One View of Eco-ministry
by Reverend David Mitchell
Eco-Minister
Member of the Board of Directors
Eco-ministry can take many forms, such as honoring and empowering our Mother Earth through various spiritual and religious practices. This blog article focuses on a single aspect of Eco-ministry that integrates science and spirituality, and is offered to stimulate and deepen a dialogue on this topic that is transformative to our own consciousness as well as promoting the healing of the planet that sustains us. This vision of Eco-ministry begins with the insight that what we see in our outer environment is a reflection of our collective inner consciousness. The beauty of Nature is a reflection of divine Consciousness, and the degree to which it is degraded through human activities is a measure of imbalance in human consciousness. Eco-ministry can thus be as simple as this; restoring the harmony between our inner and outer worlds.
In past generations, humanity did not have the population and technology to globally impact natural systems, but this has changed now. Scientists call our current age the “Anthropocene” to indicate that we live in an era where human activities can affect the global environment. An example is the ozone hole over Antarctica. Scientists discovered that chlorofluorocarbons, used for propellants and refrigerants, were reducing ozone concentrations over Antarctica (and to a lesser extent over the Arctic). Ozone in the upper atmosphere (the stratosphere) protects life on Earth from harmful ultraviolet radiation, and without this ozone terrestrial life would not be possible. The nations of the world then acted on this factual, scientific information to prevent further emissions of chlorofluorocarbons. Today, ozone levels in the Polar Regions are increasing again and should soon recover as a result of the rational decisions made. Another example of rectifying human environmental degradation is how air pollution in Southern California has been greatly reduced by adding catalytic converters to process vehicle emission exhaust, along with other measures. These examples demonstrate humanity’s capacity to live in harmony with Nature and to ensure a healthy environment for future generations, motivated by spiritual values (e.g., preserving a quality of life that sustains us physically and spiritually) and scientific knowledge.
But as the human family grows in consciousness, growing pains are inevitable. Our latest challenge is global warming (more recently dubbed climate change for political palpability). While the above examples required some adjustments in the way we live, those adjustments are very minor compared to the adjustments that dealing with global warming may require. Historically, people tend to resist change, and this may be at the root of the grass-roots resistance to accepting the scientific reality of global warming. The scriptures of Vedic India refer to three basic energies that govern consciousness: tamas, rajas and sattwa. Tamas is associated with inertia (e.g. unwillingness to change) and clinging to the status quo (as well as fear, greed, hypocrisy, anger, rationalization, and seeing wrong as right/right as wrong). To grow spiritually, these scriptures say that tamas must be incrementally rejected from the human system. Viewed in this context, the planetary forces that sustain us are serving notice that we have entered a new phase of human evolution, where we are required to transform our human nature (i.e. reject tamas) to enter into a greater spiritual awareness that will allow us to deal effectively with global warming. This is an example of how ancient wisdom can inform and illuminate modern problems.
A higher spiritual awareness, when related to modern science, may enable solutions to emerge that were previously unrecognized or ignored. There is scientific and technical knowledge available now that, if implemented by a largely unconscious tamasic society, would hasten environmental destruction, but if implemented by a spiritually conscious society, it could be part of a long-term solution for restoring environmental harmony. In the final analysis, the future of humanity depends on our collective human consciousness.
Our capacity for rational thinking linked with our spiritual awareness can guide us correctly, but there are outer forces attempting to confound this inner knowing. Although climate science has provided overwhelming evidence that our planet is warming due to increasing greenhouse gas concentrations, many have perceived this as a threat to our energy and economic infrastructure. The reaction to this fear sometimes took the form of junk science; publications that appear to be scientific but upon analysis contain many distortions of climate science. Another reaction was the creation of many YouTube videos and other social media sites that either dispute the findings from climate science or promote so-called experts that attempt to discredit the work of climate scientists. Radio talk show hosts and others also promoted and exploited this fear. Fear tends to trump rational thinking, and many people experiencing this fear became convinced that global warming should not be taken seriously. Eco-ministry can address these fears by providing the resources to overcome them. This may involve scientific and technical knowledge for education and spiritual wisdom and practices for healing.
To summarize, we find ourselves in a unique position on the timeline of human history, where decisions made now may affect future generations for many thousands of years. Faith traditions may argue that we have a divine responsibility to preserve our planet’s life sustaining capacity, and Eco-ministry can play an important role in tipping the scales for a positive outcome. Eco-ministry can integrate science and religion in unique ways, with wisdom from faith traditions linked with scientific and technical knowledge to illuminate our actions. This will hopefully infuse greater harmony between our inner and outer worlds.
Reverend Mitchell invites everyone interested in eco-ministry to read this recent article published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1810141115
