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¶ … Human Condition
Both The Great Work by Thomas Berry and Sacred Energies by Daniel Maguire suggest ways in which human beings can change the destructive path they are on. The two works take a cosmological approach to the problem, the former focusing on the earth as sacred, while the latter uses religion as a possible remedy to the situation.
The three major themes upon which The Great Work is based, comprise the current situation of the human community, how this came to be, and the possible future of the human community. Berry blames Western science and religion for the state of the world today. The reason for this is that science and religion have become separate in human consciousness, rather than integrative forces. Religion is therefore no longer seen as either a fundamental or concrete force on which to base life. In the same way humanity has become separate from every other form of life, and from the earth itself.
The fundamental problem, according to Berry, is the human attitude towards the earth. The integrated Christian attitude is one of human domination over everything on earth. This, coupled with the fact that religion and science have been separated, constructs a separation from the very force that gives human beings and everything else life. The latest manifestation of this is the rapid advance of technology and its inherent destruction of natural resources. Berry points out that this is...
He names the earth as a sort of "Garden of Eden" among all the other uninhabitable planets of the universe. Human beings should therefore recognize that the earth gives life, and that ecology should be the basis of everything else. Without the earth there is nothing. Dealing correctly with the earth has become more than merely a matter only of spirituality or morality, according to the author. It has become a matter of concrete human survival. To reconnect with the earth is then to reconnect with the very forces that give human beings their humanity. This is the meaning that Berry describes for human beings in their relationship with cosmology. Everything is integrated with the earth - the primary life giver. Nothing can dominate. Thirsting for dominance is ultimately self-destructive.
In terms of spirituality then, Berry emphasizes the importance of finding the sacred in a science-based earth "religion." The idea of a transcendent God towards whom all human beings must strive encourages the destructive paradigm of separation from the earth. Human beings should turn towards the earth and its spirituality instead. In this way a respectful symbiosis could be achieved even better than in ancient times, made possible by scientific advances.
In Sacred Energies Maguire…
Bibliography
Berry, Thomas. The Great Work: Our Way into the Future. Random House, 2000.
Maguire, Daniel C. Sacred Energies: When the World's Religions Sit Down to Talk about the Future Of Human Life and the Plight of This Planet. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2000.
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