right perhaps we would have seen an industrial revolution appearing first in China or the Indian subcontinent or even the Middle East. If so, would they have interpreted their scriptures in order to support industry and wealth creation, ignoring their relationship with the earth? Who knows, but to many religion is all about interpretation. The great Rabbi Hillel said: “That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the whole Torah; the rest is explanation; go and learn”
This positive restatement of the Golden Rule has resonance in most major religions. If we replaced `your fellow' with `the environment' perhaps we would have got a different result.
In my view Pope Francis has got it about right and he would undoubtedly agree with Satish Kumar (Editor-in-Chief of the magazine Resurgence) that “Sustainability is the spiritual imperative of our time”. What matters now is that we all work towards the same sustainable end and be inspired by what all religions have to offer our common home.
annual walk in their honour. It could also take the form of publishing a volume of poetry or setting up a charity in their memory. It might be as simple as sayiing good night to a photo of your son every evening and tgood morning when you wake up. There is, however, a fine balance between a healthy relationship with your deceased loved one and in
unrealistic hoping that they will, some day, walk through the front door again.
Death is unchanging but the bereavement process is not. There is no model way to grieve, but we do understand that people who grieve well live well. We come to realise that life can have meaning notwithstanding our painful loss. One of the best sources of information, in my view, on grief is Dr Bill Webster's The Centre for the Grief Journey www.griefjourney.com. It is packed full of useful articles, help and tips.
Taking care of yourself
Working with and supporting the dying and bereaved is a very important and necessary task for the whole community. Many individuals take on this responsibility with love and care and provide much needed
comfort. However, it is important to take care of ourselves as well. It is well known that caring people, though capable, strong and compassionate, are also prone to `burn-out’ and other stress-related conditions. This is not surprising as we are sometimes dealing with extremely difficult and in some cases traumatic personal issues, which often bring up strong emotions. As we are empathic souls we can pick up on the sadness and grief around, emotions that just might resonate with personal issues or pain of our own.
It is at times like this that we need to take care of ourselves and also seek support. When working in a professional capacity then there should be a process of peer support, usually by individual or group supervision. This then allows the minister, grief counsellor or hospice volunteer to discuss issues or difficulties with the work and receive support, advice, affirmation and hugs. Organisations such as our very own One Spirit Interfaith Foundation and Cruse have well-developed supervision and
Organisations such as GreenSpirit (www.greenspirit.org.uk) are at the forefront of this movement. We owe a debt of gratitude not only to these people (two of whom were Catholic priests) but also to the modern environmental movement which is largely secular in nature and includes people who are passionate about nature rather than having a religious perspective on it.
Are religions today jumping on an environmental bandwagon claiming that care for the earth is mandated by their holy books and practices? Thankfully many can interpret their religion in a positive light, but interpretation can be a double-edged sword. Christianity, in my view, was at least complicit in the environmental crisis despite some weighty texts that mitigate against this; though, unlike White's thesis, not to blame. It is easy to blame Christianity because of the history of its involvement but would any of the other religions have acted differently? It is mere
speculation, but if the conditions were
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