Science has been telling us for some time now that all is one. Physics has shown that everything is energy, and claims there is one universal energy, the Unified Field, of which everything is a part. Astronomy knows everything came from one source, the Big Bang, and therefore everything is connected. Evolution tells us all life forms are part of the one tree of life.
This is radically different from the scientific world view before Einstein. Newtonian science claimed that everything was distinct particles and all is separate. This has resulted in extreme individualism, the idea that each of us is separate from everyone else, and human beings are separate from nature.
Ecological science has now identified the root of all our environmental problems: if we continue to think we are separate from nature, we will continue to destroy the planet and therefore ourselves. If we don`t realize that what we do to nature has an impact on us, we will continue to deplete and pollute the oceans, land, rainforests, and sky.
Science is proclaiming what mystics in all religions have said for centuries, that all is one. And all religions have identified one spiritual source for all problems: the ego. The ego resists oneness with all it`s strength.
In A New Earth Eckhart Tolle brilliantly analyses how the ego works: it wants to be separate from and superior to others, and it always wants more. One of the ego`s main beliefs is that if I have more, I am superior to you.
The ego thus drives mass consumption, which is the source of all our environmental problems. The environmental problem is therefore basically a spiritual problem: how do we cope with our egos and learn the oneness that Jesus and Buddha taught? One of the central ideas of Jesus was that if you lose your small self, your ego, you find your true self which knows you are connected to God, others, and all of creation. As he said, “As you do to the least these, you do to me.”
Karl Rahner, arguably the greatest Catholic theologian of the twentieth century, stated that “The Christian of the future will be a mystic or will not exist at all.” The signs of the times are calling not just Christians but all human beings to be mystics, to discover our oneness with God, others, and nature.
Evolution has constantly moved in an ever expanding spiritual direction from matter to life to thought to spirit: from the original chemical soup of our planet, to plants and animals, to human beings, to religions.
Mystics are the forerunners of the next logical step in evolution: that we all become mystics. The so-called New Age Movement and the Internet may be a part of this. There is a definite general interest in spirituality and awareness of an ever greater connection in the one global village.
The signs of the times are also that evolution is going to force us to the next spiritual level: to lose our egos or die as a species. We will either learn the easy way by making a conscious choice to let go of our egos and stop our wild consuming, or we will learn the hard way through great suffering. Nature is already lashing us with floods, fires, tornadoes, earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis, and droughts.
Human beings will inevitably be stubborn about giving up their egos. Cutting back to a far simpler, environmentally sound lifestyle is not going to be easy. However, for most people as Tolle says, suffering is their greatest spiritual teacher.
Our environmental problems are therefore a great spiritual opportunity: to learn to be non-egoic mystics, to learn the oneness of all things. Fortunately, we have good role models. Jesus was the model of true egolessness, and since all is one, he is the saviour of the whole world. We can learn to let go of our egos by following his teachings and that of other mystics.
The thesis of ancient religion was that all is one. The anti-thesis of old Newtonian science was that all is separate. The synthesis is spirituality and science both promoting oneness together. All human beings are being called by God and forced by nature to embrace the ancient religious world view and the new scientific world view that all is one. We are all being called to become mystics as a solution to our environmental problems.
The London Free Press published Bruce Tallman’s article "Mysticism, Science, and the Environment Become One" in their "Spirituality and Ethics" section on Saturday, September 15, 2008
Bruce Tallman, Dr. Min.
Spiritual Director and Marriage Coach