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has evolved over billions of years. All Even that is not enough. We must act to administrations in place of the
creatures and species play their part in protect and enhance not only today’s web governments that now primarily serve
this infinitely interactive crosshatching of life but tomorrow’s as well. Nietzsche the financial interests of corporations.
of organisms, and none occupies any enriched our catalogue of virtues by We must establish a more equitable, more
privileged position or serve any exalted one he called Fernstenliebe, ‘love of just distribution of the earth’s bounty.
purpose. Yes, humankind is special and those far away’ – far away in space and It all starts with education
unique, but so are bats and cockroaches. time. He contrasted it with Christian – true education. Today’s educational
While they have developed their Nächstenliebe, ‘love of those next to institutions have become vocational
uniqueness to enjoy aeons of living on you (i.e., your neighbours)’ which he training centres. Of course we need
this planet, the unfolding of our unique considered to be ultimately a form of engineers, doctors, mechanics, nurses,
qualities has triggered a mass extinction egotism since it was motivated by the etcetera, and they must be trained. But
of which we may well be the victims expectation of the same neighbourly education is more than acquiring skills
ourselves. If we manage to self-destruct treatment (“Love thy neighbour as for a well-paying job. It is a journey of
in this or the next century, we may well thyself ”). Fernstenliebe calls for a love the mind that should take us through the
hold the record for the most short-lived of the future, of the generations of history not only of our own species but
and most murderous creature on this human and nonhuman creatures to of life itself and indeed of the cosmos. It
planet ever. Our grandeur is solely come, who cannot repay us. The only is a permanent quest for understanding
the function of our own delusion that benefit to the practitioners of this virtue and knowledge, and cherishes above
humanity is the measure of all things. is that they fulfill their uniqueness as all else beauty and truth. It must not
We must disabuse ourselves of such human beings by understanding the only train our reasoning faculties, but
criminal vanity. Here is a mind game that world of which they are an inextricable also, and more importantly, nurture and
might help: imagine we could conduct a part, accepting their place, and acting refine our emotions and our imagination.
poll in which all creatures on land, in the accordingly. If life is to have any meaning Only the mature interaction of these
sea and in the air were asked to choose at all, surely it has to be for each creature three human faculties can guide us
one species of animal they would like to to bring to utmost expression its own towards peace, fulfillment and happiness.
see disappear from the face of the earth unique characteristics within the The first humanists understood
– which species do you think would get limits nature has staked out for us all. that a true education must focus on the
the overwhelming vote? The embarrassed Eco-humanism is the next logical Liberal Arts. The values by which we
smile with which this proposition is step in the evolution of the human choose to live our lives are motivated
usually received suggests that deep down mind. What that entails in practical by our emotions and conceived in the
we know how appallingly we have abused terms is so radical and all-encompassing. imagination; reason supplies the tool
the privilege of the chance to live. We must learn to content ourselves with which to implement them. Poetry,
Having humbly accepted our place with a more modest mode of living, music, painting, fiction, along with
in the web of life, transitory as all other reduce our expectations and demands history and philosophy – these are the
species and on an equal footing with on the world around us. This involves tutors and custodians of the imagination
them, no better than bats or cockroaches, learning to enjoy who we are rather and of our emotions. Thus eco-
the next step in the second humanist than revel in what we possess. humanism reaffirms the principles that
revolution is to act accordingly. That We must cut back dramatically the launched the first humanist revolution.
means to act in a manner that will burning of fossil fuels and the rape Our children need to be exposed to and
not inflict injury, suffering or death of the earth’s resources. Lowering instructed in them from the start, not
unnecessarily on any of the creatures population levels will help; so will as some subsidiary activity but as part
with whom we share the planet, but alternative, sustainable sources of of the mainstay of their educational
instead to act to maintain and foster the energy, but these can never satisfy our experience. Only on that path will they
well-being and diversity of the web of current energy needs. We must lower acquire the humility, compassion and
life. The practical implications of such a our energy demands, restrain our understanding that form the foundation
commitment call for nothing less than a insatiable appetite for travel, forego for any possible restoration of the web
complete reorientation of our individual some of our excessive indulgences of life on our planet that will include a
lives and a complete overhaul of our in energy-guzzling luxuries. What viable future for the human species along
social institutions and their activities. we need is sustainable retrenchment with the other fellow-creatures. hp•
If we are to survive the current global instead of sustainable development.
crisis, we must all become eco-humanists, Either we commit to it voluntarily
(i.e., we must act in the interests not just or it will soon be forced upon us. Henry Beissel is a poet and
of ourselves and our neighbours, but We must also take back the power playwright, and is Distinguished
also those of all fellow humans on the and the right to govern our own Emeritus professor of English
planet, and indeed of all fellow creatures). lives by creating truly democratic at Concordia University.