Gay has raised good questions. Compassion saves us from the pitfalls of perfectionism. This is the overarching sense of balance at the heart of any mature, reflective religious movement, Western or Eastern. And such balance comes from people who have faced their own paradoxes, contradictions, and hypocrisies and committed themselves to do a bit better at what promotes wholeness and change that might be sustainable. (Fundamentalism in any religious or secular practice never develops this level of self-awareness.) What I see of the sustainability movement from a little distance is that it is still in the "smart" phase of enlightened self interest that seeks the welfare of the whole as much as the individual. This is not a bad place to be, but it does not deal with the problems of how individual needs may run at odds with groups and how groups may too easily become collusive, group-think exercises that undermine innovations that challenge popular assumptions within the larger sustainability movement. While there are many individual and group exceptions, the movement as a whole remains mostly a secular, enlightenment/modernity concern. It has only begun to embrace the deep roots of the religious commitments that define the peoples of the world. One reasonably credible breakdown of religious affiliations, worldwide, is as follows: Just over half of the inhabitants of Earth identify with one of the Western, Abrahamic faiths: 0.2% Jewish, 32% Chrisitian, 20% Muslim. The Eastern traditions account for one-half of inhabitants: 12.5% Hindu, 6% Buddhist, 6.5% Tao and Confucian. The non-religious and atheist account for 12.5% and 2.5%, respectively. The remaining 10% pick up hundreds of different traditions. Sustainability will need to work within the mature practices of each of these approaches (not the simplistic or fundamental ones), if we are to see much of a deepening of sustainability worldwide. Eric Eric Clay, M.Div., Ph.D. Community Coach Shared Journeys, Inc. 832 North Aurora Street Ithaca, NY 14850 607-592-6874 [email protected]_ (mailto:[email protected])
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