[Altair]

Originally Posted by Petey

I don't see this as a problem of spiritual communities. My experiences show that, on the contrary, spiritually-focused people are some of the most attentive and active when it comes to our natural world and the problems its facing. I think the RELIGIOUS communities are not doing so much to address the issues facing the natural world. There isn't a lot of incentive, especially nowadays, when so many religions are trying to deal with their identity crises. You just won't hear much about natural destruction from the pulpit.

The distinction between ''spiritual'' and ''religious'' is problematic. Religion means ''to commune with the divine'', spiritual relates to spirits or spiritual phenomena. Religions can believe in a personal deity or they don't, similarly true for 'spiritual' people..

When I see people say ''I'm spiritual, not religious'' and then check their beliefs and practices I see a mix of Hindu and Buddhist beliefs and a very liberal interpretation of Jesus and Christianity. It might not be a particular religion they follow but they still try and ''commune with the divine'' and believe in things that religions believe in...

It's nice to hear you see people being attentive to the natural world, but I think these people are the exception and not the norm. I've spend plenty of time in various environment and conservation groups and I don't notice a lot of 'spiritual' people there, just as I don't see people in spiritual communities (online and offline) discuss these issues much. There's more of a disinterest in it and a desire to escape the world and focus purely on the self, which I see as a reflection of the environment and society we have created..

Thank you for your thoughts..