Categoria: English

Renewing the natural contract with the Earth

Leonardo Boff2 Comentários

Until now, the Western White man’s dream, made universal by globalization, is to dominate the Earth and subdue all other beings, in order to gain unlimited benefits. That dream, four centuries later, has turned into a nightmare. Now as never before, the apocalypse can be precipitated by us, as the great historian Arnold Toynbee wrote before he died.

For that reason, we must reconstruct our humanity and our civilization through a different kind of relationship with the Earth, so that she may be sustainable: that is, to attain the conditions for maintenance and reproduction that sustain life in the planet. That will only happen if we retake the natural pact with the Earth and if we consider that all living beings, carriers of the same basic genetic code, form the great community of life. Every being has intrinsic value and therefore has rights.

All contracts start with reciprocity, inter-exchange, and a recognition of the rights of each party. From the Earth we receive everything: life and the means of living. In return, in the name of the natural contract, we have a duty of gratitude, reciprocity, and caring, so that she may maintain her vitality and may do what she has always done for all of us. But we broke that contract long ago.

To remake that natural contract we must act like the prodigal son in the parable of Jesus of Nazareth. We must return to the Earth, to the Common Home, and ask for forgiveness. Forgiveness means a change in our behavior regarding the respect and caring she deserves. The Earth is our Mother, the Pacha Mama of the Andean people, and the Gaia of the moderns. If we do not re-establish that link it will be difficult for us to survive. The Earth may not want us anymore on the face of the Earth. This is why sustainability here and now is essential. Either it prevails or we will experience a tragedy of the life-system and the human species.

All the times we have broken the natural contract notwithstanding, Mother Earth still sends us positive signs. In spite of global warming, and the erosion of bio-diversity, the sun is still shining, the sabia, the Brazilian thrush, still sings every morning, the flowers smile to all who pass by, the hummingbirds hover over the buds of the lilies, children continue to be born and confirm to us that God still believes in humanity and that it has a future.

Remaking the natural contract implies rescuing the vision and values expressed in the speech of Duwamish Grandfather Seattle, uttered in the presence of Isaac Stevens, the governor of Washington territory, in 1856:

“Of one thing we are certain: the Earth does not belong to man. Man belongs to the Earth. All things are interconnected. What hurts the Earth, also hurts the sons and daughters of Mother Earth. It was not the human being who created the fabric of life; the human being is only one thread in it. All that a human being does to that fabric, he does to himself. … We would understand the intentions of the White man, if we knew his dreams, if we knew the hopes he passes on to his sons and daughters in the long winter nights, what visions of the future he offers their minds, so that they may create dreams for tomorrow”.

On April 22, 2009, after long and difficult negotiations, the Assembly of the United Nations unanimously adopted the idea that the Earth is Mother. This declaration is filled with meaning. The Earth as soil and ground can be removed, used, bought and sold. The Earth as Mother can neither be sold nor bought, but only loved, respected and cared for, as we do with our mothers. This behavior will reaffirm the natural contract that will provide sustainability for our planet, because it reestablishes the relationship of mutuality.

The Aymara President of Bolivia, Evo Morales Ayma, never ceases to repeat that the XXI century will be the century of the rights of Mother Earth, of nature and of all living beings. In his April 22, 2009, intervention in the UN session in which I took part with a speech on the theoretical foundations of the Earth as Mother, he succinctly enumerated some of the rights of Mother Earth:

– the right of regeneration of the bio-capability of Mother Earth,

– the right to life of all living beings, especially of those threatened with extinction.

– the right to a pure life, because Mother Earth has the right to live free of contamination and pollution,

– the right of all citizens to a good living,

– the right to harmony and equilibrium with all things,

– the right to a connection with the Whole of which we are a part.

This vision allows us to renew the natural contract with the Earth that, combined with the social contract between its citizens, will, in the end, reinforce planetary sustainability.

For the original peoples such an attitude is natural. We, to the degree we have lost the connection with nature, have also lost the awareness of our relationship of knowledge and gratitude towards Mother Earth. Hence the importance of revisiting the original peoples and learning from them the respect and veneration the Earth deserves.

Free translation from the Spanish sent by
Melina Alfaro, cybermelinaalfaro@bandalibre.com,
done at REFUGIO DEL RIO GRANDE, Texas, EE.UU.

Leonardo BoffDeixe um comentário

Renewing the natural contract with the Earth

Leonardo Boff
Theologian-Philosopher
Earthcharter Commission

Until now, the Western White man’s dream, made universal by globalization, is to dominate the Earth and subdue all other beings, in order to gain unlimited benefits. That dream, four centuries later, has turned into a nightmare. Now as never before, the apocalypse can be precipitated by us, as the great historian Arnold Toynbee wrote before he died.

For that reason, we must reconstruct our humanity and our civilization through a different kind of relationship with the Earth, so that she may be sustainable: that is, to attain the conditions for maintenance and reproduction that sustain life in the planet. That will only happen if we retake the natural pact with the Earth and if we consider that all living beings, carriers of the same basic genetic code, form the great community of life. Every being has intrinsic value and therefore has rights.

All contracts start with reciprocity, inter-exchange, and a recognition of the rights of each party. From the Earth we receive everything: life and the means of living. In return, in the name of the natural contract, we have a duty of gratitude, reciprocity, and caring, so that she may maintain her vitality and may do what she has always done for all of us. But we broke that contract long ago.

To remake that natural contract we must act like the prodigal son in the parable of Jesus of Nazareth. We must return to the Earth, to the Common Home, and ask for forgiveness. Forgiveness means a change in our behavior regarding the respect and caring she deserves. The Earth is our Mother, the Pacha Mama of the Andean people, and the Gaia of the moderns. If we do not re-establish that link it will be difficult for us to survive. The Earth may not want us anymore on the face of the Earth. This is why sustainability here and now is essential. Either it prevails or we will experience a tragedy of the life-system and the human species.

All the times we have broken the natural contract notwithstanding, Mother Earth still sends us positive signs. In spite of global warming, and the erosion of bio-diversity, the sun is still shining, the sabia, the Brazilian thrush, still sings every morning, the flowers smile to all who pass by, the hummingbirds hover over the buds of the lilies, children continue to be born and confirm to us that God still believes in humanity and that it has a future.

Remaking the natural contract implies rescuing the vision and values expressed in the speech of Duwamish Grandfather Seattle, uttered in the presence of Isaac Stevens, the governor of Washington territory, in 1856:

“Of one thing we are certain: the Earth does not belong to man. Man belongs to the Earth. All things are interconnected. What hurts the Earth, also hurts the sons and daughters of Mother Earth. It was not the human being who created the fabric of life; the human being is only one thread in it. All that a human being does to that fabric, he does to himself. … We would understand the intentions of the White man, if we knew his dreams, if we knew the hopes he passes on to his sons and daughters in the long winter nights, what visions of the future he offers their minds, so that they may create dreams for tomorrow”.

On April 22, 2009, after long and difficult negotiations, the Assembly of the United Nations unanimously adopted the idea that the Earth is Mother. This declaration is filled with meaning. The Earth as soil and ground can be removed, used, bought and sold. The Earth as Mother can neither be sold nor bought, but only loved, respected and cared for, as we do with our mothers. This behavior will reaffirm the natural contract that will provide sustainability for our planet, because it reestablishes the relationship of mutuality.

The Aymara President of Bolivia, Evo Morales Ayma, never ceases to repeat that the XXI century will be the century of the rights of Mother Earth, of nature and of all living beings. In his April 22, 2009, intervention in the UN session in which I took part with a speech on the theoretical foundations of the Earth as Mother, he succinctly enumerated some of the rights of Mother Earth:

– the right of regeneration of the bio-capability of Mother Earth,

– the right to life of all living beings, especially of those threatened with extinction.

– the right to a pure life, because Mother Earth has the right to live free of contamination and pollution,

– the right of all citizens to a good living,

– the right to harmony and equilibrium with all things,

– the right to a connection with the Whole of which we are a part.

This vision allows us to renew the natural contract with the Earth that, combined with the social contract between its citizens, will, in the end, reinforce planetary sustainability.

For the original peoples such an attitude is natural. We, to the degree we have lost the connection with nature, have also lost the awareness of our relationship of knowledge and gratitude towards Mother Earth. Hence the importance of revisiting the original peoples and learning from them the respect and veneration the Earth deserves.

Free translation from the Spanish sent by
Melina Alfaro, cybermelinaalfaro@bandalibre.com,
done at REFUGIO DEL RIO GRANDE, Texas, EE.UU.

Nuestros presupuestos equivocados nos pueden destruir

Leonardo Boff1 comentário

Innegablemente estamos viviendo una crisis de los fundamentos que sustentan nuestra forma de habitar y organizar el planeta Tierra y de tratar los bienes y servicios de la naturaleza. En la perspectiva actual están totalmente equivocados, son peligrosos y amenazadores del sistema-vida y del sistema-Tierra. Tenemos que ir más lejos.

Dos de los padres fundadores de nuestro modo de ver el mundo, René Descartes (1596-1650) y Francis Bacon (1561-1626) son sus principales formuladores. Veían la materia como algo totalmente pasivo e inerte. La mente existía exclusivamente en los seres humanos. Estos podían sentir y pensar mientras que los demás animales y seres actuaban como máquinas, desposeídas de cualquier subjetividad y propósito.

Lógicamente, esta comprensión creó la ocasión para que se tratase a la Tierra, a la naturaleza y a los seres vivos como cosas de las cuales podíamos disponer a nuestro gusto. En la base del proceso industrialista salvaje está esta comprensión que persiste aún hoy, incluso dentro de las universidades llamadas progresistas, pero rehenes del viejo paradigma.

Las cosas, sin embargo, no es que sean así. Todo cambió cuando A. Einstein mostró que la materia es un campo densísimo de interacciones, y más aún, que ella en realidad no existe en el sentido común de la palabra: es energía altamente condensada. Basta un centímetro cúbico de materia, como le oí decir en 1967 en su último semestre de clases en la Universidad de Munich a Werner Heisenberg, uno de los fundadores de la física de las partículas subatómicas, la mecánica cuántica, que si ese poco de materia fuese transformado en pura energía podría desestabilizar todo nuestro sistema solar.

En 1924 Edwin Hubble (1889-1953) con su telescopio en el Monte Wilson en el sur de California, descubrió que no solamente existía nuestra galaxia, la Vía Láctea, sino cientos de ellas (hoy cien mil millones). Notó, curiosamente, que se están expandiendo y alejándose unas de otras a velocidades inimaginables. Tal verificación llevó a los científicos a suponer que el universo observable había sido mucho menor, un puntito ínfimo que después se inflacionó y explotó, dando origen al universo en expansión. Un eco ínfimo de esa explosión puede ser identificado todavía, lo cual permite datar el evento como algo ocurrido have 13.700 millones de años.

Una de las mayores contribuciones que están desmantelando la antigua mirada sobre la Tierra y la naturaleza proceden del premio Nobel de química el ruso-belga Ilya Prigogine (1917-2003). El dejó atrás la concepción de materia como inerte y pasiva y demostró experimentalmente que elementos químicos colocados bajo determinadas condiciones pueden organizarse a sí mismos bajo modelos complejos que requieren la coordinación de billones de moléculas. Estas no necesitan instrucciones ni los seres humanos entran en su organización. Ni siquiera existen códigos genéticos que guíen sus acciones. La dinámica de su autoorganización es intrínseca, como la del universo, y articula todas las interacciones.

El universo está penetrado de un dinamismo autocreativo y autoorganizativo que estructura las galaxias, las estrellas y los planetas. De vez en cuando a partir de la Energía de Fondo se producen afloraciones de nuevas complejidades que hacen aparecer, por ejemplo, la vida y la vida consciente y humana.

Toda esa dinámica cósmica tiene tiempos propios: tiempo de las galaxias, de las estrellas, de la Tierra, de los distintos ecosistemas con sus representantes, cada uno también con su propio tiempo, de las flores, de las mariposas, etc. Los organismos vivos especialmente tienen sus tiempos biológicos propios, uno para los microorganismos, otro para los bosques y las selvas, otro para los animales, otro para los océanos, otro para cada ser humano.

¿Qué hemos hecho nosotros modernamente para gestar la crisis actual?

Inventamos el tiempo mecánico y siempre igual de los relojes. El dirige la vida y todo el proceso productivo, no tomando en cuenta los demás tiempos. Somete el tiempo de la naturaleza al tiempo tecnológico. Un árbol, por ejemplo, necesita 40 años para crecer y una motosierra lo derriba en dos minutos. No cultivamos ningún respeto hacia los tiempos de cada cosa. Así no les damos tiempo de rehacerse de nuestras devastaciones: contaminamos los aires, envenenamos los suelos y quimicalizamos casi todos nuestros alimentos. La maquina vale más que el ser humano.

Al no concedernos un sábado, bíblicamente hablando, para que la Tierra descanse, la extenuamos, la mutilamos y dejamos que enferme casi mortalmente, destruyendo las condiciones de nuestra propia subsistencia.

En este momento estamos viviendo un tiempo en el que la propia Tierra está tomando conciencia de su enfermedad. El calentamiento global indica que ella va a entrar en otro tiempo. Si seguimos maltratándola y no la ayudamos a estabilizarse en ese otro tiempo, podemos contar las décadas que faltan para la tribulación de la desolación. Por causa de nuestros equívocos no concientizados y formulados have siglos que no hemos corregido y obstinadamente reafirmamos.

Con Mark Hathaway escribí El Tao de la Liberación, premiado en Estados Unidos con medalla de oro en nueva ciencia y cosmología.

 

 

Our incorrect assumptions can destroy us

Leonardo BoffDeixe um comentário

We are undeniably experiencing a crisis in the fundamentals that sustain our form of inhabiting and organizing planet Earth, and of dealing with Nature’s goods and services. From our present perspective, they are totally wrong; they are dangerous and threaten the life-system and Earth-system. We have to do more.

Two founding fathers of our form of seeing the world, Rene Descartes (1596-1650) and Francis Bacon (1561-1626), were their principal formulators. They saw matter as totally passive and inert. The mind existed exclusively in human beings. Humans could feel and think, whereas other animals and beings behaved like machines, lacking any subjectivity or purpose.

Logically, this view enabled humans to treat the Earth, nature and other living beings as things we could dispose of at our pleasure. This understanding is behind the savage industrialist process, that still persists today, even within the so-called progressive universities, that are hostages to the old paradigm.

Things, however, are not like that. Everything changed when Albert Einstein proved that matter is a very dense field of interactions, and even more, that in reality, matter does not exist in the common sense of the word: matter is highly condensed energy. As I heard in 1967 from Werner Heisenberg, one of the founders of the physics of subatomic particles, quantum mechanics, in his last semester of classes at the University of Munich, one cubic centimeter of matter is enough that if even that small amount could be transformed into pure energy, it would destabilize our entire solar system.

In 1924, Edwin Hubble (1889-1953), discovered with his telescope on Mount Wilson, in Southern California, that not only the Milky Way, our galaxy, exists, but hundreds of them (now we know that a hundred billion galaxies exist). Hubble noticed that, curiously, the galaxies are expanding and growing ever further apart at unimaginable speeds. This discovery led scientists to suppose that the observable universe had been much smaller, a tiny dot that later inflated and exploded, giving birth to the expanding universe. A very small echo of that explosion can still be identified, which allows us to date that event as having occurred some 13.7 billion years ago.

One of the main contributions that is dismantling the old vision of the Earth and nature comes from Ilya Prigogine (1917-2003), the Russian-Belgian Chemistry Nobel Laureate. He abandoned the idea that matter is inert and passive, and proved experimentally that under certain conditions, chemical elements can organize themselves into complex models that require the coordination of billions of molecules. These molecules do not need instructions, nor do human beings enter into their organizing. There are not even genetic codes to guide their actions. The dynamics of their self-organizing are intrinsic, like that of the universe, and govern all interactions.

The universe contains a self-creating and self-organizing dynamic that structures galaxies, stars and planets. Once in a while, starting from the Background Energy, new complexities arise that, for example, cause the appearance of life, consciousness, and human life.

This cosmic dynamic has its own time-line: the time of the galaxies, of the stars, of the Earth, of the different eco-systems with their representatives, each with its own time, of the flowers, of the butterflies, etc. Living organisms in particular have their own biological times, one for the micro-organisms, another for the woods and the jungles, another for the animals, another for the oceans, and another for each human being.

What have we done to bring about the present crisis?

We invented a time that is mechanical, and always the same in every clock. Mechanical time directs life and all the processes of production, without paying any attention to other times. It subjects Nature’s time to technological time. A tree, for instance, may take 40 years to grow and a chainsaw can cut it down in two minutes. We do not cultivate respect for the time of each thing. That way we do not give them time to regenerate after we have devastated them: we contaminate the wind, poison the ground and fill all our food with chemicals. The machine becomes worth more than the human being.

Not giving ourselves a Sabbath, Biblically speaking, so that the Earth may rest, we extenuate, mutilate and leave her to become almost mortally ill, thus destroying the conditions of our own subsistence.

We are living at this moment a time in which the Earth herself is becoming conscious of her own illness. Global warming indicates that she is entering into a different time. If we continue mistreating her, and do not help her stabilize in this new time, we can count the decades left before the trials of desolation, due to the unconscious errors formulated centuries ago, that we have not corrected, but have stubbornly reaffirmed.

With Mark Hathaway, I wrote The Tao of Liberation, which was awarded a gold medal in science and cosmology in the United States.

 
Free translation from the Spanish by
Servicios Koinonia, http://www.servicioskoinonia.org.
Done at REFUGIO DEL RIO GRANDE, Texas, EE.UU.