In one of his most remarkable comments, Pope Francis links the pragmatic with the mystical immersion of humans in the Creation and Creator through the lens of spiritual ecology:
“Contrary to this technocratic paradigm, we say that the world that surrounds us is not an object of exploitation, unbridled use and unlimited ambition. Nor can we claim that nature is a mere “setting” in which we develop our lives and our projects. For “we are part of nature, included in it and thus in constant interaction with it”, and thus “we [do] not look at the world from without but from within”.
We are like fish in water, that cannot live separate from what we are immersed in and of. The solutions to environmental problems and climate change cannot simply come from good engineering or more inclusive economic theories, for we don’t change our behaviors or consumptive patterns on the basis of facts alone.
We must make changes in how frequently our hearts reach out compassionately to others of different classes, races, political persuasions, culture and faiths. We must go deep in our souls to sense that we do not live in isolation but swim immersively with others in the same stream of consciousness and ocean of grace.
We most make sure we make time for contemplative practices that ultimately transforms our relationships with all beings, not by shouts of protest, but by accepting the Silence so that we hear the Spirit being inhaled and exhaled between our “selves” and the “selflessness” of the universe. The very nature of our lives is embedded in the spectacularity and wondrousness of the world beyond us, around us, and through us.
