Meditation can help us save the planet

by Dr Deborah Guess

The world presently faces a major moral crisis: not only have human beings brought many species to extinction, we now face the possibility of our own extinction. So says Laurence Freeman, Benedictine monk and the Director of the World Community for Christian Meditation.

We live in an era which invites us to a radical re-thinking of who we are and of how we might be able to relate differently to others and to the created world. It may be said that our changed circumstance calls for a metanoia – a religious term meaning a complete turn-around or conversion. As Pope Francis says: “Many things have to change course, but it is we human beings above all who need to change. We lack an awareness of our common origin, of our mutual belonging, and of a future to be shared with everyone. This basic awareness would enable the development of new convictions, attitudes and forms of life. A great cultural, spiritual and educational challenge stands before us, and it will demand that we set out on the long path of renewal.”

Meditation and changing habits

Fortunately for meditators, the practice of meditation and the practice of living in a way that is more ecologically sustainable can impact and reinforce each other. Daily prayer practice builds a foundation of discipline and commitment which makes it easier to change other habits. A turning away from the overwhelming pressure to consume as well as from the hectic and overly busy lives that many people lead today has strong resonances with the simplicity that lies at the heart of Christian meditation. To live a life that is simple is to return to the heart of religious and spiritual practice; at the same time a simple way of living in practical terms lightens the human impact on the planet. As Laurence Freeman has said, meditation is an important way in which we can begin to confront the major ecological crisis that we are now facing.

What really matters

The stillness that is involved in meditation helps us to cut through superficiality and busyness and enables us to become more centred in what is truly important, and to remember what truly matters. It brings us to knowledge of the Christ who dwells within us and to a loosening of the grip of the ego-self. A person who practises meditation is quite well equipped to see through the veil of consumerism and avoid its lure, to connect more strongly with what is of ultimate value.

When we focus on what really matters we become more content. When we engage with the natural world, when we stop buying over-packaged products or factory-farmed meat, when we re-plant a piece of degraded land or work to eliminate pollution from a watercourse, we can feel deeply satisfied. These kinds of things help us get back to the basics of who we are and bring us closer to the creator God, something meditation also prepares us for. John Main said that:

“One of the most distinctive features of our time is the almost universal feeling among people that they must somehow get back to a basic level of personal confidence, to the ground or bedrock of their life.’’

An ecologically sustainable way of living, grounded in the daily practice of Christian meditation, can draw us closer to our true selves and to God. Our daily practice puts us in touch with ourselves and with the ultimate reality of God. It cuts through the endless busyness and the synthetic nature of virtual reality, things which distract and at times threaten to overwhelm us. Silence simplifies our lives and tells us who we are.

Ecological care and right action are not only good for earth, for other living creatures, and for our fellow human beings. They can also be good for us because they put us in touch with reality. Pope Francis points out the strong connection between what goes on in the human heart and the present ecological crisis and calls for an ecological conversion in people. Pope Benedict XVI has also said: “The external deserts in the world are growing, because the internal deserts have become so vast.”

Simplicity and rest

A natural and strong connection exists between meditation and an environmentally sensitive way of living because both are grounded in simplicity. The ecological conversion called for by Pope Francis invites and involves a move towards a simpler way of living. And meditation is a profoundly simple activity: just stilling our bodies and minds and saying the prayer-word is perhaps the simplest thing we can do. As John Main reminds us, “the way to total union and continuous presence is the way of a simple and selfless discipline.”

Laurence Freeman has observed that the present environmental crisis is so complex that the only thing that can begin to deal with it is a radical simplicity. What we need the most, he says, is to learn the art of being still. Environmentally destructive behaviour has its roots in a loss of stillness in human beings; a loss that is expressed in the restless desire for growth, production and consumption. Although Laurence Freeman has reminded meditators that the practice of meditation is not a magic wand which will solve all our environmental problems, he says that it does allow us to return to those challenges with new eyes.

The simplicity of the practice of Christian meditation, of taking time out to just sit in stillness and silence, has something in common with the Christian and Jewish practice of setting aside a holy day of the week when people rest from work. The Sabbath principle also included the Judaic practice of resting the land from cultivation one year in seven, and the Jubilee practice where land reverted to its original owners every 50 years.

Rest is also an important part of ecologically sustainable living. Doing less provides an alternative to the idea of compulsive growth and activity. It encourages time for holy wonder, joy and thanksgiving for creation itself. Meditation not only provides an opportunity to rest for 30 minutes from busy consumer lives but can actually prepare us to permanently cease from some of our old habits. The Hebrew word for “rest” which is used in connection with the idea of Sabbath does not mean just to do nothing: it means to quite intentionally “cease from”.

If the present crisis is in part a direct consequence of a way of working and living that is fast-paced and growth-oriented, and if the Sabbath principle is about “ceasing” to do something, then the adoption of the Sabbath principle along with our daily practice invites us to lessen, or in some cases completely cease from, some forms of ecologically destructive intervention in the natural world such as emitting carbon, cutting down trees, and over-fishing. Sometimes the Earth needs space and time to restore itself, as we know to be the case for ourselves.

The practice of meditation can therefore be something that accompanies a different way of understanding our place on Earth, and developing a simpler way of living where we desire less, buy less, emit less carbon. It brings the added benefit of giving us more time at home, more time for others, more time for prayer. As Laurence Freeman says, to move into a new era of humanity we need to learn to sit in silence, and from that we will see emerging a new consciousness which will be defining for our self-understanding and for our future environmental behaviour.

This article is an edited extract from Dr Guess’s book Meditation and Earth – Knowing Where We Are, published by Medio Media.

*Dr Deborah Guess is a long-time meditator and member of the World Community for Christian Meditation. She is also an Honorary Research Associate and Adjunct Teacher at Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity, Melbourne. Her main research and teaching area is ecological theology. Deborah also practises permaculture and sustainable living at her home in the Yarra Ranges to the east of Melbourne. Among current projects, Deborah is writing a book about the ecological theology of place.

Meditation and changing habits

What really matters

Simplicity and rest

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