Ecofeminism and Nonduality

[Guest guest]

"Spiritually, ecofeminists are drawn to practices and

orientations that nurture experiences of nonduality and

loving reverence for the sacred whole that is the cosmos."

>From Charlene Spretnak, "Critical and Constructive

Contributions of Ecofeminism," Pp. 181- 189 in Peter Tucker

and Evelyn Grim (Eds.), Worldviews and Ecology,

Philadelphia: Bucknell Press, 1993.

 

The entire article is at

http://www.runet.edu/~lridener/courses/ECOFEM.HTML

 

Also read the article at

http://www.runet.edu/~lridener/courses/ECOFEM2.HTML

 

In summary, ecofeminism is a movement that focuses

attention on the historical linkage between denigration of

nature and the female. It seeks to shed light on why

Eurocentric societies, as well as those in their global

sphere of influence, are now enmeshed in environmental

crises and economic systems that require continuing the

ecocide and the dynamics of exploitation. Ecofeminism

continues the progression within traditional feminism from

attention to sexism to attention to all systems of human

oppression (such as racism, classism, ageism, and

heterosexism) to recognition that "naturism" (the

exploitation of nature) is also a result of the logic of

domination. (19) Ecofeminism challenges environmental

philosophy to abandon postures upholding supposedly

gender-free abstract individualism and "rights" fixations

and to realize that human relationships (between self and

the rest of the world) are constitutive, not peripheral.

Hence care for relationships and contextual embeddedness

provides grounds for ethical behavior and moral theory.

Politically, ecofeminists work in a broad range of efforts

to halt destructive policies and practices and to create

alternatives rooted in community-based legitimacy that

honors the self-determination of women as well as men and

that locates the well-being of human societies within the

well-being of the entire earth community. Spiritually,

ecofeminists are drawn to practices and orientations that

nurture experiences of nonduality and loving reverence for

the sacred whole that is the cosmos.

 

Ecofeminism is a global phenomenon that is bringing

attention to the linked domination of women and nature in

order that both aspects can be adequately understood.

Ecofeminists seek to transform the social and political

orders that promote human oppression embedded in ecocidal

practices. The work consists of resistance, creativity, and

hope.

 

In addition to the philosophical and political aspects,

ecofeminism contains a spiritual dimension. The ecofeminist

alternative to the Western patriarchal worldview of

fragmentation, alienation, agonistic dualisms, and

exploitative dynamics is a radical reconceptualization that

honors holistic integration: interrelatedness,

transformation, embodiment, caring, and love. Such an

orientation is simpatico with the teachings of several

Eastern and indigenous spiritual traditions on nonduality

and the relative nature of seemingly sharp divisions and

separations. To refer to the ultimate mystery of creativity

in the cosmos--its self-organizing, self-regulating

dynamics-- spiritual traditions draw on metaphor and

symbol. Those may be female, male, or nonanthropomorphic,

such as the Taoist perception of The Way. Ecofeminists are

situated in all the major religious traditions, and most

see good reason for women to use female imagery in

references to "the divine," or ultimate mystery in the

cosmos. Particularly, in patriarchal societies, the choice

of female metaphors is a healthy antidote to the cultural

denigration of women. Those ecofeminists drawn to Goddess

spirituality appreciate the nature-based sense of the

sacred as immanent in the earth, our bodies, and the entire

cosmic community--rather than being located in some distant

father-god far removed from "entanglement" with matter. The

transcendent nature of creativity in the cosmos, or the

divine, lies not above us but in the infinite complexity of

the sacred whole that continues to unfold. Goddess

spirituality is not the sole tradition that contains these

understandings, and even religions that are somewhat

hostile to them are being persistently challenged by their

own ecofeminist members.

 

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We are the Nonduality Generation.

http://www.nonduality.com