 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
Essay 12: An Ecology of Devotion by Dennis Rivers |
.
.
-
5
-
various greeds and fears in relation to one another, who make and use
these technologies of contamination and death.
The extremity of our predicament
-- that we are destroying our own
life-support system as we drive many species over the brink of extinction
-- draws us toward the life that lives between us, not only as a source of
despair, but also as a source of hope. Just as it is true that two together
can carry a larger object than either would be able to carry alone, it is also
true that in the company of supportive friends we can bear sorrows that
are more than one heart can contain. I have become deeply convinced that
creating an ecologically sustainable civilization will require creating a
web of emotionally sustaining friendships, full of gratitude, listening and
celebration. Gandhi would say start with yourself, be the change you want
to see. A more intimate way of expressing this might be to say, embody
the love, gratitude and compassion you want to promote.
3. Reverence for the life that surrounds and sustains us
This is the dimension of reverence for life that is most familiar to us,
having been lived and expressed so beautifully by such eco-advocates as
Albert Schweitzer, Rachel Carson, Jane Goodall, John Muir, Matthew
Fox, Joanna Macy and Thomas Berry. Along with being great lovers of
nature, these guiding lights were and are great students of nature.
A path of devotion in relation to the web of life around us is
something more than just having a well of good feelings toward all
creatures great and small, although that would be a great place to start.
Feelings arise out of understandings. The more we understand about the
history of each bite of food we take, the more likely we are to be filled
with awe and gratitude. The more we know of fruit trees, the more each
peach feels like a miracle. But if all of this is true, and the path toward a
respectful partnership with the rest of nature is so straightforward, why is
the world still falling apart. What is the problem? What follows is one
approach to an answer.
Early in the twentieth century, the philosopher Martin Buber
introduced what may be one of the most important distinctions in the
history of human thought. Buber proposed that human beings do not have
a sense of “I” in isolation. Rather, we have a sense of “I” in relation to
|
 |
|