Not all tutorial conferences go away a long-lasting impression, however one in Might 2014 modified my life without end. I travelled from Rochester, New York, to Ottawa, Canada, to attend Nonviolence: A Weapon of the Robust at Saint Paul College.
The convention sought to discover nonviolence throughout disciplines: gender, ecology, animals, training, music, faith and reconciliation. Over three transformative days, my perspective on life, work and duty to the planet shifted irrevocably.
That interval was one in every of intense inside upheaval. The 2 years following the convention turned my life the other way up and introduced me to the brink.
At present, my life is much extra balanced, however I owe a lot of who I’m to these three days in Ottawa. They impressed a cascade of selections: I left my dream job on the M.Okay. Gandhi Institute, based Gandhi Earth Keepers Worldwide, embraced vegetarianism, turned a father and joined protests in Ferguson, Missouri alongside the Fellowship of Reconciliation. Every step was a bit of the journey in direction of alignment with my values.
A trajectory of destruction
The urgency of the convention’s themes resonates much more loudly at the moment. Our world operates on techniques of destruction—extraction and exploitation of each the Earth and the intricate webs of life that maintain it. Civilization, for all its achievements, rests precariously on an unsustainable basis.
The proof is stark: 90 p.c of worldwide fish populations are depleted, 80 p.c of old-growth forests are gone and local weather instability is accelerating. That is the legacy of a species enthralled by domination over nature.
Thich Nhat Hanh reminds us that our connection to the Earth isn’t summary however quick and profound. To like and look after the Earth is to like and look after ourselves. But, financial techniques relentlessly prioritize progress over stability, consumption over care and revenue over preservation. These decisions erode the life techniques on which all of us rely. What endgame might justify this trajectory of destruction?
The roots of this imbalance stretch again millennia, to the daybreak of agriculture and humanity’s shift from dwelling in concord with nature to dominating it. The outcomes are painfully clear: ecosystems decimated, species pushed to extinction and the fragility of Earth’s techniques laid naked.
The violence isn’t solely bodily however ideological—a worldview that reduces the pure world to “assets” to be harvested, ignoring its inherent sacredness and the interdependence of all life.
This separation of humanity from nature is a grave error. We’re not other than the Earth; we’re part of it. Our relentless drive for energy and wealth has positioned us in direct opposition to the ecosystems that maintain us. The ego seeks domination; the eco seeks stability. In prioritizing the previous, we commit profound injustice to all dwelling beings and, in the end, to ourselves.
Our techniques—financial, political and social—aren’t damaged by chance; they have been designed to extract and exploit. These constructions perpetuate inequality, ecological collapse and environmental degradation. Incremental reform can’t repair what’s basically pathological. To deal with these crises, we should reimagine the very foundations of energy, ecology and therapeutic.
A brand new imaginative and prescient of energy
True energy doesn’t reside in domination however in interconnection, reciprocity and respect. Gandhi’s precept of non-co-operation with something humiliating provides a imaginative and prescient of energy rooted in concord. That is energy as a collective drive—shared, cultivated and used responsibly for the well-being of all. It rejects hierarchies that exploit and as a substitute fosters relationships that nurture.
The dominant view of ecology treats nature as a commodity: assets to extract, and capital to handle. This angle has introduced us to the brink of collapse. A brand new ecological imaginative and prescient should emerge—one which sees the Earth not as a useful resource to regulate however as a group of life to honour and maintain. This worldview acknowledges that human flourishing is inseparable from the well being of ecosystems. It calls for a shift from exploitation to stewardship, from extraction to restoration.
On this imaginative and prescient, sustainability just isn’t a buzzword however a dedication to repairing the cycles that maintain life. It calls for shielding biodiversity, restoring degraded lands and respecting the sacred stability of pure techniques. Therapeutic the Earth requires us to embrace regeneration—not simply of ecosystems however of our relationship with the planet.
Therapeutic via collective motion
Therapeutic the planet is inseparable from therapeutic ourselves and our societies. The techniques we’ve inherited should be dismantled and changed with ones that honour life, justice and sustainability. That is no small job; it’s a radical reimagining of how we stay, work and relate to at least one one other and the Earth.
The journey I started in Ottawa a decade in the past continues. The teachings of nonviolence, ecology and therapeutic aren’t static; they evolve as we do. To reimagine energy is to decide to an ongoing strategy of transformation—one which prioritizes interconnection over isolation, reciprocity over extraction and collective well-being over particular person acquire. In doing so, we could but discover a technique to stay in concord with the Earth and one another.
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photographs: George Payne
