The Circle of Life is Broken: An Eco-Spiritual Philosophy of the Climate Crisis

by Brendan Myers

Overview

The Circle of Life is more than the food web. It's a self-organizing system of global life-cooperation and energy dissipation. Its balance and stability have been taken for granted for millennia. But in the age of the climate crisis, the Circle is breaking down. From the 1960s onward, philosophers, artists and spiritual teachers promoted the idea of the ‘Green Self' to help us understand how the Circle works, and how we harm ourselves when we damage it. But in all that time, the climate crisis only got worse. The Greening of the Self didn't happen. Using the science of ecology and a deep dive into human nature, this book explores what the Circle of Life really is, and what becomes of us when we face it in different ways. The exploration reveals a deeper eco-spiritual perspective, in which the Immensity of the Earth, and the breakdown of the Circle, are calls to action: to heal the Circle, and to create a better world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781789049770
Publisher:	Collective Ink
Publication date:	11/01/2022
Series:	Earth Spirit
Pages:	232
Product dimensions:	5.59(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.52(d)

About the Author

Brendan Cathbad Myers is the author of seventeen books in philosophy, environmental ethics, history of ideas, spirituality, urban fantasy fiction, and game design. Brendan is professor of philosophy at Heritage College, Gatineau, Quebec, Canada, where he also resides.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements ix

Kenosis: The Overview Effect 1

The Greening Of The Self Did Not Happen 7

Pure Anthropocentrism Didn't Work Either 14

And God Is Not Coming To Save Us 16

First Root Question: What Is The Circle Of Life? 19

In Nature, There Is No Balance Of Nature 21

Twelve Paths To Ecology 29

The Primacy Of Symbiosis 36

Little Whirlpools 42

Tipping Points 47

Love 50

The Dialogue Of The Seen And The Unseen 53

All Things Become The Things Of Man 59

The Calling 62

Second Root Question: Who Faces The Circle of Life? 69

Birth: Thrown-ness, Emergence, And Giftedness 76

Infancy: Seeing, Hearing, Touching, And Knowing 82

Childhood: The Naming Of The World 87

Childhood: Innocence And Play 99

Adolescence: Disenchantment 110

Adulthood: Work And Mastery 114

Adulthood: Shifting Baselines 123

Middle Age: The Urban Hyper-Reality 127

Middle Age: No Climate Reckoning 133

Elderhood: We Broke The World For Nothing 140

One Question, Many Answers 146

Third Root Question: Can The Circle Be Healed? 149

Ecofascism Is Not Environmentalism 154

The Gatekeepers of Human Nature 160

Face The Immensity 167

If There Is Magic 176

Plerosis: Green Sabbatical and Ecological Pilgrimage 179

References 185