The challenge is to change the paradigm. This goes beyond 'safeguarding creation.' It involves what Pope Francis calls a “courageous cultural revolution.”
A “radical change which present circumstances require.” This is—to use an expression from the encyclical Laudato si’ (n. 171)—what the current ecosystemic upheavals call us to. The key word is “radical.” It is to be understood not in the sense of political extremism but of going to the roots of the problems. These roots are psycho-cultural and spiritual.
They have to do with the paradigm—the lenses through which we perceive reality—at the origin of the dominant economic system that exhausts the Earth through its excess: a dualistic, anthropocentric, materialistic, masculine, and desacralized conception of the cosmos and the human being. A vision to which—a fact we must acknowledge—part of Western Christianity is not foreign.
The challenge is to change the paradigm. This goes further than “safeguarding Creation.” It requires what Pope Francis calls a “bold cultural revolution” (n. 114). Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I put it well: ecology is “an ontological question that requires a new way of existing, a radical change in attitude, a renewed vision, and a fresh perspective.”
Christianity's contribution
If the goal is such a personal and collective metanoia, then external ecology—based on regulations, green technologies, and daily eco-actions—is not enough. It must be complemented and nourished by an inner ecology: an eco-spirituality. Christianity can make an important contribution here under one condition: it must critically and creatively revisit its biblical and theological corpus in dialogue with contemporary science, ecofeminism, and other wisdom traditions.
→ Further reading:'Rather than celebrating Laudato si’, let's get to work'
To speak of metanoia is to speak of a transformation of perception—of nature, first and foremost. In the West, nature has been disenchanted, stripped of its soul, and reduced to an object, a stock of resources, or a commodity. “The ecological crisis is the crisis of a culture that has lost the sense of the world’s sacredness,” wrote Orthodox Metropolitan John of Pergamon. A key point, therefore, is to restore to Creation its sacred and mysterious dimension. Christian mysticism offers a fruitful path for this effort: panentheism. An approach in which “everything is in God and God is in everything.” This must not be confused with pantheism, which equates nature with God (“everything is God”).
God and the cosmos
Laudato si’ contains beautiful panentheistic insights: “The universe unfolds in God, who fills it completely. Hence, there is a mystical meaning to be found in a leaf, in a mountain trail, in a dewdrop, in a poor person’s face.” (n. 233) Furthermore, “nature as a whole not only manifests God but is also a locus of his presence. The Spirit of life dwells in every living creature and calls us to enter into relationship with him.” (n. 88)
This not only includes the Holy Spirit but also the Word incarnate in Jesus Christ, whose cosmic dimension deserves to be rediscovered. In Orthodox tradition, God is notably present in the cosmos through His uncreated energies, which are forces of life, creation, revelation, and sanctification.
→ Further reading: "Live Laudato si', do not just quote it"
But we must first perceive this presence and open ourselves to it. “When will we finally begin to learn and teach the alphabet of this divine language so mysteriously hidden in nature?” asks Bartholomew I. For this, reason alone is not enough. “Concepts create idols of God; awe senses something,” said Gregory of Nyssa (4th century).
An “integral ecology” requires “integral knowledge.” A knowledge that integrates—by linking them to each other and to the heart—sensory, emotional, rational, and spiritual intelligence. Its engines are wonder, which is the Spirit’s embrace of consciousness and love, so beautifully extolled by Dostoevsky: “Brothers, love all of creation as a whole and in its parts, every leaf, every ray, the animals, the plants. By loving everything, you will understand its divine mystery.”
Stewards of the Earth
From an eco-spiritual perspective, nature is thus more than a material reality governed by physical and chemical laws. It is a mystery inhabited by a presence. It is not only humanity’s habitat (oikos)—the usual horizontal view of ecology—but also God’s dwelling place. From this experience—for it is not just an idea—flow three inner attitudes that Pope Francis calls “ecological virtues” (n. 88).
→ Further reading: Translating “Laudato si’” into concrete action
First, respect because we are not the owners of nature but its guests and because every creature has intrinsic value, independent of its utility to humans. Next, gratitude for creation is given to us with its extraordinary diversity, without which we could not live. Finally, responsibility for the garden of the Earth has been entrusted to us. Each creature is, in its way, a word of God to which—and for which—we must respond.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Michel Maxime Egger is a sociologist and eco-theologian with Orthodox roots. He has written several works on eco-spirituality, such as Reliance and A l’écoute de la Création. To explore other works by this author visit his website, Trilogies.
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