Ecospirituality
Morgan Griffith & Rob Nakihei
Define:
Ecospirituality is essentially a movement as well as a belief system that connects humans to the earth. This could mean people wanting to escape a consumerist and materialistic culture and return to more holistic morals and values that are less artificial and shallow (Wikipedia). It is a belief system that is at its core, anti-anthropocentric (Hettinger). Ecospirituality also serves as a movement for ecological change regarding environmental crises such as global warming or pollution and contamination, and how humans can work towards restoring the Earth through an ‘earth-based’ belief system that puts it as a main focus (Sideris). Ecospirituality can serve as a movement of stewardship as “persons who have attained ecospiritual consciousness may be more cognizant of the interdependent nature of their relationship with the earth and their social responsibilities as planetary citizens”(Lincoln). Overall having a belief system that views the Earth as an essential part of spirituality, importance and life leads to greater environmental recognition and stewardship from those who chose to participate in this type of spirituality.
Context:
Ecospirituality arose around 1988 (Google Ngram) as a possible response to realized human-caused destruction to the environment. Ecospirituality realizes that the earth is a reflection of God’s work, “God gave humans dominion over the earth doesn’t mean that the earth is human property to be disposed of as best suits our purposes. but rather that we are stewards of something that still belongs to God. The earth and its creatures are God’s creation and God’s purpose for humans is to be caretakers of God’s property.” (Hettinger). St. Francis was a great believer and supporter of Ecospirituality. St. Francis saw all animate and inanimate creatures as his brothers and sisters. To destroy any aspect of creation was to deface the image of Christ present in all of creation. Christ suffers not only when people are denied their rights and exploited, but also when oceans, rivers, and forests are desecrated. Environmental scholarship of ecospirituality is when we perceive creation as manifesting and leading us to God. We challenge ourselves to move our relationships with other creatures from one of dominance and power to one of respect. (Kerkof)
Ecospirituality challenges our behavior and shapes who we are even today. (Google Trends) We are of the earth and being human doesn’t separate us from the rest of creation. According to St. Francis, “Every offense against the integrity and sustainability of the earth is an offense against the Creator. There is no true spirituality without obedience to this moral mandate.” (Kerkof)
We live in a culture that is materialistic, competitive, and individualistic. By growing up in this culture and living in it, we absorb some of its practices, presumptions, and attitudes. Often without making a choice or without even being aware of being influenced. St. Francis believes that in order to get rid of these inherited practices we need to ask ourselves what we could do to make a better environment. However, Ken Wilber, a critique of ecospirituality would oppose all the ideas of St. Francis. Wilber refers to ecospirituality as romanticizing the difference between humans and earth and that this movement is more of a result of the romanticization than reality.
An ism that conflicts with ecospirituality is anthropocentrism. Anthropocentrism is the belief that humans are central, an idea that directly conflicts with the human to earth equality of ecospirituality.
Critique:
Ecospirituality can lead to significant awareness and connectivity when it comes to environmental scholarship. A study by Jessica L. Crow states that ecospirituality is the practice of applying one’s religious belief systems, which are a basis to much of their life, to scientific concepts, systems and practices in order to feel a deeper connection to whatever one is learning about by incorporating their religious beliefs in with the science. When people connect more with the concepts they are learning through spirituality, their connection to the topics become much more authentic and valued because the learning is brought to a higher level of significance when it is tied to religious beliefs. These studies have shown that people who make this connection are better scholars and stewards, “Hitzhusen suggests several spiritual elements that might catalyze the influence of the educational variables that lead to environmental citizenship behavior, including awe and wonder/sense of sacred at God’s creation, religiously reinforced attitudes, love of creation, environmental justice knowledge, embracing stewardship vocation, knowledge of moral and ethical tenets, religious commitment and sense of call, religious environmental activism, faith and hope, participation in God’s work, moral imperatives, legacy of social action and ethical influence, and acting out of love” all important when learning about critical environmental topics that need action and dedication (Crowe).
One of the most famous skeptics of ecospirituality is Ken Wilber. He criticizes this movement/belief system on the basis that he is unsure whether having these sets of beliefs would actually halt human destruction of the Earth, despite that being their goal. He also refers to ecospirituality as romanticizing the split between humans and earth and that this movement is more of a result of the romanticization than reality and feasible action (Zimmerman). In some ways as well, this romanticization of human-nature relationships glosses over a lot of facts about the current state of the environment and to the extent that it is in crisis or not. In fact, “many environmentalists have simply not understood the extent to which market forces and human inventiveness either develop new ways of extracting/growing needed materials”, suggesting that possibly the material industries have more control over these issues of limited resources and environmental exploitation that many eco spiritualists may think (Zimmerman).
Another danger that ecospirituality may raise is an overdramatic pessimistic viewpoint of the Earth’s future. Because eco spiritualists connect so deeply to issues of environmental destruction, they may not be able to see the future clearly and may over exaggerate the possible outcomes (Zimmerman). In conclusion, eco spiritualists may become biased and not be able to see environmental topics for what they really are.
Conclusion:
Ecospirituality is a belief system that people come to for many reasons. Either they want to live a more fulfilling life less focused on materialism, or they aim to help repair damage done by a selfish human race as they realize the Earth deserves just as much respect as human beings do. Or people may tie their beliefs of God and His creations in with the Earth and all living things as they see them as equal and worthy. No matter the reason, ecospirituality is an important basis for environmental education and scholarship. Ecospirituality really challenges the popular notion that the world is anthropocentric and instead suggest that all life forms are equal and the earth is more than just a place for us to live. This realization is crucial to being an environmental scholar as it places a significant value on issues of environmental destruction.
We believe that ecospirituality is more beneficial than it is harmful. It can provide important connection that is very valuable when it comes to being an environmental scholar and steward who is passionate, educated and ready to act. Although, it is potentially problematic if an individual with these beliefs becomes biased or jaded in respects to environmental reality. Instead, they must continue being educated on all aspects in order to truly have a grasp on these issues that is not biased by their spiritual views. In the end, ecospirituality can provide an important basis to environmental scholarship as it places importance on issues that deserve it.
References:
Crowe, Jessica L. “Transforming Environmental Attitudes and Behaviours through Eco-spirituality and Religion .” International Electronic Journal of Environmental Education 3, no. 1 (2012). http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1104861.pdf.
“Ecospirituality.” Wikipedia. January 27, 2017. Accessed March 24, 2017. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecospirituality.
“Google Trends.” Google Trends. Accessed March 24, 2017. https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?q=Ecospirituality.
“Google Ngram Viewer.” Google Books. Accessed March 24, 2017. https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=Ecospirituality&year_start=1986&year_end=20.
Hettinger, Ned. “Ecospirituality: First Thoughts.” Dialogue & Alliance . 1995. http://hettingern.people.cofc.edu/Philosophy_of_Religion/Hettinger_Ecospirituality.pdf.
Kerkof, Father Loren. “Eco-spirituality and Lenten Practice.” Cscsiters. 2007. http://www.cscsisters.org/justice/issues/climate/Churches/ecospirituality.pdf.
Lincoln, Valerie. “Ecospirituality : A pattern That Connects.” Journals.sagepub. 2000. Accessed March 24, 2017. http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/089801010001800305.
Sideris, “Science as Sacred Myth? Ecospirituality in the Anthropocene Age.”
Zimmerman, Michael E. “Ken Wilber’s Critique of Ecological Spirituality.” Integralworld. Accessed March 24, 2017. http://www.integralworld.net/zimmerman3.html.