In the Greek world, the word metanoia meant a changing of one’s mind, a moving to a new understanding of things in the light of more compelling evidence. In the Christian tradition, metanoia came to mean repentance – a turning away from false beliefs and false practices to which one was wedded, but which no longer satisfy the hunger for truth and integrity. Intrinsic to the dynamic of metanoia is the desire to walk along a different pathway, because the old pathway is experienced as having led one astray.

We have sinned against the Earth

For many generations now, humanity has behaved in a very arrogant manner in relation to the Earth and its various systems of life. We have assumed that the Earth is our inheritance, and ours only. Other species are there for our convenience, but have no rights. We invoke our fundamental faith narratives to establish our dominion over the land, the animals and the plants. In assuming this dominion, we have lost our sense of the Sacred. The Earth is no longer a sacrament of Divine Presence, rather is it a conglomeration of dead matter and expendable life forms that we can plunder and manipulate to satisfy our insatiable needs. In our headlong stampede to satisfy our rapacious appetite for more and more resources, we are systematically poisoning the atmosphere, polluting the oceans, ravaging the land and extinguishing forever unique living expressions of Divine creativity. Until very recently, we did not even notice the consequences of our actions.

A change of heart is necessary

Our growing awareness of our destructive presence upon the Earth is causing us to review our situation, and to question the mind-set that brought us to this place. Desecrating the Sacred Earth is not something we can do with impunity. We are gradually coming to see that we need a change of heart. We need to find a new pathway to the future for our species, or their will be not future for us. We have been part of the biosphere for a relatively short period of time. Homo sapiens evolved about two hundred thousand years ago, whereas the bacteria so essential to the chemistry of all of life have been part of the biosphere for the past 3.8 billion years. There were aeons of ages before we humans came upon the scene, and were we to become extinct, life would continue to unfold in new and unimagined ways.

A voice from the Old Testament

In our times, the stern warning uttered through the mouth of the Old Testament prophet some three thousand years ago rings ever more true.

Today, I call heaven and earth to witness against you: I am offering you life or death, blessing or curse. Choose life, then, so that you and your descendants may live. Dt. 30:19

Today, Planet Earth is a sick planet. It has a rising mean temperature to prove it. We know our planet is sick because of the devastating effects our consumerist life-style is having on its welfare. Earth’s atmosphere, its hydrosphere, its lithosphere and its biosphere are all showing clear signs of stress and degradation. There is increased air and water pollution, rising sea levels, squandering of limited mineral resources, loss of top soil and an unrelenting decimation of living species in the biosphere. On average, some twenty thousand species are becoming extinct each year. Most of the larger mammals on land and in the oceans are under threat of extinction. Every species is a unique expression of Divine creativity. To cause the extinction of a species is to silence forever a unique expression of the Divine voice.

Ecological Metanoia

What does it mean then for us to choose life? In the context of the world we live, it means making the kinds of life-style choices that respect the constraints and limitations imposed on us by the finite nature of all of Mother Earth’s resources. A sustainable life-style is required not just for humans but for the whole biosphere. Other species need to be seen as an intrinsic part of Earth’s life system, not just as adornments or resources for humans. If the biosphere is not healthy for the whole web of life, it will not be healthy for any particular species. It is a transparent truism that we cannot have healthy humans on a sick planet. If we human are the main part of the problem then, of necessity, we need to be the main part of the solution.

Cultivating a deep love for Mother Earth and her community life is an essential element of any journey towards ecological metanoia. To cultivate a deep love of Mother Earth we need to spend time with the beloved.

We will never save what we do not love. Thomas Berry