GreenSpirit ebook series, 2014
ISBN: 9780955215780
Reviewed by Sky and Marian McCain
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This may well be the first book ever to take Yoga in one hand and Christianity on the other and examine them both through the lens of an Earth-centred Spirituality. Is there, in fact, ‘green wisdom’ to be found within these two great traditions? If there is, then surely these need to be emphasised in this era of climate change and ever-worsening ecological crisis.
Santoshan (GreenSpirit’s own Steve Wollaston), with his own deep commitment to green spirituality and his many years of studying the various religions of the world, knows that there are, in fact, a lot of green threads to be found in all the wisdom traditions and some of these threads have a remarkable similarity.
But in this ebook, he has created much more than a collection of facts. Here, we are offered first-hand accounts of people, places and ideas from Steve’s lifelong immersion in Yogic, Christian and Earth-based spirituality. He expresses the feeling tone of these three movements and how they blend; how they relate to each other and how they reveal a common thread of the love and sanctity of all life. This enables us to come away with a satisfying “aha”: a realization not only of the differences between the traditions but of all the ways in which they relate and connect. And my hope is that it can encourage those who already walk the Yogic and/or Christian path to make their walking even greener and to encourage others within those traditions to put more emphasis on the green principles already embedded therein and to live accordingly.
One of the most important aspects of Yogic, Christian and Green spirituality concerns embracing the whole. Any harm deliberately brought against another will hurt us in return, because we ourselves have brought selfishness and violence instead of benevolent qualities into the world in which we are living. And since we are part of the whole that is Earth, whatever we do to the planet, we do to ourselves.
By revealing the elements of Nature mysticism submerged within the Christian and Yogic traditions, Santoshan shows us that we are never far from the Earth’s beautiful spirit. As he concludes: “…our current times need us to work together, to search passionately for a unitive spirituality that crosses all boundaries and looks for a multiple of ways to implement it for every species’ and region’s benefit, including Gaia’s river, forest, plant, sky, mountain, grassland and ocean queendoms and kingdoms.”
This book is free for GreenSpirit members (in the members area of the GreenSpirit website). Or click here to buy the book online.