Laudato Si. On the care for our common home

[Treeshepherd]

The Pope's 2nd encyclical has been characterized as a rebuke on climate change deniers. In my view, that's a severely reductionist take on the thing as a whole. In fact, 'warming' and 'climate change' are mentioned 9 and 12 times, respectively. I'd like to explore the other 40,000+ words contained in the teaching.

compare and contrast these two quotes that attempt to sum up the encyclical;

Greenpeace executive director Kumi Naidoo: "a welcome rebuke to climate-change deniers and the interests that seek to thwart progress. The Pope's words should jolt heads of government out of complacency, and encourage them to bring in tough laws in their own countries to protect the climate, and to agree to a strong protocol in Paris at the end of the year".

R.R. Reno of the religious journal First Things: "a dark reflection on the evils of modernity".

Is the encyclical a call to progressiveness, or an appeal to rediscover something that has been lost? From the excerpts I've read, covering a wide range of topics ranging from abortion to social media to the nature of the Incarnation, I don't find the encyclical to be a prescription toward specific government policy about climate change. Rather, Pope Francis is calling us to rediscover an inner life that is drowned out by an abstract and harried modern lifestyle.

 

[Treeshepherd]

Essentially, the Laudato Si is an appeal to attune oneself to human ecology. Human ecology pertains to humankind in situ, fitting into its proper place in a grand scheme of cooperation between human society, other species, the land, water and air.

It's worth noting that this encyclical didn't come out of the blue. It's the result of centuries of contemplation. There are echoes of St. Benedict, one of the great architects of monastic life. He said that a monk has basic needs. To live in destitution is to be distracted by hunger and cold and to be distracted away from the ability to listen to one's inner self and to the natural order that surrounds us. By the same token, a cluttered life filled with too much stuff is also a distraction from one's ability to develop a rich inner life. The monastic life was designed to achieve the most effective possible lifestyle in terms of the opportunity to listen and learn from within and from without, and to participate in systems of cooperation with fellow monks and with the natural world. We can't all be monks, but we can all learn to 'unplug' from modern distractions now and then.

"The gravity of the ecological situation reveals how deep is the human moral crisis." - Pope John Paul II, World Peace Day, 1990.

"The emptier a person's heart is, the more he or she needs things to buy, own and consume." LaudatoSi #204

Last week's encyclical is much more radical than some kind of rebuke of climate change denial. Progressives have embraced it as such, but I doubt many of them would be willing to embrace the true heart of the teaching because it cuts much deeper. It really doesn't prescribe any particular government policy (in fact it rebukes the carbon credit scheme). It rebukes modernity itself (hyper-consumerism, technophilia, social media overload, science as the primary tool of epistemology, etc.).

"Sacrifice can never be legislated. Doing so harms the dignity of the human person, who has free will. Changing men's hearts in light of the energy problem and its moral implications will ultimately require the Word of God and the grace that pours forth from the sacraments. Reason must wed faith..." Pope Benedict 16.

 

[Foxfyre]

While I doubt Pope Francis is an authority on climate change, at least he does understand that government, most especially world government, is not where we should look to address it if it is happening.

 

[Treeshepherd]

The encyclical talks about our "throw away culture", the "culture of waste", which harms both "environmental ecology" and "human ecology".

I don't find Pope Francis to be anti-capitalist so much as he is anti-gluttony as it pertains to our hyper-consumerist debt-driven economy. In his view, our economic system is crazy (Koyaanisqatsi in the Hopi language) and promotes a sort of life on a treadmill in pursuit of material gains. He says, "Nobody is suggesting a return to the Stone Age, but we do need to slow down and look at reality in a different way".

But our economic system can't afford to slow down. That's the problem. As the ancient Chinese saying goes, "He who rides the tiger can never dismount". The entire world economy depends on economic growth, ie ever greater levels of consumption. The problem isn't so much to do with capitalism, but rather Voodoo Economics where (like with a Ponzi scheme) a perpetually increasing scale of influx is requires to remain afloat.

What is needed, Francis says, is a "bold cultural revolution" that aims to recover values swept away by humans' "unrestrained delusions of grandeur". He's not talking about a socialist political revolution. He's talking about a shift in consciousness resulting in a radical change in cultural values.

 

[Treeshepherd]

"When media and the digital world become omni-present, their influence can stop people from learning how to live wisely, to think deeply and to love generously. True wisdom, as the fruit of self-examination, dialogue and generous encounter between [actual live] persons, is not acquired by a mere accumulation of data which eventually leads to overload and confusion, a sort of mental pollution"- Laudato Si

This is where the encyclical most violently conflicts with modernity, and what people will find most impossible to embrace. In my reading of it, I get the sense that I'm reading a sad swan song dedicated to the passing of the human species (humans living in human ecology). All species pass, or become something else. Our digital technology is literally changing our brains and our nature. Bio-engineering will literally change our DNA make-up in the not too distant future. The Pope argues that the "cult of human power" and blind adoption of technology has been a Faustian bargain offering a wealth of benefits, but at the risk of losing our 'souls'.

"Life gradually becomes a surrender to situations conditioned by technology", said the Pope, "itself viewed as the principle key to the meaning of existence". Salvation thru technology.

"It has become countercultural," Francis continued, "to choose a lifestyle whose goals are even partly independent of technology".

The Pope speaks in his encyclical about the example of the one person of the Trinity who threw in his lot with Creation, accepting this even as he was led to the cross. This raises the question of faith. Do we place our faith in the destiny of Creation? Are we willing to humble ourselves, and be grateful for the gift of Creation, knowing that Creation is one indivisible thing and our individuality is an illusion, and to stop and listen to nature in order to better understand the human role within it? Do we have the wisdom to know when and where we are masters of technology, and where it becomes our master?

We have dominion over the earth. That's not a moral judgement, but just a statement of fact. We can push a button and launch 1,000 nuclear missiles. We have the power to tinker with the DNA of plants and animals. We can clone humans and fuse men with machinery. Science is neutral. The care for our common home is a moral issue.

 

[HenryBHough]

I'll accept the Pope's wisdom on all this when I see his Swiss guards armed only with inflated pig bladders to ward off Muslim attackers.

 

[Treeshepherd]

On a lighter note, pun intended, the Catholic Church has embraced solar technology. Solar technology is a tool we may use without it becoming our master. It doesn't alter the development of our brains or perception of reality. It just sits on the roof and generates electricity.

The Nervi Hall next to St. Peters Square was outfitted a decade ago with 2,400 solar panels. Solar installations at the Vatican are ongoing. It's been estimated that 2,000 churches use solar. Catholic universities like Santa Clara have set goals to become 100% renewable in terms of energy.

The Church recognizes that oil is a source of conflict around the world. At a Vatican environmental conference last April, Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana submitted his book Energy, Justice and Peace. The book has to do with "How energy can both threaten and serve integral human development".

 

[HenryBHough]

It's been a long, long time since Catholics have had a good laugh!