Fragmented ecology: interrelated with everything
Tomás Núñez, ThD
Ecology has become the general context of all problems, official and private projects. The future of our planet and civilization is linked to it, which derives its inescapable importance. Either we change the way we inhabit the Common House, or we may experience dramatic ecological and social situations not long from now. Here are fragments of an ecological discourse, part of a larger and vast Whole.
- The irrationality of our way of living
The model of society and the meaning of life that human beings have projected for themselves, at least in the last 400 years, are in crisis.
This model made us believe that the important thing is to accumulate many means of life, material wealth, goods, and services to be able to enjoy our short time on this planet.
To achieve this purpose, we are helped by science that knows the mechanisms of nature and the technique that intervenes in it for human benefit. This has been done as quickly as possible.
Ultimately, the aim is to achieve maximum profit with minimum investment and in the shortest possible time.
In this cultural practice, humans are understood as beings above things, disposing of them as they please, never as someone with things, living with them as a member of a larger, planetary, and cosmic community.
The final and sad effect, only now visible in an undeniable way, is expressed in this phrase attributed to Gandhi: “The Earth is enough for everyone, but not for consumers.”
Our civilizing model is so absurd that if the profits accumulated by rich countries were generalized to other countries, we would need four more Earths equal to the one we have.
This shows the irrationality that this way of living implies. That is why Pope Francis, in his encyclical “On the Care of the Common House,” calls for a radical ecological conversion and a sober and supportive consumption.
tomas
- Nature is a teacher
In times of civilizing crisis like ours, it is imperative to consult the original source of everything: nature, the great teacher. What does it teach us?
Nature teaches us that the basic law of nature, the universe, and life is not competition, which divides and excludes, but cooperation, which adds and includes.
All energies, all elements, and all living beings, from bacteria and viruses to the most complex beings, are all inter-retro-related, and, therefore, we are interdependent. One cooperates with the other to live.
A network of connections surrounds us on all sides, making us cooperative and supportive. Whether we like it or not, this is the law of nature and the universe. And thanks to this network of interdependencies, we have arrived here.
This sum of energies and connections helps us escape crises and find a new civilizing attempt. But we ask ourselves: are we wise enough to face critical situations and respond to new challenges?
- Everything is related to everything
The reality surrounding us and of which we are a part must not be thought of as a machine but as a living organism, not as made up of isolated parts, but as open systems, forming relationships.
In every being and the entire universe, there are two basic tendencies: one is to assert oneself individually, and the other is to integrate into a greater whole. If one does not assert oneself, one runs the risk of disappearing. If one does not integrate into a greater whole, one cuts off the energy source, weakens and may also disappear. It is essential to balance these two tendencies. Otherwise, we fall into the most ferocious individualism – self-affirmation – or the most homogenizing collectivism – integration into the whole. That is why we must always go back and forth from parts to the whole, from objects to networks, structures to processes, and positions to relationships.
Nature is, therefore, always co-creative, co-participatory, linked, and re-linked to everything and everyone and mainly to the Original Source from which all beings originate.
- The end is present from the beginning
The end is already present at the beginning. When the first material elements after the Big Bang began to form and vibrate together, an end was already announced: the emergence of the universe, one and diverse, ordered and chaotic, the appearance of life, and the emergence of consciousness.
Everything moved and interconnected to begin the gestation of a future heaven, which began here below, like a bit of seed, and grew and grew until it was finally born at the consummation of time. From the beginning, heaven is the universe itself and humanity reached its fullness and consummation.
There is no heaven without Earth, nor Earth without heaven.
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