Life Purpose
(This is an excerpt from a University Of Metaphysical Sciences course at www.umsonline.org,
please feel free to visit the school website)
From the ecological self perspective, it is important to create well-being for all life forms, with humans living in sustainable ways that allow for the flourishing of life on earth. Deep ecology is a movement that holds the survival of the planet as being crucial. One of the points that deep ecology holds to be true is that the needs of all forms of life are equally important. Every action that we partake in then comes into question of whether it is to satisfy our needs or our wants. If an action is taken to fulfill a human desire, instead of a need, this action makes it so another form of life cannot have its own needs met. In other words, we can simplify our lives to have what we truly need so that all other forms of life can do the same. We look beyond the ego's desires to the needs of all of life. James Cowan states in Messengers Of The Gods (1993), "This is an interesting supposition: that we have a responsibility to consult with nature before we act in out own self-interest." (3)
Deep ecologists stay away from naming what the needs of humans are because these needs will vary depending on the area in which they live. There are many ways that we can live so as to not take away from the health of other beings and the planet as a whole. Here are some ideas to think about:
- Meat and dairy consumption support the deforestation of rainforests, which affects rainfall, wind, and the lives of countless species.
- Buying local food and goods cuts down on transportation, which in turn lowers the amount of environmental pollution from gasoline.
- Busing, bicycling, walking, reducing gasoline use, and using bio-diesel fuel all reduce pollutants from emissions.
- Organic food does not support the use of chemicals on food, which affects water supplies, birds, animals, fish, and other forms of life.
- Re-using items cuts down on the amount of mining and chemicals used to produce new televisions, clothes, lamps...
- Recycling and consuming fewer products that have lots of packaging reduce the amount of waste in landfills.
- Using less energy or alternatively powered energy cuts down on the harmful emissions released from burning fossil fuels.
- Questioning what we are really wanting in life can help us to see the qualities that we are looking for. These qualities, such as happiness, are said to be linked with material gain. Are people with lots of money truly happy? If not from material gain, where do we find these values?
- Connecting to other forms of life through getting to know the local trees, plants, animals, and sources of water.
- Connecting to the seasons and cycles of the moon.
- Hold an intention that humans meet global needs.
- Remember that it takes the whole to repair itself. Each of us can play an important part by healing ourselves and following our own callings in how to help. Learn to work together.
- Recognize your strength and skills and generously share them with the world. Also, recognize the skills and strengths of others.
In Dharma Gaia (1990), Joanna Macy states that many people have been turned off from the environmental movement because they feel they are being asked to be more moral and less self-interested. However, when we feel our interconnectedness to the entire planet, we realize that in acting for the environment, we are indeed acting for our own self interests. Joanna Macy states, "It would not occur to me to plead with you, ‘Oh, don't saw off your leg. That would be an act of violence.' It wouldn't occur to me because your leg is part of your body. Well, so are the trees in the Amazon rain basin. They are our external lungs. And we are beginning to realize that the world is our body." (62) Let us look at one example of someone who writes from the ecological self perspective. This comes from a student named Michael, who wrote this passage after hearing Joanna Macy talk about people who risk their lives for the protection of other species. "I think of the tree-huggers hugging my trunk, blocking the chainsaws with their bodies. I feel their fingers digging into my bark to stop the steel and let me breathe. I hear the bodhisattvas in their rubber boats as they put themselves between the harpoons and me, so I can escape to the depths of the sea. I give thanks for your life and mine, and for life itself." (54)