“ECO-SPIRITUALITY IS THE NEED

OF THE HOUR”

DONE BY,
MR.JOE ALLWYN
ST.THERESA YOUTH GROUP
(STYG)
ST.THERESA CHURCH,
CRAWFORD

I.MBA
09PBA137
ST.JOSEPH’S INSTITUTE OF
MANAGEMENT,
ST.JOESEPH’S COLLEGE,
TRICHY

INTRODUCTION
The term "eco-spirituality" draws attention to the cosmos as
a place of God's self-revelation. Ecology studies our total
environment and all the living or non-living creatures that
dwell with us in this cosmic house. Eco-spirituality studies
our relationship to God as it develops in the context of our
relationships with the cosmos in its totality. The challenge of
eco-spirituality is to find God within -- not apart from -- this
totality, and to view the totality as a dynamic,
interdependent process centering on the risen Christ and
growing to perfection in love. "Thus you may have strength
to comprehend with all the holy ones what is the breadth
and length and height and depth, and to know the love of
Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled
with all the fullness of God" (Eph 3:1819).

One not need be a priest in order to experience the sacred in

the midst of nature. What is required is openness of
perception, or what the poet and naturalist Annie Dillard
calls "looking well." It is possible to find such "seeing" among
professional scientists, especially physicists and biologists,
today. Their vision of the cosmos as an emerging, integral
system of interconnected and interdependent parts leaves
them stunned with beauty and wonder. In the space of a
brief article, mathematical physicist Brian Swimme
communicates his excitement by words like: stupendous,
elegant, admiration, enchantments. From such enchantment
with nature, it is only a short step to religious experience
and to the considerations of eco-spirituality.

SPREADING CRISIS
Our beautiful planet does not present a totally enthralling
spectacle today. We have all heard about the major
ecological problems: air pollution; holes in the ozone layer;
nitric- or even sulphuric-acid rain; soil erosion; contamination
of fresh water and of the oceans; deforestation, especially of
tropical rain forests; hazardous waste disposal; and the total
destruction of many biological species. What is threatened is
the biosphere on which present and future generations
depend.

Basic moral questions are involved in the continuing abuse

of the environment. Humankind is so interconnected with the
earth that environmental irresponsibility quickly touches
human rights and human life.

Pope John Paul II, speaking in Detroit on issues of social

development, made a fine statement of the problem without
spelling out specific solutions. He said:
Pollution of air and water threaten more and more the
delicate balance of the biosphere on which present and
future generations depend and makes us realize that we all
share a common ecological environment. The world's
ecological crisis has been widely noted, and some initial
steps have been taken to solve it. As the Industrial Age
draws to a close, ours is the generation that has to begin
shifting gears and moving towards a new style of living if
there is to be a civilization of any quality left for future
generations. Since action flows from thinking and from
willing, the first step should be a renewal of our perceptions
and a conversion of heart. The first step towards the well
being of our planet is not political but spiritual.

A CHANGE OF ATTITUDE

The deeper causes of the environmental problems we face

lie in the human heart: the pathologies of fear, greed,
selfishness, arrogance. Eco-spirituality knows there will be
no healing of the earth unless there is a healing and
conversion of hearts.

Our conversion-process may be slow and lengthy, but a good

beginning can be made on the level of perception. Self-
centered, myopic perception needs to be enlarged in order
to see the cumulative, long-term effects of environmental
abuse. For example, the effect of one internal-combustion
automobile on the quality of the atmosphere is negligible;
the effect of millions of cars driving millions of miles is
painfully noticeable. As perception broadens outward from
one's own immediate concerns, one can see the needs of the
local or regional community. Beyond that context, one can
begin to perceive the needs of the total living and non-living
world community.

As our perception shifts from the small picture to the total,

global picture, we open ourselves to a new possibility. Our
goal is to forge a lifestyle that is sustainable within the
global community, where all have a right to live from the
limited resources of the earth.
However, the ideal is not to jettison all technology and go
back to the Stone Age. The ideal would be to utilize
appropriate technologies that are more harmonious with the
environment and based on renewable resources like wind or
solar energy. Such technologies are in existence and have
proven successful, though they are not always as cost-
effective as the more wasteful technologies. Adopting them
would be a major step toward a simplified lifestyle. Only a
change of attitude can lead to a voluntary change of
lifestyle. Eco-spirituality has a contribution to make in the
transformation of these underlying attitudes.

FROM SELF TO NEIGHBOUR

Eco-spirituality of itself cannot and should not attempt to

solve such major problems as environmental poisoning or
destructive industrial methods. At most, spirituality might
foster an awareness of these problems, encourage people to
grapple with them, and especially encourage people to have
unbounded trust in God's creative love. Solutions can be
found if there is imagination, cooperation, and unbounded
trust. Solutions will be found if enough people recover a
contemplative appreciation of the earth in its beauty and
fragility.

One of the goals of eco-spirituality is to help transform

human minds and hearts in the context of all their
relationships, so as to bring people into creative harmony
with the will of God in all these relationships. Eco-spirituality
is concerned about whole persons and all persons, even in
their relationships to the environment. We have largely gone
beyond a purely mental approach to spirituality. We realize
that our whole self must be oriented to the search for God.
We relate to God not only with intellect and will but also with
our bodily feelings, emotions, and sexuality. For example,
cultivation of a personal, prayerful relationship with Christ
and to integrate these into a more holistic and ecological
spirituality. Jesus and me, plus the universe!

As our perception broadens, our notion of neighbor expands.

To lend a helping hand to our neighbor also means to care
for endangered species of animals, birds, and plants. To live
at peace with our neighbor means to function in harmony
with the primary processes of the planet the atmosphere,
the water, the land.

FROM NEIGHBOUR TO COSMOS

The spreading ecological crisis demands that we take

responsibility for the house we live in, which is this planet
where we live side by side with all our neighbors -- all other
living and non-living creatures. From the matrix of this
material cosmos human beings emerged, according to God's
plan, many millions of years ago. The second account of
creation in Genesis describes in its own way how humanity
was formed from the reddish clay of the earth. In some
sense the earth is our common mother. The commandment
to honor our father and mother can be extended to include
our mother earth in all her materiality. Today this maternal
earth is nurturing and sustaining each of us in life; some day
the same earth will receive back our lifeless bodies and
incorporate them once again into the flux of elements and
particles that make up the cosmos, until the final
resurrection.

Humankind has a biblical mandate to exercise dominion over

all creation as God's administrators (Gen 1:26). Instead we
are called to administer wisely so as to foster life and
development, and not to destroy the Creator's work. The
Lord's Prayer -- with its petition "Thy kingdom come, thy will
be done on earth" -- can be a prayer for healing, life, justice,
and harmony on earth, brought about by God's power
through ourselves as God's instruments or co-creators. Our
generation has a moral responsibility for the future, to leave
to the next generation something more that a barren,
depleted wasteland.

CONCLUSION

Eco-spirituality, as it has been called, is far from being a type

of armchair spirituality. For some, eco-spirituality will mean a
"mysticism of service." For others it will mean a conversion
to a simpler style of living. For still others it may mean a
contemplative awareness of the beauty and fragility of our
planet, and a sense of solidarity with all living and non-living
beings. For all of us, a commitment to eco-spirituality is like
the leaven that will slowly raise human consciousness in our
post-industrial age. In this way we may be able to transmit a
truly human quality of life, both interior and external life, to
future generations.