Recently, I read a statement in a religious journal, “Most of the rest of the world does not understand life through a Western worldview. We in the West are the anomaly.” The author, Randy Woodley (May, 2019 Sojourners), claims that we in the Euro-West have interpreted life primarily from a Western Enlightenment perspective, going back to Platonic dualism inherited from the Greeks. This dualism values the realm of the abstract –- spirit, soul, mind –- above the concrete realm of earth, body, material.
So, how has this affected our Western culture? The Age of Reason that dominated the Western world of ideas and political movements from the 17th to the 19th centuries certainly led us to value principles of liberty, progress, toleration, and constitutional government. But as a culture we have pursued societal progress built primarily on our rational thinking abilities at the expense of what impact this has on the material world of earth and bodily health. Think deforestation, fracking, global warming, water pollution, mass extinction of species, new and deadly viruses.
Would it be so difficult to correct a dualistic way of thinking with a more wholistic and integrated way of thinking? Here’s the challenge to us humans: to strongly value ways to sustain the earth and physical concerns for health and survival as a necessary corrective to an obsession for progress at any cost.
Let’s find ways to support any national, state, and local leaders who move in this direction.
I am ConnieSeraphine and this is my Perspective challenge to us all.
