Religion ,Ecology and Globalisation

The world’s religious believers have, as a group, been cautious about making changes towards a more sustainable planetary future. Considering they are the majority of humanity, this will have to change.

Harvard University’s Forum on Religion and Ecology ( is the largest international multireligious project of its kind. The overall aim of its work is to find what connects rather than what separates us in terms of religions and ideologies. The environmental crisis, especially the loss of biodiversity, highlights our need to connect with the common ground of our interconnectedness with all of life and the need to highlight our deep respect for the sacredness of all of life

The new science of consciousness researched at the major universities of the world including Harvard, Stanford and UCLA shows scientifically that we are inextricably related with the total universe. It shows that the universe is a self referential living biological process and brings together physics consciousness and healing in a way which links science and religion.

Most of our great religious figures, appeared in an axial development two and a half thousand years agoREF 1. Around this time, we see the development of Judaism, Buddhism,the philosophy of Socrates and Plato Zoroastrism Janism and also the foundations of monotheism were laid in the west.. In the East, the inclusive compassion of the Buddha which states seek your salvation within yourself with diligence was established.

The spiritual belief systems were enculturated. They were born of a need of small nation states, to find meaning in life and to maintain bonds within the community.

The individual at that time in history was subservient to the collective whole , run by emperors, Caesar's and Kings.. In the East, the situation was no different The priestly caste system worked in tandem with the aristocracy, creating a ruling theocracy. True spiritual independence for the individual person was unheard of, as a nation played power games with other nations, vying for land and territory.

Life and death and survival, were key preoccupations in this patriarchal world and the collective archetypes were imbued with powerful symbols of survival, death and rebirth, capped by the God or Buddha Redeemer figure embodied in the priesthood.

The ancient wisdom, which held the key to the true nature of the human being and human psyche was lost in two separate historical events.

HISTORICAL EVENTS

The first was the burning of the greats Alexandrian library in Egypt Ancient and modern sources identify four possible occasions for the destruction of the Library:

1.Caesar's conquest 48 BC;

2.The attack of Aurelian in the 3rd century;

3.The decree of Theophilus in 391;

4.The Muslim conquest in 642 or thereafter.

Although the actual circumstances and timing of the physical destruction of the Library remain uncertain, it is however clear that by the 8th century, the Library was no longer a significant institution and had ceased to function in any important capacity.

The second, was the occasion of the Council of Nicea in 325 AD, under the auspices of Emperor Constantine when the authorised version of the Bible was born

About 50% of the biblical texts were discarded at this time. Only recently have some of these texts, been recovered. A notable example is the Dead Sea Scrolls, which documents the traditions and spirituality of the Essenes who lived around the time of Christ Twenty-five biblical texts were thus taken out of our references during that time an additional 20 supporting documents, such as the book of the Secrets of Enoch, were also removed REF2 These documents, express an individual spirituality, based on the inextricable connection, between the human being and the living universe through the compassionate heart. This spirituality was more loving and feminine, then the patriarchal Pauline doctrine of Christianity, which expressed an external God and the notion of sin, evil and hell

RELIGION AND GLOBALISATION

What all this means is that, firstly, we have lost the ancient traditions and wisdom, which could have given a more inclusive expression of humanity,in relationship to all the conscious universe

Secondly, the ancient wisdom is still contained within the traditions of the indigenous people of the world and in ancient storehouses such as the pyramid s of Egypt is,and the ancient temples in Tibet This is the depth and wisdom inherent in the human heart and also our deep connection with the symbols and meaning of the flora and fauna of nature in terms of totems, shamanistic symbols. flowers such as The Lotus etc etc which by their very nature reach us to higher spiritual levels of experience and consciousness.In fact all the great religions have within them these esoteric or hidden messages

Thirdly, the current religions in the world as they stand, still live by the ethos and cultural proclivity in which they were proclaimed, 2 1/2 thousand years ago, and have not yet risen to face the enormous changes of a more inclusive, interconnected global society, which we now live in

SCIENCE, RELIGION AND CONSCIOUSNESS

Science itself is gradually unravelling the nature of consciousness, and a deep relationship with the infinite intelligence of the self referential biological universe, particularly through the science of process physics

The new quantum physics, which is the basis of the new biology, and the new medicine, reveal the following points

1 Evolution is not a random event, but has purpose in it. In this respect, the universe is a biological self-referential evolving creative system

2 Darwinian evolution, is false. We live in a co-operative living matrix, in which everything maintains itself at the expense of everything else

3Materialistic science is dead,not only literally, but also theoretically. The universe is built and exists on energy in a quantum non local field

4 Humanity exists to cooperate in communication units and systems. We are all cells in a loving matrix

This understanding of consciousness, comes from the thousands of experiments, which prove ESP.REF3 Remote viewing, psychokinesis synchronicity and the effects of mind on the environment. This is in addition to the ability of the mind to create coherence with heart and brain, in order to cure virtually any illness under the sun.

Compared with the 1960s, we now have access to consciousness and spiritual studies and information, which stretch back thousands of years. This is all accessible now, through the Internet and through videos. The key ultimately is kindness. We need to be able to tolerate and try and love each other and at least care about each other, as we all live on only one planet.

The ability of thousands of people in coherent meditation to affect critical mass in terms of positive changes in society has been documented in many transcendental meditation studies. CommonPassion.org is evolving a collaborative social network that orchestrates, monitors, and validates the effectiveness of peace-engendering events, such as local and global meditations and prayers, peace concerts and dances, and other practices. Dr. Roger Nelson's of Princeton University sees CommonPassion.org as a continuation and expansion of the Global Consciousness Project.

WE NEED A NEW VISION TO UNITE

Can our religions make a quantum jump at this time, when our planet is at tipping point and severe mutilation of all living species, including human beings, could occur

What is needed is the awakening of a new consciousness and creativity to the challenges posed by the deep crisis that humanity now faces. We are at the summit of 6.5 billion years of evolution. The biosphere is a panoply of beauty and creativity with the mountains, Sunscapes, moonscapes, wild forests and the enormous biodiversity offlora and fauna. It is only in the past 20 years, have we at last realised through science our deep kinship with all living species on the planet. And this comes with the dread realisation, that our biosphere and planet are now on the sixth phase extinction of biodiversity, which is occurring at 30,000 species a year.REF4The last time that this occurred was 65 million years ago, with the extinction of the dinosaurs.. Humanity is now an endangered species

The religions of the world, now have to deal with new scenarios which are global, and ecological and in which our very lives are threatened

Can our combined humanity reach a place and common ground, where our religions can come together to enhance human values and express a deep regard and love for all humanity and living species and an affirmation of and celebration for all of life.

Can we indeed become responsible stewards of the planet, seeing ourselves as inextricably part of the great conscious cosmic network of life in which each one of us has a unique part to play in creating higher awareness, higher consciousness, creativity and love of life.

We need a new vision to unite humanity.

Indeed, this vision is happening in various fields around the planet. We only have to look at the earth charter, which is an expression of a new form of global governance, based on deep respect for the sacredness of life. This ties in well with the many citizens movements, which seek for a more equal representation of the voices of the people that they may be more clearly heard and represented.

There is also the development of new disciplines and understandings of religion and ecology, science and religion, holistic medicine, holistic education, involving the environment and also ecological economics, especially the work of Hazel Henderson.

A new religion or a new consciousness will need to encompass a Meta paradigm which brings together a more unified understanding of our place in the universe

REF 1--AXIAL AGE GermanphilosopherKarl Jaspers coined the term the axial age (Achsenzeit in the German language original) to describe the period from 800 BC to 200 BC, during which, according to Jaspers, similarly revolutionary thinking appeared in China, India and the Occident. The period is also sometimes referred to as the axis age .

REF2 Ref Secrets of the Lost Mode of Prayer: The Hidden Power of Beauty, Blessings, Wisdom, and Hurt by Gregg Braden
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Dead Sea Scrolls,The Mystery & Meaning of the Shanks, Hershel
Essene Gospel of Peace (Vol. 1-4)) Szekely,EB

REF3Read any of the following books or other works to understand how this works, and how it has been proven:

Bohr, N., 1958 Light and life. In: Atomic Physics and Human Knowledge, Wiley, New York,

Capra, F., 1983. The Tao of physics: an exploration of the parallels between modern physics and Eastern mysticism, Flamingo, London.

Conrad, M, Home, D. and Josephson, B. 1988. Beyond Quantum Theory: A realist psychobiological interpretation of physical reality. In: Microphysical Reality and Quantum

Formalism, Vol. I, G. Tarozzi, A. van der Merwe and F. Selleri, (Eds.) pp 285–293, Kluwer Academic, Dordrecht.

Hameroff, S.R. and Penrose, R., 1996, Orchestrated Reduction of Quantum Coherence in Brain Microtubules: A Model for Consciousness. In: ‘Toward a Science of Consciousness’,

ed. S.R. Hameroff, A.W. Kaszniak and A.C. Scott, 691–4, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass.

Josephson, B. and Conrad, M. 1992, Uniting Eastern Philosophy and Modern Science,

Gujarat Vidyapith, Ahmedabad, India.

Josephson, B. and Pallikari-Viras, F., Biological Utilisation of Quantum Nonlocality, Found.Phys. 21, 197-207, 1991.

Josephson, B.D. and Rubik, B.A., The Challenge of Consciousness Research, Frontier

Perspectives 3(1), 15-19, 1992.

Rosen, R. 1991. Life Itself: A Comprehensive Inquiry into the Nature, Origin, and Fabrication of Life, Columbia, New York.

Rosen, R. 1999. Essays on Life Itself, Columbia, New York.

Stapp, H. P., 1982. Mind, Matter and Quantum Mechanics, Found. Phys. 12, 363–399.

Stapp, H. P., 1985. Consciousness and values in the quantum universe, Found. Phys.15, 35-47.

Stapp, H. P., 2001. Science, Values, and the Nature of the Human Person,

REF 4 The current biodiversity extinction event: Scenarios for mitigation and recovery
Michael J. Novacek*, and Elsa E. Cleland -American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY 10024; and _Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305

Dr Michael Ellis MB BS MRCP DCH MACNEM BA (Hons) Dip Grad (Nutr Med) is a doctor with over 20 years of General Practice experience in the UK and Australia.

Dr Ellis is Chief Editor of The New Paradigm Journal, an Australian Co-Representative of the Institute of Noetic Sciences, Chairman of the Centre for Change, President of The Medical Renaissance Group, and President of Global Citizens for Peace. He is also on the Executive Board of the Australian Integrative Medical Association (AIMA), and is a practicing Nichiren Shoshu Buddhist.