Why worship The Earth?
The word “world” can have several meanings. In its most basic sense, the phrase “world” indicates the totality of things, to everything which existed before time and to all that will exist after time. The nature of this world is conceived differently in various disciplines. Some conceptions regard the world as highly simple while others speak of a “plurality of worlds” whilst others consider it to be deeply complicated.
In the ancient world, there were no gods. Everything was the outcome of natural laws, including humans. No one apart from God created the living world. This is the philosophical position that believes that everything that exists now and will exist in the future was produced by forces existing in the present and not by forces existing in the past. This philosophy differs from pantheism which regards everything as god’s activity and also from fatalism, which regards all nature as god’s creation.
Pantheists and fatalists believe in a divine being who created the entire universe through acts which cannot be reversed, namely, technological fundamentalism. The other school, which believes in a world that has been comprehensively created, holds that the present world is irreducible and that, therefore, nothingness exists. Those who go back to pantheism believes in a supreme being, a god, but do not hold that this god has any relation to nature or with the world in general. They reject the idea that there is a connection between the gods and nature.
The ecomodernists hold that nature is orderly and that the present is the key to understanding the past and, to some extent, the future. Nature is described in terms of different “flavors” that express the various moods or “races” that the world is in; it is said that each of these flavors can be related to gods. Those who go back to pantheism believe that the gods have nothing to do with the living world we know and that, therefore, no connection can be established between gods and nature.
On the other hand, pantheists believe that all forms of life are the products of cultural evolution, that our minds have evolved genetically and that, therefore, there is no way to tell when and how we evolved from the animals we are currently living with. Those who go back to pantheism holds that humans are part of a community with common ancestors, that we share a heritage, a language and a set of ideas. The idea that one can be able to define the essence of life through genetic codes is absurd, they say. Those who go back to pantheism believes in a sacred history and view the world as an interconnected system. Those who go back to pantheism believe that gods don’t exist and that the world is made by forces that are bigger than ourselves.
In developing nations, for instance, those who go back to such an outlook often face restrictions on aspects of their lives such as religion, sex, and economic activity. Those who go back to such an outlook often face corruption and social collapse, or a failure to meet social expectations that come from living within a state. Those who go back to such an outlook also face threats on all fronts from climate change to international terrorism. There are too many risks to ignore if you believe that your existence is infused with divine energy.