomas Berry, "The Christian Future and the Fate of Earth," The Christian Future and the Fate of Earth, 1989, page 35.
  40. ^ Jump up to:a b Thomas Berry, "Women Religious: Voices of Earth," The Christian Future and the Fate of Earth, 1994, page 78.
  41. ^ Key Chapple, Christopher (2006). Gottlieb, Roger S., ed. Jainism and Ecology. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 147. ISBN 978-0-19-974762-7.
  42. ^ Key Chapple, Christopher (2006). Gottlieb, Roger S., ed. Jainism and Ecology. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 150. ISBN 978-0-19-974762-7.
  43. ^ Key Chapple, Christopher (2006). Gottlieb, Roger S., ed. Jainism and Ecology. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 149. ISBN 978-0-19-974762-7.
  44. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g h i j k Richard Foltz, "Islam." in Roger S. Gottlieb, ed., The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Ecology. Oxford University Press, 2006.
  45. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e Gottlieb, Roger S., ed. The Oxford handbook of religion and ecology. "The Greening of Buddhism." Stephanie Kaza. Oxford University Press, 2006.

심층 생태학 - 위키백과, 우리 모두의 백과사전



심층 생태학 - 위키백과, 우리 모두의 백과사전
심층 생태학
위키백과, 우리 모두의 백과사전.

둘러보기로 가기검색하러 가기


심층 생태학(노르웨이어: Djupøkologi,영어: Deep ecology, 한자: 深層生態主義)은 1973년 노르웨이의 철학자 네스(노르웨이어: Arne Næss)가 최초로 사용하고 정립화한 용어이며, 생태계 위기의 근본적인 원인은 모든 자연 가치관을 인간적 측면에서 평가하고, 자연을 인간의 욕망을 충족시키기 위한 자원 또는 물질로 파악하는 인간 중심적 사고방식에 있다고 주장하는 이론 또는 사상, 철학이다. 심층생태론자들은 환경 문제를 인간적 측면에만 집중하여 해결하려는 자들을 '표층생태학자(영어: shallow ecology)'라고 비판한다.[1] 심층 생태학은 근본생태학라고도 하는데, 전자는 심층 생태학자들이 자신들을 자칭할 때 쓰는 표현으로써 많이 사용되고 있지만, '근본생태학'는 심층 생태학을 비판 또는 비평하는 사람들에 의해 많이 쓰이는 단어이다.[2] 다른 말로는 심층생태론, 근본생태론이라고도 한다.
녹색 정치


역사 및 상징[보이기]

분파[보이기]

기반 개념[보이기]

영향[보이기]

관련 조직[보이기]

인물[보이기]
vdeh



목차
1개요
2비판
3인물
4같이 보기
5각주
개요[편집]

처음에는 네스에 의해 주창되었고, 후에는 게리 스나이더(영어: Gary Snyder), 워윅 폭스(영어: Warwick Fox), 조지 세션즈(영어: George Sessions), 프리초프 카프라(영어: Fritjof Capra)와 같은 환경주의 학자들에 의해 이론적으로 계승되었다.

심층생태론은 인간의 내부와 지구에 존재하는 모든 생명체의 본성은 본래 가치를 지니고 있기 때문에 인간은 생명을 유지하기 위해 반드시 필요한 자연 요소들을 제외하고는 생명의 풍요로움과 다양함을 해칠 권리가 없다고 주장하고 있다. 심층생태론에 따르면 인간은 자연의 틀에서 분리될 수 없어서 인간도 자연의 일종이므로, 모든 자연을 통일된 하나의 '전체화'된 개념으로 보고, 인간의 행위가 생태계에 어떠한 영향을 미치는지 평할 때도 인간에게 직간접적으로 작용하는 사회, 경제, 문화 등 다양한 방면에서 평가해야 하며, 또한 자연 생태계에 어떠한 영향을 미치는가도 따져야 한다. 이러한 이유에서 환경주의자인 조지 세션즈와 노르웨이의 철학자 네스는 공동연구로 심층 생태학에 대해 다음과 같은 여덟 개의 강령으로 정리하였는데 그 내용은 즉슨
지구 상의 인간과 인간을 제외한 생명의 안녕과 번영은 그 자체로서 가치를 가진다. 이 가치들은 자연계가 인간의 목적을 위해 얼마나 유용한가 하는 문제와는 독립해 있다.
생명체의 풍부함과 다양성은 이러한 가치의 실현에 이바지하며 또한 그 자체로서 가치를 가진다.
인간들은 생명유지에 필요한 것들을 만족하게 하기 위한 경우를 제외하고는 이러한 풍부함과 다양성을 감소시킬 권리가 없다.
인간의 생명과 문화의 반영은 실질적으로 더 적은 인구와 양립한다. 인간을 제외한 생명의 번영은 더 적은 인구를 요구한다.
현재 인간의 자연계에 대한 간섭은 과도하며, 그 상황은 빠르게 악화되고 있다.
따라서 정책이 변해야 한다. 이러한 정책들은 근본적인 경제적, 기술적 그리고 이데올로기적 구조들에 영향을 미친다. 그 결과 발생할 상태는 현재와는 매우 달라질 것이다.
이데올로기 변화는 더 높은 생활수준에 집착하기보다는 주로 생활의 질, 내재적 가치에 대한 평가와 관련될 것이다. 그렇게 되면 단순히 큰 것과 꼭 필요한 위대한 것의 차이를 심오하게 인식하게 될 것이다.
이상의 강령에 동의하는 사람은 직간접적으로 필요한 변화를 실행하고자 하는 의무를 지닌다. 심층생태론은 생태적 세계관으로 전환하기 위해 동양의 노장사상과 선불교, 그리고 기독교의 영성주의 등이 필요하다고 주장한다.

이러한 내용을 포함한 심층 생태학은 생태계 파괴의 본질적인 문제를 깔끔하고, 누구나 알아들을 수 있게 쉽게 정리한 것으로 평가된다.
비판[편집]

왜곡된 심층 생태학적 사고관은 반성장주의, 반이성주의, 반지성주의를 불러올 수도 있으며, 생태계 파괴 원인을 모두 인간 전체의 탓으로 돌리는 인류혐오주의, 생태전체주의로도 변질될 수 있다.[3]
인물[편집]


데이비드 에이브럼
마이클 애셔
주디 베리
토머스 베리
웬델 베리
레오나르도 보프
프리초프 카프라
마이클 다우드
비비안 엘란타
데이비드 포어먼
워윅 폭스
첼리스 글렌다이닝
에드워드 골드스미스
펠릭스 가타리
폴 호킨
마틴 하이데거
데릭 젠슨
사티쉬 쿠마르
도로레스 라차펠
펜티 린콜라
존 리빙스턴


조아나 매시
제리 맨더
프레야 메튜즈
테렌스 멕케나
빌 맥키븐
아르네 네스
데이빗 오턴
발 플룸우드
다니엘 퀸
시어도 로잭
존 시드
폴 셰퍼드
반다나 시바
게리 스나이더
리처드 설리번
더글라스 톰킨스
존 저잔



같이 보기[편집]
생태학
각주

Joanna Macy - Wikipedia



Joanna Macy - Wikipedia
Joanna Macy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to navigationJump to search


Joanna Rogers Macy

Born 2 May 1929 (age 89)
Occupation Author, Buddhist scholar, environmental activist
Nationality American


Joanna Rogers Macy (born May 2, 1929), is an environmental activist, author, scholar of Buddhism, general systems theory, and deep ecology. She is the author of eight books.[1]


Contents
1Biography
2Key Influences
3Work
4Writings
5See also
6References
7External links


Biography[edit]

Macy graduated from Wellesley Collegein 1950 and received her Ph.D in Religious Studies in 1978 from Syracuse University, Syracuse. She studied there with Huston Smith, the influential author of The World's Religions (previously entitled The Religions of Man). 

She is an international spokesperson for anti-nuclear causes, peace, justice, and environmentalism,[1] most renowned for her book Coming Back to Life: Practices to Reconnect Our Lives, Our World and the Great Turning initiative, which deals with the transformation from, as she terms it, an industrial growth society to what she considers to be a more sustainable civilization. She has created a theoretical framework for personal and social change, and a workshop methodology for its application. Her work addresses psychological and spiritual issues, Buddhist thought, and contemporary science. She was married to the late Francis Underhill Macy, the activist and Russian scholar who founded the Center for Safe Energy.[citation needed]

Key Influences[edit]

Macy first encountered Buddhism in 1965 while working with Tibetan refugees in northern India, particularly the Ven. 8th Khamtrul Rinpoche, Sister Karma Khechog Palmo, Ven. Dugu Choegyal Rinpoche, and Tokden Antrim of the Tashi Jong community. Her spiritual practice is drawn from the Theravada tradition of Nyanaponika Thera and Rev. Sivali of Sri Lanka, Munindraji of West Bengal, and Dhiravamsa of Thailand.

Key formative influences to her teaching in the field of the connection to living systems theory have been Ervin Laszlo who introduced her to systems theory through his writings (especially Introduction to Systems Philosophy and Systems, Structure and Experience), and who worked with her as advisor on her doctoral dissertation (later adapted as Mutual Causality) and on a project for the Club of Rome. Gregory Bateson, through his Steps to an Ecology of Mind and in a summer seminar, also shaped her thought, as did the writings of Ludwig von Bertalanffy, Arthur Koestler, and Hazel Henderson
She was influenced in the studies of biological systems by Tyrone Cashman, and economic systems by Kenneth Boulding
Donella Meadows provided insights on the planetary consequences of runaway systems, and Elisabet Sahtourisprovided further information about self-organizing systems in evolutionary perspective.

Work[edit]

Macy travels giving lectures, workshops, and trainings internationally. Her work, originally called "Despair and Empowerment Work" was acknowledged as being part of the deep ecology tradition after she encountered the work of Arne Naess and John Seed [2], but as a result of disillusion with academic disputes in the field, she now calls it "the Work that Reconnects". 
Widowed by the death of her husband, Francis Underhill Macy, in January 2009, she lives in Berkeley, California, near her children and grandchildren. 

Writings[edit]

Library resources about
Joanna Macy

Resources in your library
Resources in other libraries
By Joanna Macy

Resources in your library
Resources in other libraries

  • Despair and Personal Power in the Nuclear Age; New Society Pub (1983); ISBN 0-86571-031-7
  • Dharma and Development: Religion as resource in the Sarvodaya self help movement; Kumarian Press revised ed (1985);
  • Thinking Like a Mountain: Toward a Council of All Beings; Joanna Macy, John Seed, Pat Fleming, Arne Naess, Dailan Pugh; New Society Publishers (1988); 
  • Mutual Causality in Buddhism and General Systems Theory: The Dharma of Natural System (Buddhist Studies Series); State University of New York Press (1991); 
  • Rilke's Book of Hours: Love Poems to God; poems by Rainer Maria Rilke, translated by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy; Riverhead Books (1996);
  • Coming Back to Life : Practices to Reconnect Our Lives, Our World; Joanna R. Macy, Molly Young Brown; New Society Publishers (1998);
  • Widening Circles : a memoir ; New Catalyst Books (2001); ISBN 978-1897408018
  • World as Lover, World as Self; Parallax Press (2005); 
  • "Pass It On: Five Stories That Can Change the World"; Parallax Press (2010); 
  • "Active Hope : how to face the mess we're in without going crazy"; Joanna Macy, Chris Johnstone; New World Library (2012)

See also[edit]

David Korten, a collaborator with Macy on the Great Turning Initiative
References[edit]

^ Jump up to:a b George Prentice (January 18, 2012). "Anti-nuclear activist is 'just a sucker for courage'". Boise Weekly.
^ "John Seed is founder and director of the Rainforest Information Centre in Australia".


External links[edit]
Wikiquote has quotations related to: Joanna Macy

Joanna Macy's website on the work of Experiential Deep Ecology
Gaia Foundation of Western Australia — an Australian organisation based on the principles of Deep Ecology.
California Institute of Integral Studies

Interview with Joanna Macy by John Malkin — published in ascent magazine, summer 2008
The Healing on Mother Earth Project — a Sebastopol, Ca organisation based on the principles of deep ecology.
"The Work that Reconnects" — Video series of a workshop with Joanna Macy.

A Wild Love for the World, an interview with Joanna Macy, by Krista Tippet on the American Radio Show "On Being." This page provides links to the original program that first aired in 2010, along with the unedited version of the program. Macy also recites many Rilke poems during the show, but some of these poems are edited out so you can listen to them recited individually.

"Allegiance to Life: Staying steady through the mess we're in," An interview with Joanna Macy from Tricycle: The Buddhist Review

2019/02/01

Reading Into Albert Einstein’s God Letter





By Louis Menand

December 25, 2018

Reading Into Albert Einstein’s God Letter




Einstein had what might be called a night-sky theology, a sense of the awesomeness of the universe that even atheists and materialists feel.Photograph by Ernst Haas / Getty



Albert Einstein’s so-called God letter first surfaced in 2008, when it fetched four hundred and four thousand dollars in a sale at a British auction house. The letter came back into the news earlier this month, when its owner or owners auctioned it off again, this time at Christie’s in New York, and someone paid $2.9 million for it, a pretty good return on investment, and apparently a record in the Einstein-letters market. The former top seller was a copy of a letter to Franklin Roosevelt from 1939, warning that Germany might be developing a nuclear bomb. That one was sold at Christie’s for $2.1 million, in 2002. If you have any extra Einstein letters lying around, this might be a good time to go to auction.

Although it bears his signature, Einstein didn’t actually write the bomb letter. It was written by the physicist Leo Szilard, based on a letter that Einstein had dictated. But, if auction price is at all relative to historical significance, that letter should be way more valuable than the God letter. The God letter was cleverly marketed, though. “Not only does the letter contain the words of a great genius who was perhaps feeling the end fast approaching,” Christie’s said on its Web site, “It addresses the philosophical and religious questions that mankind has wrestled with since the dawn of time: Is there a God? Do I have free will?” The press release called it “one of the definitive statements in the Religion vs Science debate.” Journalistic interest was stirred up by the question of whether the letter might contradict other comments that Einstein is recorded having made about God.

----

This all made the letter sound a lot more thoughtful than it is. Einstein did have views about God, but he was a physicist, not a moral philosopher, and, along with a tendency to make gnomic utterances—“God does not play dice with the universe” is his best-known aperçu on the topic—he seems to have held a standard belief for a scientist of his generation. He regarded organized religion as a superstition, but he believed that, by means of scientific inquiry, a person might gain an insight into the exquisite rationality of the world’s structure, and he called this experience “cosmic religion.”

It was a misleading choice of words. “Cosmic religion” has nothing to do with morality or free will or sin and redemption. It’s just a recognition of the way things ultimately are, which is what Einstein meant by “God.” The reason that God does not play dice in Einstein’s universe is that physical laws are inexorable. And it is precisely by getting that they are inexorable that we experience this religious feeling. There are no supernatural entities out there for Einstein, and there is no uncaused cause. The only mystery is why there is something when there could be nothing.

In the God letter, the subject is not the cosmic religion of the scientist. It is the organized religion of the believer, a completely different subject. Einstein wrote the letter, in 1954, to an émigré German writer named Eric Gutkind, whose book “Choose Life: The Biblical Call to Revolt” he had read at the urging of a mutual friend and had disliked so much that he felt compelled to share his opinion of it with the author. A year later, Einstein died. Gutkind died in 1965; it was his heirs who put the letter up for auction, in 2008.

The letter to Gutkind is conspicuously short on metaphysics. It’s essentially a complaint about traditional Judaism. Einstein says that he is happy being a Jew, but that he sees nothing special about Jewishness. The word God, he says, is “nothing more than the expression and product of human weakness,” and the Hebrew Bible is a collection of “honorable, but still purely primitive legends.”

In some news accounts, Einstein is quoted as calling the Biblical stories “nevertheless pretty childish,” but that is not what his letter says. That phrase was inserted by a translator, apparently at the time of the first auction. Nor does Einstein call Judaism “the incarnation of the most childish superstitions,” also a translation error. The word that he uses is “primitiven”—that is, “primitive,” meaning pre-scientific. He is saying that, before humans developed science, they had to account for the universe in some way, so they invented supernatural stories. (Such is the nature of our own super-scientific age, however, that if you perform a search for “Einstein childish God,” you will get thousands of hits. Einstein will be eternally associated with a characterization he never made.)

Einstein had what might be called a night-sky theology, a sense of the awesomeness of the universe that even atheists and materialists feel when they gaze up at the Milky Way. Is it too awesome for human minds to know? A scientist from a generation before Einstein, William James, thought that maybe we can’t—maybe our brains are too small. There might indeed be something like God out there; we just can’t pick it up with the radar we’ve got. In James’s lovely metaphor, “We may be in the universe as dogs and cats are in our libraries, seeing the books and hearing the conversation, but having no inkling of the meaning of it all.”


The best thing in Einstein’s letter to Gutkind is not the grouchy dismissal of traditional theology. It’s the closing paragraph, where Einstein puts all that aside. “Now that I have expressed our differences in intellectual convictions completely openly,” he writes, “it is still clear to me that we are very close to each other in the essentials, that is, in our evaluations of human behavior.” He thinks that if he and Gutkind met and talked about “concrete things,” they would get along fine. He is saying that it doesn’t matter what our religious or our philosophical commitments are. The only thing that matters is how we treat one another. I don’t think it took a genius to figure this out, but it’s nice that one did.


Louis Menand, a staff writer since 2001, was awarded the National Humanities Medal in 2016.Read more »More:
Albert Einstein
Religion
God