CHAPTERSIX
ECOLOGICALEDUCATIONANDSPIRITUALITY
202. Many things have to change course, but it is we human beings above all who need to change.
We lack an awareness of our common origin, of our mutual belonging, and of a future to be shared
with everyone. This basic awareness would enable the development of new convictions, attitudes and
forms of life. A great cultural, spiritual and educational challenge stands before us, and it will demand
thatwe set out on the longpath of renewal.
I.
TOWARDSANEWLIFESTYLE
203. Since themarket tends to promote extreme consumerism in an effort to sell its products, people
can easily get caught up in awhirlwind of needless buying and spending. Compulsive consumerism is
one example of how the techno-economic paradigm affects individuals. RomanoGuardini had already
foreseen this: “The gadgets and technics forced upon himby the patterns ofmachine production and of
abstract planningmassman accepts quite simply; they are the forms of life itself. To either a greater or
lesser degreemassman is convinced that his conformity is both reasonable and just”.
144
This paradigm
leads people to believe that they are free as long as they have the supposed freedom to consume. But
those really free are the minority who wield economic and financial power. Amid this confusion,
postmodern humanity has not yet achieved a new self-awareness capable of offering guidance and
direction, and this lack of identity is a source of anxiety. We have too many means and only a few
insubstantial ends.
204. The current global situation engenders a feeling of instability and uncertainty, which in turn
becomes “a seedbed for collective selfishness”.
145
When people become self-centred and self-enclosed,
their greed increases. The emptier a person’s heart is, themore he or she needs things to buy, own and
consume. It becomes almost impossible to accept the limits imposed by reality. In this horizon, a
genuine sense of the common good also disappears. As these attitudes become more widespread,
144
ROMANOGUARDINI,
DasEndederNeuzeit
, 9
th
edition,Würzburg, 1965, 66-67 (English:
TheEndof theModern
World
, Wilmington, 1998, 60).
145
JOHNPAUL II,
Message for the1990WorldDayof Peace,
1:AAS 82 (1990), 147.
