Nature is under attack, and all the
regulatory defenses that once protected her are being dismantled. Human
activity, especially in the industrialized, high-consumption cultures of the
first world, has accelerated environmental destruction to historically
unprecedented levels. We are in the fight for our lives, literally.
Instead of cataloging, yet again,
this dystopian withering, let us turn our gaze to the good news. It doesn’t
have to be this way. Since we can no longer rely on the gutted Environmental
Protection Agency to protect us, we’ll have to fight for ourselves. But our
activism must be grounded deep in the soul. We’re going to need spiritual
guidance.
German mystic Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179)
entered the monastic life at 14. For medieval women life in the monastery
afforded a freedom unavailable to married women. Released from the constraints
of child rearing and housekeeping, monastic women focused on study and
contemplation. Hildegard became one of the leading intellectuals of her day
(though her work was not recognized until centuries later). Her writings
covered the gamut from theology to natural philosophy. But it’s her startling
defense of the natural world that strikes us most today. For her, respecting
nature was the same thing as respecting God. It was just that simple. “Every creature,”
she wrote, “is a glittering, glistening mirror of Divinity. There is the music
of Heaven in all things.”
Hildegard’s message was a startling
departure from the other-worldly emphasis of Augustine’s Christianity of the 5th
century. For Augustine, the natural world was a fallen world mired in sin and
insignificance – our true home was in heaven with God. Earth was simply to be
endured. But for Hildegard, “everything that is in the heavens, on earth, and
under the earth is penetrated with connectedness, penetrated with relatedness.”
This beautiful world was God’s best work, and our defense of it a sacred
calling. But it isn’t easy. We often feel overwhelmed and defeated. Still, we
can’t give up. “Even in a world that’s being shipwrecked,” she wrote, “remain
brave and strong.”
It is not from alien invaders that
the earth must be defended. Human activity has accelerated environmental
degradation at an unprecedented rate. There aren’t two sides to this.
Scientific consensus is 100%. Only one question remains – what are we going to
do about it? For Hildegard, the answer is clear: “We shall awaken from our
dullness,” she wrote, “and rise vigorously toward justice. If we fall in love
with creation deeper and deeper, we will respond to its endangerment with passion.”
The answer is love. Not personal
love, but passionate universal love for the ground of being and all her
manifest forms. “All living
creatures are sparks from the radiation of God’s brilliance,” Hildegard wrote, “emerging
from God like the rays of the sun.” The government isn’t going to save us –
certainly not now. Only we can save ourselves. “Dare to declare who you are,”
she wrote. “It is not far from the shores of silence to the boundaries of
speech. The path is not long, but the way is deep. You must not only walk
there, you must be prepared to leap.” And when you leap, know that “you are
encircled by the arms of the mystery of God.” God and the world are one. We and
the world are one. There is nothing but oneness. When we fight for the earth, we
fight for ourselves.
[This piece was first published in my my column "A to Zen" in the May/June 2020 issue of Unity Magazine, and is reproduced here with permission.]
[This piece was first published in my my column "A to Zen" in the May/June 2020 issue of Unity Magazine, and is reproduced here with permission.]
