Seeking A Regenerative Life

Today, Feb. 2, 2017 is Imbolc; also known as groundhog day, St. Brigid’s Day and Candlemas. It is a cross-quarter day, observed in the Celtic calendar and by others. Cross quarter days are half-way between the solstices and the equinoxes. Samhain on Oct. 31st, Beltane on May 1st and Lammas on Aug. 1st (the wheel of the year). Imbolc is the day that traditionally we start to move from winter to spring. The earth is stirring and new life is coming. Imbolc comes from the word for sheep’s milk because this is the time of quickening when the ewes start to lactate. The plants are stirring, even if we can’t see it, and seeds sprouting. It’s a fertility festival, for sure, when we celebrate the fertility of the earth, animals and people. Supposedly, St. Brigid made a cross out of river thrushes to explain Christianity to someone and so one symbol today is St. Brigid’s cross. Brigid was originally a pre-Christian goddess in the Celtic world and was “converted” or appropriated for a Christian saint later on. In her goddess identity she was the goddess of poetry, creativity, midwifery and healing. Other symbols for Imbolc are candles and bonfires celebrating the return of light. It’s a hopeful day, like the groundhog never seeing his shadow and starting to wake up for spring. It’s pretty cold and icy here in Boulder today, so it’s nice to think about spring stirring.

I have found that observing these days based on the earth, like Imbolc, is a way to keep in touch with the process of God and earth. It’s interesting to feel connected to our ancestors who lived in tune with the seasons and earth by necessity. It’s also amazing to see how growing food and living closer to the earth puts me naturally in touch with these celebrations. The Christian church claimed and changed these celebrations in order to move away from the pagan traditions, but they kept them under different names perhaps because the people were still dependent upon the earth and it’s seasons.

You see, I had been thinking about life stirring lately because it’s time to plant seeds in my greenhouse. It’s early for tomatoes, but I put in a bunch of snow peas, greens, bok choy, and some cucumbers which I hope will grow in the greenhouse all summer,  gourds that require a longer growing season than this altitude provides and more spinach. I have this passive solar greenhouse that has a solar battery of earth tubes four feet down. We circulate air through these with radon fans to warm the place in the winter and cool it in summer. I also get some heat in winter from lots of water jugs painted dark colors and some phase change material on the walls. It’s been a cold winter, so it’s been a battle and I even added a heat bulb to the light fixture (which arguably did little to help) on the coldest nights. But the fig and lemon trees are alive, and the greens are doing fine. Having the greenhouse has been an important part of my wife and I trying to grow more of what we eat, which normally is pretty hard in the winter around here. It’s still hard and I am slowly learning what and when to plant in the greenhouse.

In the contemporary world we have mostly forgotten the earth based cycles of the year, though I can tell from the internet that many people are rediscovering them. I think the wheel of the year is a useful tool in relearning our connection to the earth. I am convinced that human thriving and regeneration of the earth depends upon us remembering this connection. Every ancient culture knew about these cycles and observed them. You can pick the tradition that speaks to you. It happens that my ancestors were from Northern Europe and the British Isles and I find I relate to the Celtic traditions and celebrations. In this season of Imbolc, which lasts until the Spring Equinox on March 21st, I will be trying to help my gardens and my psyche to wake up from the dark time of year and welcome new ideas and new life. I may have a bonfire tonight just for fun.

   

The last couple years I have been reading everything I can by and about Thomas Berry, the Christian theologian or “geologian”, as he called himself, who contributed a great deal to the study of eco-spirituality and the environmental movement. I came across a short biography of Berry written by his student, Mary Evelyn Tucker, on the website “Center for Humans & Nature”. In it she mentioned that in addition to Berry’s interest in indigenous spirituality, he also was influenced by Asian traditions and philosophies, particularly Confucianism. She noted that Berry thought that Confucianism had much to teach the contemporary environmental movement. As an East-Asian Studies major in undergraduate, I had studied Confucianism, but had taken a greater interest in Taoism, so I was curious to see what had captivated Berry about Confucianism. I found my college text on Confucianism by H.G. Creel, Confucianism and the Chinese Way and dug back into it.

         Confucianism taught that nature and human are interconnected. Confucius inherited this idea of the intimate relationship of nature and humans from older Chinese culture, and held to that tradition as well as to the elaborate rituals and etiquette that were aimed at harmonizing and revitalizing the universe and human society. Confucius taught that it was critical that human beings be in harmony with nature and to establish benevolent government that protected this harmony. He considered nature (which included earth, humans, animals and plants) to be basically good and had an optimistic view of the possibility of improving people, government and, by implication, nature. One does this through education and self cultivation. This idea of basic goodness reminds me of the original goodness of nature as found in indigenous (primal) religions and in Native American and Celtic Spirituality. Confucius was unencumbered by Western dualism. For Confucius, humans were not separate from nature or the cosmos.

Confucius saw the universe to be an interconnected triad of heaven, earth and human. Heaven for Confucius was not what we conceive of as God, but what he referred to as the Way of heaven. This Way was the manner in which the cosmos functioned. To be in harmony with heaven, or the Way, was for humans to follow truth and to find their original nature. The earth, nature, plants and animals were considered by Confucius to be in harmony with heaven, but humans had some work to day to get into harmony. This concept of the Way is much like Taoism, in which the Way is translated as Tao: the way things work, the inherent system or process of the cosmos, nature and humans.

Earth and human, the other two parts of the triad are to be kept in harmony with heaven. Humans can bring themselves to be more in harmony with heaven through living a moral life. This included practicing the correct ceremonies (li), the correct etiquette and adopting proper beliefs and behavior. It must be noted that for Confucius the main concern was human society and good government. The person was to cultivate themselves to be better servants of other people. However, Berry and others have noted that in Confucius’ time, it was assumed that the moral person was also serving nature.

Part of the “Way” for Confucius was Ch’i, the material force of the universe. The ceaseless movement of Ch’i in nature gives birth to new life. This Chi is sometimes pictured in Chinese landscapes as the mist descending from the mountains. Humans are supposed to model this ceaseless vitality of the cosmic process in our behavior and the organization of our society. Through Chi, everything is connected. The five elements are metal, wood, water, fire and earth. Each element corresponds to a season, a color and a direction. For example, fire corresponds to south, summer and the color red. Rituals, etiquette and human behavior and natural systems all revolve around these interconnections. The moral person’s job is to keep all of this in harmony. Therefore, cultivation of the individual’s life and the cultivation of the land in agriculture are interconnected and equally important. Humans are considered co-creators with heaven in re-ordering human society and human’s relationship with nature. Contemporary process theology in some ways shares this philosophy of interconnection.

Berry taught that Confucianism was an “anthropocosmic” philosophy as opposed to an anthropocentric philosophy. Instead of having humans as the center of creation around which the universe revolves, Confucian thought sees humans as “an integral part of the ‘chain of being’ encompassing heaven, earth and the myriad things”(Evelyn Tucker). Humans, for Confucius, are considered to be interconnected, (interpenetrating, united) with all of the cosmic order.

   

        This philosophy has much to teach contemporary environmentalists. Confucianism can help us develop our new eco-spirituality or eco-centric theology that undergirds our environmental action. As I move away from the anthropocentric and dualistic traditions I grew up with in traditional, Christian theology, Confucianism’s non-dualism and wholistic view of the cosmos is very helpful. I agree with Berry that it has much in common with indigenous spiritualities around the world. What I find to be unique in Confucianism is the moral responsibility of humans to cultivate and educate ourselves to be instruments for re-harmonizing and revitalizing human society and individuals with heaven and earth.

To restate this idea, dualist theism found in western religious traditions such as Christianity, Judaism and Islam is anthropocentric. A basic principle of eco-centric theology is the move from understanding God and humans as separate from the rest of the cosmos – temporarily part of nature – to seeing God and humans as part of nature: interconnected. Confucianism is closely related to primal religions and spirituality that were almost universally non-dualistic. If we consider humans and God are utterly separate from the cosmos, then it is possible to view nature as serving humans and expendable. Views such as dominion over nature and it’s exploitation are intrinsic to dualism. However, if humans and God are considered part of the process of the cosmos, then to inflict damage on nature is to damage God and ourselves. Confucian philosophy is consistent with non-dual thought in which human life and our conception of God is interwoven with the cosmos. Following from this is an entirely different understanding of theology, ethics and human identity. Our ethics cease to be concerned primarily with human well-being, but must be adapted to include all of nature. Non-dualism changes everything, from how we think about God’s identity, to how we view humans, other animals and all of nature and the cosmos. I was surprised to discover in Confucius an ally in eco-spirituality.

“What we are more less lacking at this moment is a new definition of holiness” – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

“To cherish what remains of the Earth and foster its renewal is our only legitimate hope of survival.” – Wendell Berry

I am a retired pastor of the United Church of Christ living in Boulder, Colorado. I would describe my faith as contemplative, universalist and non-dualistic. I seek God in all things and in all spiritual paths. I have decided the best use of my life now is to serve the environmental movement. The late, Thomas Berry, the eco-theologian who called himself a “geologian” because he thought that the mystery we call God is actually the process of the earth, wrote that the environmental movement is “The Great Work” of our time. I agree and feel convicted that I should seek to contribute to this great work. I think one way for me to contribute is to write about my personal journey to find an earth based spirituality, and to explore how to bring earth honoring faith into my Christian tradition and my interest in permaculture, local food and regenerative living.

In this blog I will seek to explore ways of living, gardening and growing food, understanding faith as earth-honoring and doing theology that are regenerative. Honestly, part of my purpose is that I hope through researching and writing I can further my own thinking on these topics. For 30 years I wrote sermons and articles in relation to my work as a pastor. It is the way I learned and grew in my understanding. Through this blog I hope to continue to grow in my understanding of what is true through reading, practicing permaculture, contemplating, listening and writing about the experience. I invite you to read my reflections as I go. I hope there will be some thoughts worth reading.

I have been thinking about his blog for 3 years or so, but the election of Donald Trump convinced me I shouldn’t put it off any longer. The climate action movement is one of most important works of our time and now is not the time to sit on my hands or feel inadequate, it is a time to rise to the occasion and contribute what I can. I hope to contribute to the spiritual underpinning of this movement through sharing my journey of Earth-based spirituality, permaculture and environmentally responsible living. I don’t pretend to have achieved these goals, but am on a journey, seeking to live  a more regenerative life.

Pete Terpenning, January 19, 2017