March 12

First, I have questions as to what exactly we're talking about. What do we mean by sustainability? I've never understood the term myself, and I've never heard it explained in a way that really moved or inspired me. It's always seemed a little clingy to me. Seems life unfolds in just the opposite of a way: a constant cycle of birth and death, things coming and going. So, what is it we're sustaining, and why?

Are we sustaining the environment? Air, food, water? Biodiversity? For the sake of all the little creatures and their habitats?

Are we sustaining the living conditions for humans?

At first that seems quite self-important of us, doesn't it? What I seem to hear underlying the call for a sustainability movement, is a very dualistic notion that: nature and the web-of-life (minus humans) was fine until we, in all of our greed and cleverness, started to fucked it up. If we continue to keep fucking it up, we'll kill ourselves. It is as if nature is doing it's thing, and we must somehow 'get along' with it, for the sake of our own survival. 

It seems in the most basic idea of unity and integration (toward which all of us seem to be intuitively called, yes?) there's a need to reconcile that duality. I think the human mind and the human heart are a remarkable part of nature, certainly not separate from it, maybe even it's most elegant and brilliant creation.

I happen to love human beings. I also happen to like very few of them but that's my own problem, and I'm working on it. But I can't say the sustainability movement - as an ideology carried out the way it has been - has helped much.

The fact that I have trouble accepting others offers a big hello to the fact that I have trouble accepting myself. Being repeatedly shown how I’m killing the environment and therefore killing everyone around me has in the past left me horrified, paralyzed and afraid to act, out of fear of exacerbating all the horribleness. And certainly far from accepting myself as a person-in-the-making; someone who makes mistakes; cares about some things (and people) more than others; someone who has limits and personal edges to work on; and who is only to a certain degree able to see my impact on the world around me.

So when I see myself in terms of having an 'impact' on the world, it reconfirms and reinforces the notion that I am separate from it. And the idea of separation, most spiritual teachers suggest, is the very notion that's keeping us at odds with one another in the world, destroying our ability to meet our needs and truly 'sustain'.

To truly care for the world around me has gone well beyond conformance to ideaology and eco progaganda, and into to developing my capacity to see and identify with more and more of that world as 'me', as who I Am. I had to learn not to fear catastrophe, but accept it as a potential part of the process along with everything else (including Humvees and American political leaders).

That kind of acceptance has demanded an intimate relationship with, and acceptance of death (death on every level, phsyical death, ego death, the death of my worldview, the death of the superiority of my position in a moment of a conversation). As long as one is in denial of that inevitable fact, a lot of energy is used up in the constant avoiding and clinging - energy that could be used to break into new realizations of ourselves, who we are together, as well as how we can steward our very crucially important external systemic or 'environmental' realities.

In the face of so much pressure to focus on external impacts: rainforests and marmots and such, I think spiritual leaders are doing all they can to say: first, look within, see what's there, accept it, and all else will fall into place.

Perhaps the question should be, 'What can the Sustainability Movement do to help Spiritual Leaders?'

She is a powerful writer who connects Buddhism with sustainability and environmentalism. I highly recommend checking her out. You can begin with her website: http://www.joannamacy.net/

I think that many environmentalists have an understanding, deep down, that their concern for the earth and its inhabitants comes from a spiritual place. We are all connected, after all, and once you understand that, it just makes no sense to sit back and watch us slowly throw it all away.

So I think our spiritual leaders need to speak out about this interconnection, and make it explicit to people. And I think our spiritual leaders need to encourage sustainability to their congregations or in their writings. Religious leaders should not miss the opportunity to affect the lifestyle choices of the people sitting in their pews.

If all of us are spiritual leaders then who is going to follow us? Do we have a common past, present, future? Spiritual leaders can remind those of faith of their history and the role of God in creation, history and salvation. This not only helps to build community, unifying those of common beliefs but also charges them with a moral imperative of sustainability, in every depth that that word entails.

The Jewish tradition urges "Justice, Justice shall you persue." This striving for justice is so important that it is said twice in one sentence. What does justice mean? To whom does justice belong? In striving for sustainability, there are many, many answers to this question.

Spiritual leaders must help advance sustainability by doing two things:

• drawing on traditional teachings to guide us in how we treat ourselves, others, and the world around us - human, animal and the elements. These teachings have wisdom that can help reframe today's world
• urging us to ask questions that challenge our understanding of how things have been done and how they can be done better

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another thought on this one: we are all spiritual leaders. First and foremost we are leaders of our own spritual path. As well, we have the opportunity to inspire the world around us by bringing our inner light forward. So, what can we each do in our spiritual practices to help advance sustainability?