Sermon, Oct. 5, Lumby United Church...Sermon, Oct. 5, Lumby United Church
ECO-SPIRITUALITY
By Hermann Harlos

In Genesis Chapter One, Verse 26, and again in Verse 28, God gave humankind dominion over every living thing that moves upon the earth. What exactly does that mean?

Does this mean that God gave us the right to exploit our planet for egocentric, ethnocentric or anthropocentric purposes? Or impoverish our own habitat, or that of others? Or cause the extinction of entire species?

No! To most modern Christians, and indeed to most humans, this means that God has appointed us as the stewards of creation. God made us responsible for the wellbeing of all forms of life, not just humankind. God appointed us, the most intellectually advanced species of our planet, to safeguard all life on the planet.

We have not always done that. All other life forms give more back to life than they take, thereby rendering all life richer with the passage of time. We humans are the only species that went against that. We took more than we gave, thereby rendering life poorer with the passage of time. With this attitude we not only drove many non-human species into extinction, we are driving ourselves toward the brink of extinction.

The part can only be well if the whole is well. To insure individual wellbeing we must, first and foremost, take care of the wellbeing of the entire ecosystem of our planet.

When Jesus said "Love your neighbor as yourself," he meant more than just our human neighbors. He meant all of our neighbors of the plant and animal world: the entire ecosystem of our planet!

Jesus' mission and purpose can be expressed in one elegant metaphor: the kingdom of God. To proclaim and enact the kingdom of God was Jesus' sole focus. The author and United Church minister, Bruce Sanguin, suggests that we drop the "g" in kingdom, and call it the "kin-dom of God," a kin-dom in which we all are kin, in which everything is intimately related to everything else, and to God.

We need to become aware that the ecosystem of our planet is one interconnected and inseparable whole. We need to replace ego-logic with eco-logic. We need to realize that universal kinship is not just an abstract concept but a fundamental cosmic truth.

Some variation of the Golden Rule exists in almost every religion, but often it is limited to people. Most progressive religions now interpret the Golden Rule to include all forms of life, not just humankind. We are a part of the natural world, not apart from it! Thus, we need to treat all forms of life as fairly and as compassionately as we wish to be treated, and take from our natural environment only the minimum we need to sustain ourselves, and give back to life more than we take, thereby fulfilling nature's law, which is also God's law.

Indigenous Native spirituality is Canada's First Spirituality. The focus of indigenous spirituality is beautifully expressed in their solemn benison, "All My Relations." This is very similar to the concept of the "kin-dom of God," and demonstrates that genuine spirituality transcends doctrinal boundaries and is truly universal.

Most of us, however, originate from Europe, and our ancestral spirituality was the indigenous spirituality of our Celtic and Germanic ancestors. Early Celtic spirituality was in awe of creation, and worshipped God in nature. Then came the Christian missionaries and taught our Celtic ancestors that God was separate from creation, but some early Celtic Christian teachers like Pelagius, Ninian, Eriugena, and even St. Patrick went against the orthodoxy of their day, and taught that God was also within creation, that God was present in the heart of all life and within all people.

Although formally rejected by the Christian Church at the Synod of Whitby in 664, Celtic Christianity survived, and is now being spread all over the world by the Iona Ecumenical Christian Community. Worshipping God in nature, reverence for nature, feeling the breath of God in nature and listening for the heartbeat of God in nature is the focus of this new and ancient spirituality, to which the Canadian indigenous benison "All My Relations" applies as readily as Bruce Sanguin's "kin-dom of God."

Canadians have prospered over the past few decades. Although that prosperity has been unevenly shared, Canada is among the richest countries in the world in per capita income.

Most of this wealth, however, has been won at the expense of our natural environment. We attempted to make ourselves richer by making our environment poorer. What's worse, not we ourselves, but or children and grandchildren will have to bear the most dire consequences of our irresponsible actions.

I am of the German post-war generation. We look at our parent generation, who perpetrated a near holocaust against the Jewish people, and ask incredulously: "How could they allow this happen? Didn't they know what they were doing?"

People all over the planet are perpetrating a holocaust against many non-human species, and ultimately against our own species. I imagine our children and grandchildren, and their children and grandchildren, looking back at us and asking incredulously: "How could they allow this to happen? Didn't they know what they were doing?" What would we answer them?

Many progressive Christians believe what is now almost a scientific consensus: That the universe is in a state of synthesis, which is an inseparable Unitive State, in which all is one, and all are one. The Unitive State, however, is not only the union between all that is created, but also between creator and created. It is the godly union and communion.

When we become aware of the Unitive State, and experience it, and act on it, then we have attained the kin-dom of God, and are acting on it.

It is the time of union,
It is the time of vision,
It is the time of resurrection,
It is the time of grace,
It is the time of generosity.
The treasure of gifts has arrived.
The brilliance of the sea has flashed forth.
The dawn of blessing has arisen.
What is this ancient wisdom?
The source of these living waters is in your head
and in your eyes.

This poem, which beautifully illustrates the attainment of the kin-dom of God, was written by the Sufi mystic, Rumi, who died in 1274, the very year that a process to mass-produce paper from fibers of flax and hemp was invented in Fabriano, Italy. Rumi's writings were subsequently written down on inexpensive, mass produced paper. To me, the death of Rumi at the advent of paper manufacture was no mere accident: Rumi's writings were meant to be preserved for posterity!

Rumi, however, was not the only notable mystic of that time. The Catalan Mystic, Ramón Lull, had a mystical vision when he ascended Mount Randa on the Island of Mallorca. In this vision, St. Ramón saw how everything was connected with everything else, within the Godhead, through circles of light within circles within circles, etc. After this vision he wrote his famous book, "The Art of Finding Truth," which also was copied and re-copied on inexpensive mass-produced paper from Fabriano.

These medieval mystics knew of the unity of being, as did many Old Testament prophets, most notably Moses, whose description of God as "I AM" aptly describes God as the unity of being. Other famous prophets like Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha, Lao Tsu, and other notable mystics and world teachers also expressed God as the unity of being. Although it is good to follow their teachings, it is even better to experience what they experienced: the Unitive State!

When we experience the unity of being, then we feel compelled, by an inner impulse that arises directly from our union with God, to conserve and preserve the natural ecosystem of our planet. This ancient but also newfound wisdom is called "Eco-Spirituality," and is a phenomenon of a modern spiritual movement known as "Emergent" or "Emerging Spirituality."

Eco-Spirituality goes beyond the mere idealism of the environmentalist movement, and makes environmentalism a spiritual responsibility. When environmentalism is just idealism, then it can always be defeated by the anti-ideal, or by other and seemingly better ideals.

When environmentalism is rooted in mystical experience and spiritual consciousness, however, then it is beyond idealism, in the unshakable realm of faith. Eco-Spirituality is the faith of our indigenous sisters and brothers, and is expressed in their benison: "All My Relations." It is also the faith of our Germanic and Celtic ancestors, who worshipped God in nature. Eco-Spirituality is at the root of all religions, and is an essential part Jesus' kin-dom of God.

In the days of Jesus, social injustice was the burning issue. Apart from being a mystic and a spiritual teacher, Jesus was a social activist who preached and practiced social justice for the downtrodden of his day.

Had environmental devastation been as hot an issue then as it is now, we can be sure that Jesus would have preached against it, and Moses would have issued a specific commandment against it. There still is plenty of social injustice today, and it is our spiritual duty to be champions for social justice, but social health is based on environmental health. It is difficult to maintain social health, equality, and justice in a degraded natural environment. The same goes for physical health. We can't expect to be physically healthy in a sick environment. The essential pre-condition for individual health is environmental health!

Environmental health is the overriding motherhood issue. All other issues are dependent on, and subordinate to, environmental health. We simply cannot be a healthy society without environmental health!

In Genesis Chapter 3, Verse 22, God said: "See, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever."

The fruit from the Tree of Knowledge is somewhat toxic; the fruit from the Tree of Life contains the antidote to that toxin. The original sin was a sin of omission. We ate only from the Tree of Knowledge, and forgot to eat from the Tree of Life. Had we eaten from the Tree of Life as well, then we would have remained in paradise.

The Tree of Knowledge is symbolic of analytical knowledge. The Tree of Life, on the other hand, is symbolic of the unitive experience of synthesis, which is the ultimate state of being. The Tree of Life symbolizes the unbroken chain of evolution that stretches back to the beginning of the universe, and includes the power that created the universe. The Tree of Life is rooted in our creative Source, and its numerous branches and innumerable twigs will continue grow indefinitely into the future "“ if we allow it!

When we eat from the Tree of Life then we ingest the consciousness of the Tree, and become at one with the Tree. Then we negate the toxic effects from the Tree of Knowledge. Then we will see forever, and be forever.

Welcome back to the Garden of Eden!

-Amen