Description
Ecology & Spirituality
Presented by: Fr. Edwardo Scarel, O. Carm
To understand the link between ecology and spirituality requires recognizing that the ultimate goal of Christian spirituality – and human in general – is to achieve contemplation. Likewise, the teaching of our Carmelite saints shows us that contemplation must be understood in a dynamic way, not as a final state of stillness of the passions and inner strengths of the human spirit. That is to say, it must be understood as a way, or process, in which the human desire, molded by affectivity, sexuality and the deepest passions of knowing and dominating, is reoriented towards an end, unique and simple, that soothes and liberates the tension. End or term that we call God, whose essential reality is to be One and Simple. In other words, for the Carmelite, contemplation is a path that leads you to move from a personal, multiple, replete and fragmented world of passions and desires (and goods), to a simpler, emptier and more unified, whose founding center is the experience of God, of God’s Love, which fills everything. And, therefore, only He is enough. Contemplation as a liberation path, supposes the itinerant experience that has as its goal to seek God through creatures, but without dwelling on them. This is achieved successfully as one enters into a self-discovery of one’s true self, to finally learn to be in relationship with the world (people, creation and God himself), that is, in relations of justice, peace and integration with everything created and God.
