Spiritual Ecology: A Match Made in…Who Knows Where?

Published by Hubert Den Draak under Green Living

Peaceful Ecology - Ocean birds You know why I find the Green movement so engaging? Because it gathers people from all over the political spectrum. From CEOs to single moms, from blue-collar workers to white-collar scientists. Consequently, the Green movement cannot be pigeonholed like a conventional political party. There’s real merit in that alone!

But I can’t help but wonder: once these divergent people have come together… what’s keeping them together?

Surely it can’t just be starry-eyed idealism. I mean, get with it: these are post-postmodern times; we have no patience for this type of naïveté anymore.

Running the Nolalu Eco Center with my partner Jacomyn Gerbrandy in Northern Ontario, I get to talk to all types of people. It’s a continuous focus group run by my curious old self. So I started poking around and noticed something interesting: many of these folks have no qualms about telling you they do this out of a sense of—hold on now—spirituality.

Each may describe it in a different way, but it all boils down to this: the complex living organism we call the environment represents something much bigger than all of us. There is an innate connection there; and the natural world that cannot be explained exclusively in scientific terms. This connection seems to cover more than just the empirical and physical realms, and can best be described in spiritual terms.

Wooo, I thought, and had scary visions of new-age full moon interpretive dancing in crop-circled fields. Where’s the nearest exit?! Fortunately, I began to talk with some very grounded folks and a clearer picture took shape.

Starfish “Ecology” is defined as the science of the relationships between organisms and their environment. Conditioned as we are to thinking in terms of cause and effect, we consider these relationships as being of a physical nature. “Spiritual Ecology” acknowledges the fact that beyond the physical, there’s also a spiritual side to our relationship with the natural world.

Every day we make countless decisions. The bigger these decisions get, the more we tend to lean on something called morality— our notions of right and wrong—to help make those decisions. And that’s where things get interesting: there are several types of morality, one being the short-term kind, which only looks after number one, governed by the what’s-in-it-for-me principle (or my family, my business, my community, etc.).

Another kind sees a different picture and recognizes that this short-term bottom-line school of thought doesn’t really benefit us in the longer run. It even acknowledges that sometimes we’ll have to go through some short-term pain in order to get the long-term gain.

When these bigger decisions are made for a larger group, it’s important that members of this group share the same values. Technology and the (global) economy have played this role for some time now, providing us with a value system that seemed to work…until we hit the current economic/energy /environmental quagmire. This triple whammy has led many people to believe that a very different value system is required, one centered on values that can be found in something most of us seem to have in common: spirituality.

We’re not talking about the check-your-brains-at-the-door type of faith (“believe this or else!”), nor the soft, commitment-free, feel-good type. We are referencing something that all enduring world religions have in common (or at least they did before being co-opted by the powers that be): the idea that people and this creation are part of a larger universal consciousness.

Christians, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Sikhs, Hindus, Native spirituality and so forth all share that same idea. They also share the notion that this presence is not only out there—but it’s also all around us and it’s inside us. Maybe that’s what’s meant when you hear the environmental balance referred to as “the sanctity of Creation.” Environmental degradation by choice becomes a form of sacrilege. The idea of sin gets redefined.

I’m now finding Spiritual Ecology even more engaging than before, bringing different faith systems together while at the same time rediscovering them. It cannot be encapsulated the way a conventional denomination can be. Could we be witnessing the start of something truly transformative?

Recommended reading:

The New York Times: At the forefront of Spiritual Ecology: Arne Neas’ “Deep Ecology” (1912 – 2009)

“The Regeneration Project”, a successful Western-style example of Spiritual Ecology

8 Responses to “Spiritual Ecology: A Match Made in…Who Knows Where?”

Beverly Clarke says:

April 20, 2009 at 9:14 am

I just love reading the words “Spiritual Ecology acknowledges the fact that beyond the physical, there’s also a spiritual side to our relationship with the natural world.” I have always believed this and it’s not only good to know I’m not alone, but the ideas written about here gets my mind going on ways to expand this message.

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Chris K says:

April 21, 2009 at 6:54 pm

Great article. I’ve been pondering this same issue for over a year now but have been wrapping it under the Sustainability framework: economic, environmental, social.

I’m not very Religious (following a certain dogma) by nature, but I’m very spiritual by nature. I’m very interested in how the mind (our spiritual being) interacts with our surroundings. Especially how issues like quantum mechanics manifest itself in our daily spiritual lives. Most importantly, I want to answer the question of how we can find true happiness in life.

While I have not read much of his material, I believe Deepak Chopra is one of the best people to follow on this topic. I would love to see a movement along these lines, but as you hit on in the article, the problem is framing this movement so it doesnt look like a bunch of fire-walking, acid-tripping hippies. But rather intelligent people advancing happiness through spiritual ecology.

I’m in, who else?

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margo says:

April 23, 2009 at 11:46 am

again, here is another example of someone trying to give ’spirituality’ credit for the science of ecology and creativity. We can all collectively agree to be good to each other in society, and respect our natural environment without being ’spiritual’. Take both responsibility and credit for your actions and appreciate what you see around you as being causal.

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Chris K says:

April 23, 2009 at 8:44 pm

Margo,
Are you discounting spirituality’s role in society? In my opinion, being good to each other and respecting natural environment is a part of being spiritual. Being spiritual simply means you are in touch with your role in the world. A robot can be good to someone else (be trained to open doors) and respect its environment (pick up trash). What makes us (humans) different than robots is that we contain a spirituality element. To deny that is living in ignorance…which may be bliss to some. I guess some people prefer the blue pill….and some prefer the red.

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Eco Links to Green Your Weekend | FollowGreen.com says:

April 24, 2009 at 12:24 pm

[...] the face and grow comfortable with it. And it’s married with the word “ecology” here, at Green By [...]

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brenda says:

April 28, 2009 at 12:41 pm

Unfortunately I don’t see “greenness” from across the political spectrum. Republicans are against renewable energy, for big oil (drill, baby, drill), against the endangered species act, don’t believe in globabl warming or else deny it is human caused, and are basically against anything that has to do with protecting Mother nature. They call Democrats stupid tree huggers, as if spending money to protect the environment is a waste of money. They are short term thinkers. I wish it drew from across the political spectrum, but as I look at the voting records of politicians, it is apparent that Republicans are not there.

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Chris K says:

April 28, 2009 at 2:42 pm

Brenda,
You are correct in that the Republicans haven’t exactly jumped on the “green” bandwagon, which is why when I try and speak to my Republican friends I talk to them about Sustainability, not Green. Here’s a quote from my blog that I came up with:
“For some reason, the conservative right has been downright obstinate in their opposition to embracing Sustainable principles. This may be because the liberal left has been so haphazard and unrealistic in the pursuit of their environmental goals. Sustainability is non-partisan. It is doing what’s right for Americans, their Environment, their ability to support their families, their Happiness, and their ability to pass that Happiness down to the next generation. No viable political party on Earth would dare oppose these values.”

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Radiance says:

June 28, 2009 at 4:40 am

Such a well-written piece that strikes a chord within … I have felt the connection with nature and the spiritual bliss it can bestow upon you since a few months back. I had always loved watching documentaries etc. about nature, animals, earth right from childhood. But it is a very different feeling when one feels that connection within and the clarity of thoughts that comes about is very astonishing. I’m also very pleased to know that there are a lot of people out there who do feel this connection.

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