<div dir="ltr">Thanks, Art. Jean</div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Thu, Nov 3, 2022 at 3:48 PM Arthur Blomme via Sundaycommunity <<a href="mailto:sundaycommunity@lists.integralshift.ca">sundaycommunity@lists.integralshift.ca</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal">Hi all<br>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal">I just polished up the reflection I rushed of
for the community three weeks ago. <br>
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal">Arthur Blomme<br>
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<h3><span><font size="5">Integral Ecology</font>, Laudato Si movie, "<a href="https://youtu.be/Rps9bs85BII" target="_blank">The
Letter</a>"and fear based naratives.</span></h3>
<h3><span></span></h3>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal"><span>In
October 2022 on the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, a
documentary inspired by Laudato Si, <u>The Letter</u> was
released.<span> </span>The authors
intended the documentary as a call to action on Caring For Our
Common Home which is the English title of Laudato Si.<span> </span>One of the primary
actions promoted is reading and reflecting on Laudato Si in a
group. Hence to only watch the documentary "The Letter" would
not give you the best view of Laudato Si. <br>
</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal"><span>When
initially I looked into this documentary and saw that it was
an original production of Youtube I was suspicious of the
slant the movie would take. For me it is hard to understand
the position of the Pope as he is so often portrayed by a
media that is deeply immersed in a narrative which seeks to
control our beliefs through fear. I find it unsettling that
for the past two years we have been bombarded with fear
messaging from legacy media that has been used</span><a href="https://youtu.be/Rps9bs85BII" target="_blank"><span><img id="m_-7361898926242020890img" alt="" src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Rps9bs85BII/hqdefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEcCNACELwBSFXyq4qpAw4IARUAAIhCGAFwAcABBg==&rs=AOn4CLDA8lx_CwzHCARTJaVW1lVts_Hfvg" width="390" height="296" border="0" align="left"></span></a><span>
to drive a giant wedge between the left and the right wings of
our culture. The fear of Covid has morphed into fear of the
unvaxed to fear of Russia and nuclear war.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal"><span>With
this back drop in mind I wondered why Google/Youtube would
produce(pay for ) "The Letter" which heralds the Popes message
to love the earth.<span> </span>Perhaps
I am paranoid in concluding how this documentary fits into the
fear based dominant narrative by characterizing the film with
the opening frame of the film draws us into the fear of sea
level rise caused by climate change. In contrast Francis
message in Laudato Si Is the positive message of Caring for
Our Common Home which he calls Integral ecology. In this
regard Francis quotes the Eastern Right Patriarch
Bartholomew: <span style="background:yellow">Integral ecology “entails learning to give, and not
simply to give up. It is a way of loving, of moving
gradually away from what I want, to what God’s world needs.
It is liberation from fear, greed and compulsion.”</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal"><span>The
notion of Integral Ecology weds together two complex
concepts. I believe that they both have emerged from a
systemic view of the world. The first concept, integral has
the same route as integrity and integrated. The dictionary
meaning is possessing everything essential; entire. While
ecology according to its Latin roots is the Study of
Consequences. It was originally coined in biology as the
interrelationship of organisms and their environments. But
Ecology is not limited to the biological sciences as there is
also the field of human ecology. In Human Growth Therapies an
ecology check is usually done to see if the desired outcome of
the therapy is positive for the whole personality. In Gestalt
therapy the therapist asks the client if there are any parts
of the personality that are in disagreement with the desired
change. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal"><span>Putting
these two concepts together Francis states the following “We
are faced not with two separate crises, one environmental and
the other social, but rather with one complex crisis which is
both social and environmental. Strategies for a solution
demand an integrated approach to combating poverty, restoring
dignity to the excluded, and at the same time protecting
nature.” </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal"><span>For
me Integral ecology requires us to take a page from Human
Growth Therapists. When we want a change to our global
society we must pose the question ; Are there any parts of
our global society for which this change would not work. The
current method of impulsive change where we create fear to
impose rules on the unwilling is doomed to failure. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal"><span>The
change needed is the cal to action encouraged by the authors
of the The Letter.<span> </span>We
must reflect and orient our value systems to Care for Our
Common Home.<span> </span>This is a
positive mystical task . <span> </span>A
task that is encapsulated in passage 11 of Laudato Si that
defines Integral ecology through the life of St. Francis as
beyond the language of mathematics and biology..</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:16pt">11. St.
Francis helps us to see that an integral ecology calls for
openness to categories which transcend the language of
mathematics and biology, and take us to the heart of what it
is to be human. Just as happens when we fall in love with
someone, whenever he would gaze at the sun, the moon or the
smallest of animals, he burst into song, drawing all other
creatures into his praise. He communed with all creation,
even preaching to the flowers, inviting them “to praise the
Lord, just as if they were endowed with reason.”19 His
response to the world around him was so much more than
intellectual appreciation or economic calculus, for to him
each and every creature was a sister united to him by bonds
of affection. That is why he felt called to care for all
that exists. His disciple Saint Bonaventure tells us that,
“from a reflection on the primary source of all things,
filled with even more abundant piety, he would call
creatures, no matter how small, by the name of ‘brother’ or
‘sister.’ ”20 Such a conviction cannot be written off as
naive romanticism, for it affects the choices which
determine our behaviour. If we approach nature and the
environment without this openness to awe and wonder, if we
no longer speak the language of fraternity and beauty in our
relationship with the world, our attitude will be that of
masters, consumers, ruthless exploiters, unable to set
limits on their immediate needs. By contrast, if we feel
intimately united with all that exists, then sobriety and
care will well up spontaneously. The poverty and austerity
of Saint Francis were no mere veneer of asceticism, but
something much more radical: a refusal to turn reality into
an object simply to be used and controlled.</span></p>
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