Spirituality and Ecological Hope

Well, Friends, there is a lot to talk about here at our project, lots of catching up to do and things to tell you about.  When I returned to my home town of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 2 1/2 years ago, after 26 years in the DC area, the question for me was whether or not this idea could get legs here, as they say.  My hope was to plug in to groups already working towards a new human community based on the principles of an integral ecology, and to do this from the vantage point of faith and values.  From there, we hoped to foster a reflection on this crucial question: how do we develop a spirituality of ecological hope to address the ecological crises of our times .

The heart of the matter for us is this:

We are living in a state of ecological overshoot. We are already living beyond the biocapacity of the planet.  The earth is no longer able to absorb the damage we are doing with our economies of extraction, consumption, and waste.  This crisis is not only economic and political, it is also ‘spiritual’ in the sense that it reflects certain values that shape our worldview, frameworks of meaning that fuel the dynamisms of the economic lives of humans.

We challenge those frameworks and their assumptions.  We do this in writing (like this website and my book), in various kinds of presentations and reflection days, and in working with communities to articulate a spirituality of ecological hope, new frameworks of meaning, values, ways of life, that are consistent with what we have learned about our planet and our cosmos, what we have learned about the impact and the place of the human within the story of evolution, within the biosphere and atmosphere of our precious Earth.

Part of our intention here is to create, or foster, in the greater Milwaukee area and upper Midwest a community of folks and a program that begins to articulate this ‘spirituality.’ Since hope is not a pie-in-the-sky dream world, but must be based on something real, such a spirituality needs to have roots in a commitment to actually live it.  Embracing a spirituality of ‘ecological’ hope would mean making a commitment to a way of life whose values, frameworks of meaning, and deep reflection would foster the healing and regeneration of the ecology of the whole, the eco-communities in which we live, including the human communities living under great stresses from poverty, injustice, violence, and an aggressive competitive economics of growth capitalism.

(c) What hope might look like

A fundamental aspect of what we do in this project is to help us all recover a sense that we are part of the whole of our ecological reality, that when we overshoot the Earth’s limits, violate the planet’s natural organic integral processes with massively destructive policies of extraction, consumption, and waste, with modes of human development that are disrupting and destroying habitats required to nurture healthy living systems, we are in effect tearing out from under us the ground of our own being.

In the past year, I was privileged to be in many different communities helping to lead interfaith programs, speaking in parishes and at conferences, leading discussions and reflections, that focus on 2 general themes: 1) the roots of the ecological crisis created by industrial and post-industrial societies along with the economic and social values that support that way of life; then, 2) alongside this deepening awareness of crisis, our discovery of the vastness of the universe in space and time and our place within the story of its unfolding.

These two ‘awarenesses’ are at the base of a great deal of disorientation, anxiety, and fear that have become pervasive in our human community.  They describe in broad strokes the dynamics of the great transition in which we humans find ourselves.  They also invite us to delve deeper than ever into the meaning of the human, offering us a path out of the crisis by embracing the truth of this one round finite world of which we are a part and outside of which we do not exist.

Apollo 8 NASA image

These workshops, presentations, reflections are a source of inspiration and energy for this project.  They also keep on creating it, shaping its directions and content.

In 2010 we will, of course, be doing more of this.  We will also be working towards establishing in this area more of a ‘presence,’ a space where this dialogue and reflection can deepen, where the conversation can continue, where together with others here, and with folks from other communities and eco-centers in the midwest, we can challenge the values that have supported the dynamics threatening the life-giving ecosystems of the planet.

For those of you whose spiritual roots lay in the Christian world, JustFaith Ministries in Kentucky will soon release an 8-week module, a course of study and dialogue, based on my book, Living Beyond the ‘End of the World:’ A Spirituality of Hope, published in 2008 by Orbis Books, Maryknoll.  I will announce the release when it happens and include information on how you can obtain the materials.  This is coming very soon!

Now, needless to say, like any other non-profit, we depend for our existence on donors.  Our sponsoring organization is the Center for New Creation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit.  Your donations are tax-deductible. If you are able to make a contribution to our work this year, please click on the ‘DONATE‘ page.  If you contribute by check, please make the check out to the ‘Center for New Creation.’

Spirituality and Ecological Hope is a work in progress.  It is being created in the process of creating it, with input from many, inspired by the experience and insights shared by the folks engaged in the reflection.  We look forward to articulating this ‘new creation’ further in the year ahead.

Thank you for being a part of it.

Margaret Swedish