Why physical pollution matters to the soul

Thomas Moore's Care of the Soul column for Spirtuality & Health's January-February 2006 issue is available in the magazine site's archival area. Theology and Ecology addresses the spiritual lessons we can learn from nature.

"A forest, a mountain, the sea — they are still the haunts of healing, humanizing spirits. Why else do people flock to Cape Cod and the Rockies and the red mesas of New Mexico? These spirits are not supernatural, science fiction, or superstitious beings of belief. They are felt presences emanating sensually and spiritually from specific forms of nature itself. To an imagination steeped in sacredness, there is no separation of spirituality and physicality.

We need access to clean rivers to remember that our lives continually flow on. We need a virgin forest to remember that in a deep place our souls are untouched and untutored. We need a beautiful lake to remember that the spirit thrives in nature's beauty. If we continue to interfere with nature's job to teach us how to be spiritual, all of our labyrinths and zendos and yoga studios and Bible classes will become hollow and ungrounded."