Is it spiritual to save the planet?

Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh recently gave a rare interview to the Guardian, in which he talked about sustainable living as part of his teaching.  He believes that a spiritual revival and a return to simpler lifestyles is a better option for tackling global warming than is technology.

He’s probably right.  But the meat of the interview is in his understanding that we may well not succeed, that the sustainability issues facing us may well be the end of our civilisation.  And that is ok with him.

It is this acceptance, this divorce from any need to hang on to outcomes, that tells us that we are hearing the truth.  The more able we are to recognise our world as illusory and impermanent, the less important saving it becomes.

In the face of increasingly widespread ecological disaster and the suffering it causes, this may seem lke psychopathy.

But Thich Nhat Hanh also recognises that it is in this state of being unattached to outcomes that we can make the biggest difference; precisely because making a difference is not our aim, and we have no agenda.

The difference between resignation and what we might call active acceptance is subtle, and we may often find ourselves oscillating between the two.  It comes down to understanding that what we do in the world may have relative importance, but has no absolute importance.  If we are at peace with that, then we can act.