Philosophy: Ecological Restoration Essay

How can we envision an ecological rejoinder of both animal(prenominal) milieu and philosophical/spi phantasmal rite thought models?Over state, overexploitation, and merciful economic consumption atomic number 18 wholly contrisolelying to the downf entirely of our now super misused artificial satellite. tot eachy organisms be now being exposed to drastic milieual alterations, peerless and only(a)s that our ancestors mystify n perpetu all toldy featured. The stability of the universe has been decreasing mischievously in the quondam(prenominal) few centuries because of humankinds impact on overusing and consuming resources. of import for publics ability to function, natural resources across the globe be being abrogateed and numerous a(prenominal) contri exactlye to the atmospheric reposition. A major issue is the lack of awargonness of the current problems along with the absence of ram towards maintenance and restoration of the orbiter. Many humankind v iew Earth as just a household to live, a place where selfishness takes hold, and c beless consumption and waste expands. We moldiness ask ourselves, as a whole, at what refer in time did our values of the Earth change? And how did we ever resign ourselves to conk reveal selfish, independent, and c atomic number 18less human beings?Unlike anterior ecological and screeningground spectralties that promoted and kneadd either people to care for the Earth, we now take advantage of our planet for our own studys. Instead of turn in and protection, greed and exploitation now propel us. At bingle menstruation in time, ecological ideologies were a limen for many beliefs because of the interconnectedness with solely beings and the idea that everything is alive and necessary for the planets survival. Maintaining a healthy equalizer with the mind, body, spirit, and environment has tout ensembleowed generations of reality to thrive in our man.But, somewhere along the evolut ional journey of mankind, we receive slowly scattered these concepts and values. In order to succeed we perplex a bun in the oven to flip the intimately funds in order to be superior, instead of being happy with what you swallow. The mentality, peculiarly in Western culture, is that we live to work, non work to live. The drive to be happy lies within work and money, but how many people, specially in the United conjures can say they are happy with their lives? It is because we lost the lodge with the Earth, if we are connected with temper, peace pull up stakes fulfill our lives.Reverting to previous mentalities and philosophies is instrumental in our restoration of the Earth. Building a remediate place to live, both somaticly and mentally, starts with analyzing past apparitionalties and converting to some of their wide out dispense ideas. Loving, respecting, and caring for the serviceman is a concept seen in the forms of atomic number 32, shamanism, Dark Green, B uddhist, and Hindoo religious beliefs. Exemplifying the human connectedness with the environment, while seeing temper as a life story being is a usage that must(prenominal) be restored. The religions and ideologies illust site peace, sense, and brace within every relationship, including self.Adapting to these sacredties leave behind be beneficial across the globe, it leave aid in our survival as advantageously as the planets. so far though these models whitethorn attend far off, difficult, and un come-at-able, we must sift to change because it is lively for our existence.Presently, a familiar attitude that has been expressed is that reputation is severely flawed, and that there is not much we can do to restore Earth. But, it is mankinds affair to attempt the change and fix the environment as well as our philosophies behind it. New fields of study have been created like conservation biology and restoration ecology, which practice saving and mend ecosystems across our biosphere. Movements in scientific fields as well as otherwise environmental programs now strive to restore the Earth keep going to a plentiful democracy, with natural resources in tact to enable succeeding(a) generations to live. We must withal think deeper about the current state of the Earth, considering all answers to how we got this manner. Our future depends on whether or not cosmos can de skeletal system mindful of our planet, to see cl untimely what is wrong and cause no however harm. Through this, we collect to restore previous ideologies to attention our bare-ass street of success. Living simply, awareness, respect, compassion, and love are key components to functioning in what our brand-new world should become.Tracing the earliest environmental concepts backside to the era of Greeks, Romans, and early pagan practices, the body politic spiritualty Gaia played a vital role in their customs. Gaia is pertain on the accord that cosmos are not physical bein gs having a spiritual experience, but we are spiritual beings having a physical experience. It is a broad and open-minded spiritualty, and focuses on humanitys connection with the Earth. Certain beliefs are that the planet is an ancient, life, and automatic system and we must do our part by not change such an essential being in our lives. homogeneously, Mother Earth, humans, and all beings must have a deep, brawny, and match relationship. It is illustrated that Gaia itself, is a symbol of peace-loving balance between carriage and time. Ensuring that humans have a duty to protect, care, and respect the Earth because it is what gave us life inexorably.Envisioning Gaia as a concept used for ecological restoration of the environment and restoration of philosophical and spiritual views is an easy notion, which should be set into place. Since the philosophies of Gaia gestate that humans have the ability to maintain Earths homeostasis, we should be inspired to embrace what our rol e should be in the planet. Due to most individuals self interest and greed, our actions are continually contributing to the change in the climate. But, in todays society, if Gaia was a wide spread concept, individuals would have the ability to decide what sort of relationship they would have with the Earth. winning such initiative to save and respect the planet go away eviscerate millions of delineateers. Gaia church property is an ideal change worth striving towards, since we actualize that Earth is a network of interacting components that shape each other, we need to precipitate the impacts affecting these elements. Beings and the planet need to co-evolve, and life needs to stabilize the planet in order to survive.Many other spiritual practices similar to Gaia involve exercises where followers strive to reach a certain state of intelligence that allows them to view the world in a different light. A well- cognize practice is Shamanism, which exemplifies reaching such a tak e of sense and allowing the practitioner to have access to other worlds. Shamans are escapes to humans in our world, leading us done concepts from the spirit world. Since shamans contact both beady-eyed and benevolent spirits, they view the world in a certain way that most humans are unable to. As shamans begin their ritual to other worlds, they enter a trance where they are placed in positions as messengers and healers from the spirits. Within healing, shamans treat the body through fixing the psyche and restoring humans back to a healthy balance. Shamans build strong relationships with all animals and living beings in order to help them fully understand nature and its ship canal.Many of Shamanistic beliefs are that humans are directly modify with the treatment of the environment, and shamans can teach us about our wrongful actions. They guide us through the spirits to destine us answers about our life mishaps and questions. Shamans consume the responsibility to care for all beings in order to better suite our world. Followers of Shamanism practice the immensity of what you take from the world, you must ease up back and give thanks. Traditionally, shaman practices highlight how much they are ecologists of tribal societies. The rituals, trances, and journeys guarantee the relationship between humans and other beings are balanced (Barnhill 200) and remain so.Approaching a similar system to Shamanism will be a worthwhile effort because of the environmental aspects. They variant the avoidance of overhunting and overexploitation of resources by setting restrictions through their daily lives. Managing resources is tradition we do not do currently, but one we must become accustomed to, along with respect and compassion to restore a balance in the world. Being the worlds third largest religion and one of the oldest, Hinduism has always been a massive threshold for peoples beliefs. more importantly in Hinduism is the thorough ecological spirituality that a ttracts so many followers. Both the thought models and motives for the environment are what drive the religion. Promoting peace and a natural demeanor towards all living things is a major theme, but in the foundation there are truly many concepts that are vital. The beauty seen in Hinduism is that the Earth is interconnected, that everything is a smash entity.Hindus terminology for the Earth is a superior factor and if applied it could be beneficial for restoration of the world. Advaita/Monism (Lal 190) implies that everyone and everything is one, there is no division in life, and brahman (Lal 191) means the principle of the cosmos, that everything has a meaning and structure. Similar to Brahman is Atman (Lal 190), which applies to humans and is the spiritual essence of man. For Hinduism, all beings go through life cycles cognize as reincarnation or Samsara (Lal 192), and through each life beings strive towards developing into more complex forms. It is ruled through karma, which r egulates the cause and military unit of how you live and if you will move on to a better form of life. The life energy, Kundalini (Lal 190), represents the awakening of the mind to understand all matters in living. Ultimately, Hindus goal for the humans spirituality is to move from self-interest and unenlightened to a self-less and enlightened person. Balance of mind, body, and spirit rules Hinduism, and to reach that many followers live simply in all ways, which public assistances their bodies as well as their surroundings.Hinduism emphasizes sacred geography their belief is that Earth nurtures humans so we have to give back by protecting and respecting the land. Since Hinduism is most patent in India, they have adapted the term Bharat-ma, or Mother India, which is a holy site and used for ecological progress. The land in India is sacred, plane if it is polluted and destroyed they still have a deep love for all of the land, which is an important aspect, that most other countri es lack. Furthermore, Ahimsa (Lal 190) is the extr unwrapy of non-violence and a complete consciousness that all living beings have the right to live and thrive.Adapting to Hinduism would bring forth a beautiful change to the Earth. Land and water would be interact respectfully, eventually cleansing the atmosphere along with slowing climate change. Although their concepts of Earth are ideal and something we should model our lives after, it may be questioned if it is something even attainable and if we can reverse the effects already done to the Earth and ourselves. The viridity spirituality of Hinduism can make drastic changes to the current state of the Earth, and would help purify humans to a more balanced and healthy self.Mindfulness, nonviolence, and self-awareness (Kozak 5) have an influential role on the rising popularity of Buddhism. The primary doctrine of Buddhism is that it is spiritual not religious, it is a way of life, striving to improve the human mind, body, and sp irit. As globose perspectives change and people attune to having some sort of awareness, crowd together of humans are becoming more attracted to becoming Buddhist and living such lifestyles. Due to the fact that Buddhism is not an organized religion, but an political orientation of leading a moral life, awareness of thoughts and actions, and to develop understanding and cognizance in the oceanrch for Enlightenment (Kozak 24) is what fascinates many people. Living is suffering for on-key Buddhists and once an individual reaches enlightenment, they can be free from the suffering of the world.Similar to Hinduism, Buddhism also believes in reincarnation, in their version the soul is always migrating into other worlds and death is nothing to fear because it determines what world you go into in the nigh life. The practice of Buddhism requires three things from man self-mastery, self-analysis, and the cultivation of empathy (Kozak 262). Self-mastery involves looking at ones self, payi ng attention to who you are, and decreasing greed. Self-analysis contains minimizing resources including needs and wants, and practices command in all aspects of life. The cultivation of empathy implies that one must have understanding towards all beings and if done, they will become gentle, patient, and calm, which will contribute to their enlightenment goal. Empathy among humans, animals, plants, and all organisms entails dissolving fear and to question what is right and wrong. Buddhism teaches worship and respect for the environment, emphasizing the fluidity of nature and life.Buddhism is a tradition that offers help to our world that is experiencing quick and destructive change (Lancaster 3). If Buddhism was taught and practiced across the globe, people would understand the importance of nature and how it plays a vital role in our lives. Nature and all of its resources are being depleted at an astounding rate, and the practice of the Buddha would influence the globe to respec t and restore our environment. If practiced, corporations and authoritiess would no longer strive to make the most money and have the most influence, because quality not meter matters in our environment and globally we would understand that concept.Recently, a radically emergence religion across the globe is the Dark Green Religion, which holds their beliefs in nature, spirituality and our futures. This religion is actually a religion-resembling set of ideologies and practices that focuses on the holiness of nature and relationships with everything on the planet. Primarily, their belief is that nature is sacred with an intrinsic value, meaning that it should be demanded respect and care. Similar to most earth spiritualties, the relationship with human, and non-humans is highlighted, along with the consciousness of the connections of all life on the planet. Dark Green religions are super C in all environmentalist movements, especially the surfing culture and all nature-based spir itualties. A common theme is the acceptance of perspectival thinking- where there is no truth, no objectivity, and no absolute value.Accepting perspectival thinking would give all humans the power to understand the affects we are having on our planet. We would always be probing for the deeper meaning of things and questioning what is the right way to live. This theory can be seen predated before Christianity, and it used to focus on seeing and interpreting nature in a respectful and beautiful way. The attitude is that humans, other organisms, and Earth are one unity with a greater power in control.Before long, Christianity covered up these beliefs and hid the real meaning of life. But as culture changes once again, we can see how these set of beliefs are fashioning their way to the forefront of the environmental movement. Promoting that nature has the ability to have rights and the prognosis that people have to uphold these rights would ensure respect to ripple end-to-end the wo rld. By following these rights, nature would be allowed to restore itself, and ecosystems could be balanced once again. The balance of nature would continually benefit humans through ecosystem services of the land.Restoring old philosophical and spiritual thought models may seem impossible, but since new philosophies have arisen in past years that reflect older values and beliefs, they are attracting numerous amounts of followers. A growing philosophy that is not only a belief system but also a set of actions, also known as praxis, is Eco-philosophy also known as fatheaded Ecology. This praxis presents the idea that humans are not the center of all things, but simply a part of all things. Two major focuses of Deep Ecology are self- identification and ecocentrism (Scarce 31). The realization of self emphasizes the consciousness of an individuals perception must be extended beyond their own aspects of life and must include the environment in their life. Ecocentrism is the basis that everything involved with nature possesses intrinsic worth and value. Deep Ecologys ideas are based off of old philosophies beliefs, common themes in Deep Ecology reflect Buddhism, Hinduism, Dark Green religions, and Gaia. amity with nature, nature having intrinsic worth, living simply with small material needs, minimum consumption, and awareness that supplies on earth are limited all debate modern day Western beliefs, but come from a religious and community based background (Scarce 37). Those who follow Deep Ecology are also known as radical environmentalists, they have a strong bond between themselves and the environment that spurs their actions they are always tied back to the Earth. The realization that humans are mere aspects, on the same level as plants, animals, and bugs, is something that could change our world. A change in an individual requires a change in the culture so other citizens can follow suit. A massive shift of lifestyle is needed to make the oddment, living s imply and practically through gardening, awareness of choices, and being selfless are what is vital for success in humanity.Quicker than expected, the worlds population is nearing ten billion, and our current depletion of food, energy, water, and natural resources is still expanding at a rate that no longer can be maintained. Overcoming these issues will be an extremely difficult task because governments, corporations, and everything between have ignorance about their own greed. Ignorance, greed, and villainy are toxic for the world, and they highlight how our state of the Earth became so detrimental. sentiency to the reality of the situation is questionable mankind needs to have courage to alter our ways. Social change will always occur, but government and corporate leaders have to have the bravery of leading the world cleanly and with complete mindfulness. When talking about environmental restoration and preservation, the Dalai genus Lama once said, Ultimately, the decision mus t come from the human bosom. The key point is to have a genuine sense of universal responsibility, based on love and compassion, and clean awareness.Nature is at the very heart of our being and spirituality, it is our duty to prevent further destruction. If we continue to live as we have been without thinking of the future, we will continue to destroy natural resources, emit greenhouse gases, and climate change will then be inevitable. humor change means a drastic shift in sea water levels because of ice caps melting, and millions of people will be forced out of their homes because coastal cities will be destroyed. Oceans will warm natural disasters will take place such as droughts, floods, and heat waves, they will destroy our agriculture and homes and will hinder mankinds ability to thrive. instruction and safety from danger and destructiveness is what humanity strives to create in our culture. Even though control may be helpful for humans to flourish, we are blow precious oppo rtunities to become closer to nature and all that it has to offer. Studying and introducing ourselves back into the environment will be beneficial for the entire planet. Humans have altered the balance of the planet to restore prior thought models involves the practice of no longer picturing ourselves as the center of the universe but seeing all inhabitants of the universe and the necessary role they play in our lives.It is natural for one person to believe that they cannot make a difference in the world, but belief, hope, determination, and courage will alter the planet. The process of restoring the physical world will be a footmark-by-step process, not one person can save the entire Earth, but they can give their full energy to help certain causes. Restoration of the environment and spiritual thought models intertwine. If it takes a person to have a bad experience to spur them towards changing their lifestyle and beliefs, then that is what must happen.Being submissive, listening to authorities and government leaders causes our world to be full of non-believers humans do not trust their feelings and intuition (Scarce 34). Cultures across the world have fallen into the notion that they must be told what is right or wrong, especially through science and technology because they create certifiable truth. Banishing this materialization will allow people to once again search for companionship and answers. That is the beauty behind philosophy, everyone searches for knowledge and truth but there may never be real and certain truths. Accepting this idea will allow mankind to realize that nature is too complex to ever be completely and fully understood, so we should respect all that it is.To change our current ecological status both physically and spiritually, many stairs must be taken. Most importantly, personal and community based booking must be taken in the environment. Compassion, interdependence, and inter-being with the world will declare oneself a philoso phic platform (Storhoff and Whalen-Bridge 113) that will radiate across the globe and improve our spiritual beings. Western hemisphere ideologies must be radically different. Currently, our ethics and cultural perceptions that influence our actions of modes of thinking (Lancaster 9) are affecting our ways of living.The perception that people who are good, moral, ethical, and worthy are supposed to give help to the poor and oppressed, instead of aiding all classes as well as the environment. In other words, in our communities, we now aid to the needy and hapless but in reality, we should be more focused on the global community. Nature is not separate from us, so it is what we should be aiding. Nature is the fundamental existential context of our lives, and we have a responsibility to aid and record in it as a community (Barnhill 188), just as we would to the needy. heathenish transmission is the key to restoring our ecology we need to form a new society within the shell of our cur rent one. Instead of being centered on industry and technology, we need to focus on the physical and spiritual self-being of the world.Ideally, a world formed around Buddhist and Hindu traditions would benefit all beings, but during the cultivation of societies, humanity lost those ideals. Primarily, the first step to restoration would be individual change each person would need to alter their lifestyles and values based off of certain ecological and earth spiritualties. If this were to happen, the transformation of individuals would affect their families, then to communities, to culture, and eventually global change. It may not be an immediate, imminent change, but slowly the acceptance, respect, and love for nature would spread to everyone in the world.Having a total integrated life style with the environment would allow awareness of self-interdependence with the globe, and how our actions affect all beings. Deep ecological awareness is an ideology that in a resolute ecocentric vi ew, we would be able to regroup our societies around the laws of nature (Lal 193). Ecological consciousness comes from the heart, not the head (Scarce 31), we need to become compassionate to everyone and everything. Adapting to earth religions would allow our values of the earth to change, because it compromises all life and the entire environment to be one entity that we all survive to in a single community. If we cannot adapt to a single religion or spirituality, we may only need to adapt to single expressions and practices of these ideologies, which will support the change of our ethical norms and values in the postmodern era. kit and caboodle CitedBarnhill, David Landis. Deep Ecology and World Religions New Essays on Sacred Grounds. capital of New York State University of New York Press, 2001.Kozak, Arnold. The Everything Buddhism Book. 2nd ed. Avon, Mass. Adams Media, 2011.Lal, Vinay. Hinduism and ecology the intersection of earth, sky, and water. Cambridge, MA Distributed by Harvard University Press for the Center for the Study of World Religions, Harvard Divinity School, 2000.Lancaster, Lewis. Buddhism and Ecology The interconnection of Dharma and Deeds. Cambridge, Mass. Harvard University Center for the Study of World Religions , 1997.Lovelock, James. Healing Gaia practical euphony for the planet. New York Harmony Books, 1991.Scarce, Rik. Eco-Warriors Understanding the Radical Environmental Movement. Chicago master Press, 1990.Storhoff, Gary, and John Whalen-Bridge. American Buddhism as a way of life. Albany State University of New York Press, 2010. Print.