Within the framework of COP 25 that took place last December, the former environmental economist, ecologist and spiritual guide Alfredo Sfeir shared his interesting points of view with the Chilean magazine Nuevo Mundo, showing the relationship between spirituality and climate change.
In it, it raises the urgent need to a paradigm shift that addresses a “collective spiritual path and a planetary collective consciousness”. For Sfeir, the only way to deal with the climate crisis is to understand that the challenges it brings are not purely economic, scientific and political, but also spiritual, ethical and moral.
“The planet is not a thing, but a living beingwhich has a conscience, perhaps as much or greater than the human one”, he maintains in the interview and, based on this conception, he proposes two fundamental laws to understand the relationship between humanity and the environmental crisis.
The first ensures that external actions are not the only ones to act in favor of the planet and invites acknowledge inner reality of each human being and the interactions between the internal environment and the external environment. As an example, note that just as polluted air affects our respiratory system, unbalanced emotions do as well.
The second law states that individual well-being is fully connected to collective well-being, of human beings, animals and all sentient beings and of nature. Therefore, the vital importance of creating a compassionate society with collective values oriented to ecofeminism, the care economy and, especially, to the education of the being (of the body, mind and soul and not only of the mind).
“The great challenge today is make peace with nature, with the environment. For this, we need a new consciousness, a new leadership and a new way of doing economics, both political and social. We need new institutions and new forms of democracy,” says Sfeir.
He calls the new imminent paradigm the “Sustainable Development with an Empowered Citizenship”, a path that defends that the planet is a total and living unitwhich respects all living beings and considers that nature has an intrinsic wisdom.
In view of that development, he believes that the biggest challenge is collective actionin a society with clear materialistic and individualistic tendencies and oriented to “economic growth” that promotes non-harmonious ways of connecting with the planet.
“The material destruction of climate change affects us all, and it affects the poor and the most vulnerable the hardest. The material is important, however, we must keep in mind that we are not material beings. We are spiritual beings living a material life”, maintains Sfeir.
Based on this conception, the environmentalist and spiritual guide invites cultivate collective spiritual consciousness and to recognize that “we are all responsible for our planet. It is a responsibility that goes beyond our generation; a responsibility that goes beyond the borders of a country; a responsibility that embraces the well-being of all”.
DO YOU THINK A NEW PARADIGM WITH SPIRITUAL AWARENESS IS POSSIBLE?
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