By Isaiah Ritzmann & Joe Mancini
Published in December 2018
The ecological works of mercy are one way that we can re-imagine our relationship with nature. We are part of the earth community and are called to live in gentle, humble relationship with our neighbours, both human and non-human. Yet our economy is based on extracting resources at a rate the earth can no longer sustain. Our way of living is pouring chemicals, pollution and carbon into the ground and air at a rate that is disrupting the carrying capacity of the earth. As we search for new ways of being and acting, the ecological Works of Mercy can be spiritual and practical disciplines that help us reshape our relationships to the Earth and each other. They reclaim the idea that our actions matter. Ilia Delio captures this spirit, “the whole person is the creative person who explores and animates the universe out of an inner sense of freedom and participates in the evolution towards unity.”
Cultivate Reverence
Seek harmony with all living things. The natural world is one; we live in a world of interdependence. People are part of nature and life depends on the uninterrupted functioning of natural processes which supply energy and nutrients. A call to reverence invites us to redefine our relationship with the earth – and to move beyond the idea that the earth is a resource for us to exploit for our own ease of life. How can we learn to walk gently and use the gifts of nature sparingly and lovingly? How can we overcome our separation from the natural world, recognizing our oneness with the cycles of living?
Share Our Interdependence
Sharing what we have with others is an ecological act. If we share what we have each of us will need less. Since what we need comes from nature this means if we need less, we demands less from the earth. Sharing is sustainability. Human beings are inventive, capable of remarkable amounts of ingenuity. We need to reflect and act on how sharing can help us be better humans and how new forms of sharing can help us live more sustainably.
Life is for Loving, Not Amassing Possessions
The desire for more undermines sustainability. We fear limits because we think we need more things. To remedy this confusion we need to be grateful that, within the limits set for us by the earth, there is abundance. What does it mean to live within the bounds of natural cycles? Gandhi asked us to remember that, “the earth provides for everyone’s needs but not for everyone’s greed.”
Inhabit Your Place, Know Your Community
It is by knowing our place on the earth that we can become guardians of the land and all its inhabitants. When we come to love our places then we start to know the flora and fauna like we know our grandparents and cousins. We keep the water safe like we keep our children safe. We gratefully give and receive with the soil like we give and receive with our families. If all communities cared for their places sustainability would be a real possibility.
Expand Community
The limits of the earth are daunting when faced alone. When faced together this becomes a source of solidarity in community. Knowing about these limits inspires us to cultivate relationships of respect and equality, a culture of mutual aid that welcomes both the poor and the poor in spirit. In such a culture each person is responsible for putting the community above themselves; the group is stronger when each looks after the other. Our culture turns our hearts to stone through the myth of single-minded individualism. Expanding community calls us to express our interdependence through opening our hearts to the earth and each other.
Use Tools Wisely
A tool brings us into contact with soil, culture, shape and order. They teach us that limits are the conditions of living, and joy and suffering are an expression of this experience. A hammer or knitting needles teach us about our limitations and our alienation. A lot of the time the machines we use are the problem. Technological destructiveness is not inevitable. We can choose alternative tools that are more balanced, balancing human needs with the needs of the earth and of future generations. Creative ingenuity, and a respect for limits, can help us develop thoughtful environmental strategies together.
Honour the Indigenous World View
The indigenous world view teaches us how to respect that everything in Creation is interrelated. Each person is responsible for putting the community above themselves; the group is stronger when each looks after the other; new ideas emerge from this commitment. Without community we are left to face the world by ourselves. Coexistence means seeking peace with others, walking in a good way, never just thinking of oneself. Western ideas of wholeness are just now catching up with indigenous world views, integrating new ways of being.
