Tenth International Conference on Religion & Spirituality in Society

Abstract

Dr. Seuss’s fuzzy yellow Lorax declares that he speaks for the trees in a story beloved by both children and adults. When not only willful disregard or greed work to create environmental degradation, but also unconscious personal attitudes of entitlement and privilege, it is crucial to recognize the effects of a mental state I define as “environmental narcissism.” Environmental narcissism leads to environmental destruction incrementally with attitudes such as “this is my property and I’ll do what I want.” My paper provides examples of environmental narcissism in natural areas where thoughtless individual human impact is rapidly harming the ecology we inhabit. It is not simply stiffer conservational laws that can address this. I suggest that we need insights from a spirituality that sacramentalizes nature. How would our behaviour change if we were to see nature as sacramental? To illustrate this, I draw upon the wisdom of the Lorax and Celtic spirituality–notably two renowned modern Irish mystics, John Moriarty and John O’Donahue. Moriarty’s statement that “Eros makes geography into geology” is his first step to affirming the holiness of Nature’s matter, its solidity. O’Donahue in his last book, Walking in Wonder, speaks of sacramental signs in Nature—“I go among trees and sit still.” Perceiving nature as sacramental matter, drawing upon several traditions, may help to free ourselves from unconscious environmental narcissism and point toward healing the natural world. It is urgent, for as Seuss’s Lorax proclaims: “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better.”