Sacred Nature: Restoring Our Ancient Bond with the Natural World By Karen Armstrong. New York, Vintage, 2023. 224p.
ISBN: 9780593319437 (hardcover) 9780593319444 (e-book).
Sacred Nature: Restoring Our Ancient Bond with the Natural World by Karen Armstrong delves into a deep understanding of what it means for human beings and the natural world to be in relationship. Armstrong emphasizes religious values inherent in human beings as the moral foundation for the existence of the Earth. She employs the terms “power” and “rule” in the context of the religious duty conferred by God on human individuals to dominate nature—duty that has too often gone unheeded in the modern era.
The book is philosophical and religious in its approach, and thus it becomes extremely relevant for those seeking to facilitate spiritual thought in solving the ecological crisis. This differs from other publications, such as Laudato Si by Pope Francis (2015), inclusive conversation among Christians, or The Spell of the Sensuous by David Abram (1996), being phenomenological and anthropological, but Armstrong takes a cross-cultural religious perspective. Her work is also different from Thomas Berry’s The Great Work (1999), which presents a theological vision and invites a radical transformation of human-nature relations, and from Suzanne Simard’s Finding the Mother Tree (2021), which centers on the relationship between nature and spirituality through scientific inquiry.
The Crisis of Human-Nature Relations: Armstrong’s View
This book offers a critical perspective on the lost relationship between humans and nature. Armstrong claims that this disconnection is brought about by a loss of human awareness of the damage inflicted on the planet—a concern she presents as holy due to its significance to the greater human crisis. The book thus tries to offer a new window through which to look at ecological concerns.
We are present, but virtually absent (p. 8)
Armstrong pinpoints the separation of human emotions from nature, which troubles her in the initial part of the book. She laments the secular approach towards nature prevalent in Western countries (p. 11). As a contrast, she invites readers to second-guess non-Western cultural approaches—such as Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam, Sufism, Buddhism, and Judaism—but that perceive nature in a religious context. This is further reconfirmed in the argument against “Mythos and Logos.”
The first chapter, “Mythos and Logos,” is a thesis that presents Armstrong’s case regarding the relation between human beings and nature. It invites readers to imagine the content of religious values in perceiving their world as being part of nature, yet science views such things as nonsensical most of the time. Armstrong wants to appeal to readers with differing backgrounds—religious or secular—to retrieve the human spirit that relates to the universe. She contends that contemporary humans have a tendency to reject myth as a source of spirituality and meaning, opting for logos instead. This, in Armstrong’s view, leads to both ecological and existential crises, as respect for nature and its relationship to human existence is lost. For her, myth can invoke emotional and moral dimensions, providing human actions with valuable guidance, but logos, useful as it is in understanding the material world, lacks emotional depth (pp. 16–17).
Thus, Armstrong argues that resolving this crisis requires more than rational understanding; it requires reintegration and restoration of myth into human life (p. 19). This integration, she believes, can give one a sound ethical basis for understanding nature not merely as a resource to be used, but as a sacred entity that must be respected and protected. Here, she emphasizes the need for an integration of reason and values which promote a close, spiritual relationship with nature.
In the next chapters, Armstrong offers several ethical principles for living with the natural world. Firstly, she highlights the necessity of reclaiming a sacred relationship with nature (p. 20). She argues that the ancient had a profound reverence for nature as sacred, as attested by various religious rituals—for example, those in Confucianism and Daoism (pp. 20–21). She calls on readers to assign more significance to life by embracing nature as an intrinsic part of spiritual life and to preserve the environment through significant rituals. This process is anticipated to create a moral sense for the more respectful use of nature.
“In the same manner, we can habituate ourselves to what the Chinese referred to as ‘quiet sitting’ and become able to recognize the shared life that pervades all things and connects them with each other in harmonious coalescence.” (p. 31)
Armstrong further points out that human beings are social creatures by nature and depend on other entities—necessarily including nature. In Chapter 6, she refers to the word “Kenosis,” or self-emptying, as a way of releasing human ego and pride (p. 48). She stresses that humans are in the web of life, not rulers of it. She also demands spiritual practices such as contemplation and meditation in order to make people realize the interrelatedness of life with nature. This is highly relevant today due to humanity’s dependency on ecological sustainability. For example, global warming—that is caused by environmental exploitation—demonstrates the actual consequences of human hubris. While the world begins to demonstrate signs of collapse, humans suffer the most: extreme weather, pollution, crop failures, and so on. Therefore, Armstrong appeals to individuals to act with full awareness of the environmental cost of their actions.
“Every day, the time we get up and the time we lie down, for a few minutes let us consider three things: how little we know; how frequently we are in default in kindness to other creatures; and how small are our longings and desires, which so often begin and end in us.” (p. 53)
The third moral virtue Armstrong discusses is gratitude towards nature (Chapter 7). Gratitude, in her view, is the best way to pay tribute to nature as the giver of life. This gratitude should be shown through the protection of ecosystems and not overusing them. Armstrong is concerned with the ethical responsibility of humans to preserve nature—not just for its present survival, but to pass it on to the future generations too.
Fourth, Armstrong refers directly to Hindu and Jain philosophy’s idea of Ahimsa (Chapter 9) based on non-violence—possibly even to the natural world (p. 71). She places Ahimsa within the Golden Rule introduced in Chapter 8 where we are taught not to cause harm to other living beings either directly or indirectly. This maxim leads us to take care of each being, even nature, just as we want to be taken care of (p. 63). Today, this holds more validity with the global green movements of tree planting, organic produce, and international agreements like the Paris Agreement and Kyoto Protocol, which also aim at reducing carbon levels. These are manifestations of respect for nature in the sense of natural focus and minimal chemical intervention. Armstrong urges readers to look to their own awareness and ethics and not to continue with a reckless disregard for man or nature.
NOTE:
This review is an English translation of the original Indonesian version written by Ramita Paraswati and published in Jurnal MAARIF: Arus Pemikiran Islam dan Sosial, Volume 19, Number 1 — December 2024. DOI: 10.47651/mrf.v19i2.266.
The original article was published by the MAARIF Institute, and the author can be contacted at ramitaparaswati2@gmail.com.
Original Book Review Title:
Sacred Nature: Restoring Our Ancient Bond with the Natural World
by Karen Armstrong. New York: Vintage, 2023. 224 pages.
ISBN: 9780593319437 (hardcover), 9780593319444 (e-book).
