The ecology movement (huh–what’s that?), just one of many things happening at the end of the sixties, running into and through the seventies. One of the things that appealed to me about Buddhism when I began the practice is that it recognizes the interrelationship of self and environment. Ecology is the holistic comprehension of how various disparate-seeming elements depend on one another for survival–organisms and their environment. Foul the river and the fish die. Foul the air we breathe and we get sick. As much as we may enjoy our virtual environments created electronically or otherwise, the physical environment in which we exist is what sustains us. There are many dimensions to the concept of environment. Beyond the physical environment is the social environment–the fellow humans we interact with for better or worse. Less immediate but of some consequence is the political environment. From the Buddhist perspective, all of these environments on a personal basis are a reflection of our inner environment. Bend and your shadow bends too. Don’t like the look of your shadow or another aspect of your environment? Well you don’t try to reform the shadow do you? On Earth Day, it’s important to take heed of how one interacts with the planet that supports us. Whether you believe in global warming or not, the reality is that human behavior affects the environment. Throw toxic waste into the river and someone downstream suffers. Don’t like the weather? We may not be able (at present) to immediately and directly alter the temperature, the wind or the rain, but we all influence it.
Tags: ecology, environment, holistic, self and environment
