5 0 S p i r i t ua l i t y S t u d i e s 8 - 2 Fa l l 2 0 2 2 The original peoples that inhabited the earth were given clear directives about how to live in right relationship with the whole of creation, which continues to this day: “I have given you this world to live on and to be happy. There is only one thing I ask you. To respect the Creator at all times” (quoted in Waters 1977, 7). According to all spiritual traditions, not just the First Peoples, everyone is asked to abide by their sacred tenets, affirming: “I shall obey [note: the] divine law” (quoted in Reichel-Dolmatoff 1990, 14). This is recognized across the religions. For example, in the Islamic tradition, this law is known as sharī‘ah and – in the Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, and Sikh traditions – it is broadly rendered as dharma (Sanskrit dharma; Pāli dhamma). In China, adherence to the sacred order of things is understood as conformity to the Tao. By living in accordance with transcendent reality through a revealed religious tradition, we can discover the equilibrium that has long eluded us: “Consider the work of God: for who can make that straight, which… hath [note: been] made crooked?” (Ecclesiastes 7:13). Titus Burckhardt (1908–1984) compares the condition of the human psyche to water: “When the balance of Nature is not disturbed, the earth’s waters themselves continually re-establish their purity, whereas, when this balance is lost, death and pollution are the result. It is thus not merely a coincidence that the ‘life’ of the waters is a symbol for the ‘life’ of the human soul” (1987, 124). The perennial psychology supports the metaphysical foundations for the human psyche to be fully integrated with all its modes of knowing and associated ways of healing: “The soul’s apprehension of the nature of things changes in accordance with its own inner state” (Stithatos 1998, 92). The Lakota Sioux tell the story of Pte San Win – the “White Buffalo Calf Woman”– who revealed the seven sacred rites and affirmed the unity of the created order: “Wakan Tanka [note: the Great Spirit] smiles upon us, because now we are as one: earth, sky, all living things, the two-legged, the fourlegged, the winged ones, the trees, the grasses. Together with the people, they are all related, one family” (quoted in Erdoes and Ortiz 1984, 50). And we find this expression in another Navajo (Diné) chant (quoted in Dooling and Jordan-Smith 1992, 20): The mountains, I become part of it… The herbs, the fir tree, I become part of it. The morning mists, the clouds, the gathering waters, I become part of it. The wilderness, the dew drops, the pollen… I become part of it. To the question of what it would take to turn things around in order to reinstate an integral ecological vision, Guénon offers a striking answer: “If our contemporaries as a whole could see what it is that is guiding them and where they are really going, the modern [note: and correspondingly the postmodern] world would at once cease to exist as such” (2004b, 4). This is due to the quite evident fact that “Peace, security and planetary health, sanity, happiness, fulfillment are arguably less close at hand than they ever were in the past” (Mander 1991, 190). Another remedy proposed was by the English economist Ernst Friedrich Schumacher (1911–1977) who spoke of an “economics of permanence” (1989, 34) to offset the rampant materialism and endless consumption compromising the health of the planet. He observed: “An attitude of life which seeks fulfillment in the single-minded pursuit of wealth – in short, materialism – does not fit into this world, because it contains within itself no limiting principle, while the environment in which it is placed is strictly limited” (1989, 30). The saints and sages speak in unison about the first and foremost need to reform ourselves as the only way to change the world. Śrī Ramana Maharshi (1879–1950) stated, without hesitation, that “Realization of the Self is the greatest help that can be rendered to humanity” (1996, 15). Śrī Nisargadatta Maharaj (1897–1981) said: “You cannot change the world before changing yourself… Clarify your mind, purify your heart, sanctify your life – this is the quickest way to a change of your world” (1999, 129). To be fully human is to recognize our fundamental relationship with the Absolute, which is to say that our true identity in divinis is the “primordial state” (Arabic fitrah), the “image of God” (Latin imago Dei), “Buddha-nature” (Sanskrit Buddhadhātu), or the “Self” (Sanskrit Ātmā). 9 Conclusion It is through an awakening to our transpersonal identity that we can learn to, not only see once again how the ecology and all sentient beings are an extension of ourselves, but also to apply this traditional ecological knowledge in everyday life. At a more exalted level, we are reminded of the Boddhisatva’s vow to liberate all beings, down to “the last blade of grass” (quoted in Pallis 2008, 231). To reverse the environmental crisis will require a complete transformation of the collective psyche, via a “science of the soul” that is rooted in spiritual tradition, metaphysics, and sacred cosmology. As Nasr explains (2004, 6):
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