Dark Green Religion: Nature Spirituality and the Planetary Future | Date: 15 April 2011, 15:20
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This is truly a remarkable work that has connected many isolated dots that have long belonged together. At first glance, Edmund Burke, radical "eco-terrorists," the Little Mermaid, surfers, Alice Walker, Spinoza and Al Gore might seem to have little in common, but Taylor brings these and many other influential persons, places and things together into a loose but convicted community of phenomena that all share a common belief: the notion that nature has intrinsic value and is worthy of reverent care. "Dark green religion" may be a new phrase, but Taylor shows that it is an ancient force that has been rumbling in the depths of human consciousness for centuries. Now, in 2010, in the context of our growing incredulity regarding revealed religions and our increasing anxieties over the ecological crisis that confronts us, the elements that comprise dark green religion just might be poised to make their way to the forefront.
In his work, Taylor serves as an erudite and impassioned tour guide of the "deep roots and modern expressions" of this hitherto unnamed religion, providing, along with his powerful yet undogmatic analysis, an instructive compendium of ideas and actions that cogently legitimize dark green religion as a concept with significant explanatory power. Through this book we hear of 18th-century philosophers expressing sensations of oceanic unity, modern-day mainstream scientists reflecting upon the "being-ness" of trees, surfers earnestly scrambling to find words to explain the satori that occurs inside the tube of a wave, and Disney's Pocahontas imploring Western colonialists to stop and "ask the grinning bobcat why he grins." It is precisely this diversity of thinkers coupled with the synchronicity of their thoughts that makes Taylor's thesis so compelling. While some may feel that the Earth is sentient and/or animals have souls, and others might take a more naturalistic approach, most all of the "practitioners" of dark green religion share a sense of felt kinship with nonhuman life and a sense of wonder at the structure and flow of the interconnected Earth and cosmos. This religious, or "para-religious," cosmological outlook occasions an ecological conscience that sensitizes humans to the condition of the planet with a depth of feeling that secular, humanistic concerns of sustainability might have a hard time matching. Many of the excerpted passages from Taylor's book are not only extremely convincing, but also extremely moving. If you are at all receptive to these sorts of sentiments, you might find Dark Green Religion to be a source not only of information, but also inspiration.
On a personal level, for most of my life I have found myself violently vacillating between a soothing belief in a supernatural power and a sort of dreary conviction that there is nothing "more" to the universe than the atheism that meets the human eye. Taylor's work implicitly addresses this existential quandary and posits a resolution to it by reconceptualizing the definition of religion, releasing it from a requisite belief in a transcendent sky god, effectively endowing people with the "right" to feel religious even if the lack of scientific support for traditional religions alienates them from what they might sense to be "sacred" in the natural order. In this manner, Taylor enacts an empowering, redemptive paradigm shift, one that enables people to worship the creation even if they're not sure about the existence of a creator. After reading this book, I have looked at the world through slightly more enchanted eyes, as I now find cosmogonic merit in reading "the odyssey of evolution," for example, as a sacred text, and contemplating the simple fact of existence as a miracle comparable to anything that any saint may or may not have done.
This does not, however, mean that there is no place for the supernaturalistic in the scattered yet inclusive church of dark green religion. On the contrary, the book is replete with examples of people who believe that Mother Earth is a conscious entity and/or feel that tactile or telepathic communication between humans and non-humans are spiritual possibilities. Taylor brings to light the ways in which these forms of "spiritual animism" and "Gaian spirituality" (he shies away from such terms as "paganism" and "panentheism" because of the baggage they carry), have manifested themselves throughout history, and muses on the role that such beliefs may play in "the planetary future."
There does seem to be a bit of tension between what Taylor calls dark green religion and the Abrahamic religious traditions. Many -- if not most -- of the scholars, scientists, surfers and activists that Taylor references express a potent condemnation of the overall effects that the Abrahamic religions have had on the planet and its human and non-human inhabitants, criticizing these faiths for their hubristic anthropocentrism, which allegedly led to the domination and desecration of entire continents and the brutal persecution of indigenous peoples who live(d) in a more ecologically sustainable manner. Taylor notes that these Abrahamic religions have experienced a kind of "greening" in the past few decades in response to such criticisms, but he appears to be skeptical that these established traditions can, on balance, ultimately play a constructive role in the protection and restoration of the environment. While this is not the main focus of Taylor's book, it is important to open this subject to debate. Many environmental observers feel that the human species will not be inspired enough to save the planet unless they consider it to be sacred, in one way or another, to the degree that its ruin would be regarded not only as a physical, but also a spiritual tragedy.
In sum, this is a groundbreaking work that comes to us at a crucial moment. By the time you come to the end of this book, you feel as if "the planetary future" is just about to begin, and its outcome is in many ways up for grabs. If you have any interest in how this larger story will unfold, Taylor's book is a must read.
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