Environment through A Spiritual Lens
I was staying at an ashram on the Ganga. Early one morning on the river bank local people performed a puja to a wonderful old tree nearby with incense and lamps. It was something you would never see in the West. After they left, i moved to where they had been sitting under the tree, and in the quiet morning light i understood what they had come to do. The environmental crisis is a spiritual crisis. As long as we seek to address one and not the other. we will not get far. Our industrialised vision has taken away our ability to see the living spirit in the tree, in the river, in the mountain and to know that the life energy sustaining them and us is the same. There is now widespread recognition of the need to change the way we relate to the natural world. But the current approach is much like the arms reduction movement. Reducing carbon output is like reducing military arsenals, addressing the outer manifestations without changing the inner components that led to militarisation and environment degradation in the first place. Reducing arsenals alone won't bring peace, and reducing carbon output won't restore the health and balance of our planet's life systems. As long as it is a matter of mathematics, and not consciousness change, the root cause of the problem won't go away. At a UN religious leader’s summit in New York, participants disagreed on whether human beings can rightfully seek to "control" nature or should adopt an attitude of respect and even "reverence" for nature. Today, we have come to recognise the reality of climate change and the accompanying environmental crisis, but we shy away from addressing deeper causes. Our ancestors saw the sacredness of the rivers, mountains and forests. So much has been lost these last 50 years through deforestation, the digging and mining of mountains, the damming and polluting of waterways and the annihilation of so many species. It is a wonder that Earth has not responded more vigorously to our declarations of war. Whether we are at conflict with each other, or with the natural world, the mindset is the same. The environmental crisis may be a blessing in disguise. It is bringing us to the point of no alternative but change and forcing the evolution of a new paradigm of being-based on what might be called the feminine principles of interconnection, oneness and inclusion-leaving behind the old paradigm of dominance and control. These feminine principles can guide us back to what our ancestors knew and help turn this crisis into a catalyst for transformation. Women have a special role to play in this process and the attributes we know as women and mothers can help guide the shift in understanding that will reconnect us to the natural world. When the Native American people hunted the buffalo, as they needed Π to do for survival, they first sought out the Buffalo Spirit for its blessing. They knew their hunt to be an exchange of life force for life force and honoured the being that was sacrificing its life. Economic growth has been depleting the life force of our planet, and so we must ask the essential question - will this secure or threaten our survival? And if we choose to continue our course, let us seek the blessing and forgiveness - of all beings, trees, rivers, and all others whom we are taking down as sacrifice.
DISCLAIMER:
The views expressed in the Article above are Dena Merriam views and kashmiribhatta.in is not in any way responsible for the opinions expressed in the above article. The article belongs to its respective owner or owners and this site does not claim any right over it.
Courtesy: Dena Merriam and Speaking Tree,Times of India
Environment through A Spiritual Lens
I was staying at an ashram on the Ganga. Early one morning on the river bank local people performed a puja to a wonderful old tree nearby with incense and lamps. It was something you would never see in the West. After they left, i moved to where they had been sitting under the tree, and in the quiet morning light i understood what they had come to do. The environmental crisis is a spiritual crisis. As long as we seek to address one and not the other. we will not get far. Our industrialised vision has taken away our ability to see the living spirit in the tree, in the river, in the mountain and to know that the life energy sustaining them and us is the same. There is now widespread recognition of the need to change the way we relate to the natural world. But the current approach is much like the arms reduction movement. Reducing carbon output is like reducing military arsenals, addressing the outer manifestations without changing the inner components that led to militarisation and environment degradation in the first place. Reducing arsenals alone won't bring peace, and reducing carbon output won't restore the health and balance of our planet's life systems. As long as it is a matter of mathematics, and not consciousness change, the root cause of the problem won't go away. At a UN religious leader’s summit in New York, participants disagreed on whether human beings can rightfully seek to "control" nature or should adopt an attitude of respect and even "reverence" for nature. Today, we have come to recognise the reality of climate change and the accompanying environmental crisis, but we shy away from addressing deeper causes. Our ancestors saw the sacredness of the rivers, mountains and forests. So much has been lost these last 50 years through deforestation, the digging and mining of mountains, the damming and polluting of waterways and the annihilation of so many species. It is a wonder that Earth has not responded more vigorously to our declarations of war. Whether we are at conflict with each other, or with the natural world, the mindset is the same. The environmental crisis may be a blessing in disguise. It is bringing us to the point of no alternative but change and forcing the evolution of a new paradigm of being-based on what might be called the feminine principles of interconnection, oneness and inclusion-leaving behind the old paradigm of dominance and control. These feminine principles can guide us back to what our ancestors knew and help turn this crisis into a catalyst for transformation. Women have a special role to play in this process and the attributes we know as women and mothers can help guide the shift in understanding that will reconnect us to the natural world. When the Native American people hunted the buffalo, as they needed Π to do for survival, they first sought out the Buffalo Spirit for its blessing. They knew their hunt to be an exchange of life force for life force and honoured the being that was sacrificing its life. Economic growth has been depleting the life force of our planet, and so we must ask the essential question - will this secure or threaten our survival? And if we choose to continue our course, let us seek the blessing and forgiveness - of all beings, trees, rivers, and all others whom we are taking down as sacrifice.
DISCLAIMER:
The views expressed in the Article above are Dena Merriam views and kashmiribhatta.in is not in any way responsible for the opinions expressed in the above article. The article belongs to its respective owner or owners and this site does not claim any right over it.
Courtesy: Dena Merriam and Speaking Tree,Times of India