Copenhagen: a wake-up call

During this past week the world witnessed the most extraordinary events in Copenhagen as world leaders attempted to determine a path to avoid the excesses of climate change. While the results are appalling, it is nevertheless important to note that the very event itself is a witness to the important growth in awareness of our place as humans on the planet and a call to rediscover our place. If nothing else, it would be hard at this point for anyone anywhere on the planet to ignore the call to redirect our path through history.

Religion has a part to play and, while the results thus far are as abysmal as that of the meeting in Copenhagen, there is hope in the voices of those who recall religion to its place in the human heart. We live in one world and are shaped by the same forces; our origin and our destiny is that of the planet and of the other species that live here. Religion, as Thomas Berry said, is born out of the wonder and awe at the majesty of the universe. Unfortunately, our technological era has encased most humans in a setting that is completely encased in human artifice and that leaves little room for the contact that gives rise to a sense of wonder and also of awe (the capacity to recognise our limitations before the enormous forces of nature). Religions today need to help people recover the connection that originally gave rise to religion thousands of years ago and that led those peoples to find ways to express themselves on that level. No religious tradition today is up to the task. All religious traditions need to learn from one another, enrich one another, humbly place themselves in receptive encounter of the insights and the paths that will help each and all of us move toward that “re-enchantment of the Earth” that will provide the force necessary to let go of our love of death and destruction and to begin to live out of a profound love of life in all its forms. In the history of religions there are two themes that are quite common to most religious traditions: “a new birth” and “following the way” or path that religious insight opens up. The Copenhagen event invites us to plunge into our own religious traditions in order to recognise how they speak to the need for a reorientation of planetary practice. In this, we are not alone; we are not at the very beginning; we need to contemplate profoundly and act resolutely.