In the forward to Dharma Gaia, a collection of writings on Buddhism and ecology, the Dalai Lama says, The Earth, our Mother, is telling us to behave. It could be added that the Earth can also teach us how to behave. This has always been the view of vernacular morality, as Edward Goldsmith calls it in The Way, a foundation text of Gaian ethics. It is important that we forgive the destruction of the past and recognize that it was produced by ignorance, the Dalai Lama advises. Perhaps, but forgiveness of past perpetration against nature and nature-oriented ways of life cannot be confused with turning a blind eye to the perpetrators, discounting their legacy, and tolerating their ongoing agenda. The plea to reconcile with the wrongdoers always carries the risk that redeemer ethics will again prevail, giving the wrongdoers an advantage over those they harm. Tolerance for beliefs is one thing, tolerance for the social enactment of beliefs is another. Pagan tolerance failed in the second case... It seems the telestai taught many arts, but not the martial arts. Consequently, Pagan initiates were unable to defend themselves and their tradition from violence. They were powerful in what they knew, but their privileged knowledge did not protect their lives or the institutions of learning they founded. They fell under the assault of faith-driven people willing to use outright violence to impose their convictions. Gaian ethics is not a call to faith in God, but faith in the human species. Faith can be evil when it is invested in beliefs that blind humanity to nature, and impede the genius innate to our species. If it denies the divinity of the earth, faith can be lethal to human survival. It can be the long-suffering servant of violence. Humanity has a sacred birthright rooted in Gaia-Sophia, a birthright that carries a responsibility to protect life, including nonhuman life, and to make the world safe for what life knows. The guardians of the Mysteries taught that cardia gnosis, the intelligence of the heart, is our divine endowment... Religious ideology has been the central driving force in humanitys long campaign of violence against the biosphere, the very habitat provided for our survival. No one so far has confronted this problem as bravely or brilliantly as the Gnostics did. ~ Not In His Image by John Lash
Posted on: Thu, 06 Feb 2014 00:41:21 +0000
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