POINTSOFVIEW | AT HOME ON EARTH
By Kyle Kramer
Restoring the Great Conversation
Kyle Kramer
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—Father Thomas Berry, CP
I
n the beginning, goes the well-known opening to the Gospel of John, was the conversation (logos in Greek). This novel translation isn’t so novel at all: It connects to a rich Greek philosophical tradition in which the concept of logos was used to indicate that the very fabric of reality was dynamic and relational— conversational, if you will. We were made to talk not only with our fellow humans, but also with the rivers, the wind, and the stars—and through all this, with the creator. Unfortunately, as Father Thomas Berry lamented, this great conversation has largely been cut off. We talk to each other on Zoom and social media and on our cell phones and even in person, but we have far fewer conversations with the rest of the living world. In many ways, we’ve even forgotten how. Over the past few years, I’ve tried to be more intentional about having conversations with the more-than-human world and have found that it’s really challenging. To state the obvious, trees and rivers, wind and stars don’t speak English—or Spanish, or any other human language, including the languages of economics and politics. We have to encounter them on different terms than our own. Falling out of the great conversation has consequences. At a soul-deep level, it hurts
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to be cut off from the rest of God’s creation. And it’s not good for creation either. That’s the point Pope Francis has made repeatedly: that our spiritual, physical, communal, and environmental health are all tied together in a single, integral ecology. THE CHURCH’S ROLE
Many people and organizations are working to restore the great conversation between us and the rest of the living world. Here is my question: How can the institutional Church play a meaningful role in this effort? How can our religion “re-ligament” or reconnect us to what is most real? And what could be more real than the presence of God, dwelling in the sacrament of the living world? But before we look to the Church to offer wisdom in these efforts, we have to acknowledge that the Church has been part of the problem too. The Church has a long history of cozying up to political and economic power, even blessing the missionaries and colonizers as they enslaved and killed the indigenous peoples who were immersed within the great conversation with creation. Our Church may have helpful teachings about care for creation, but they often don’t filter down to the level of parishes or even dioceses. Even the very
TOP: JACOB H/ISTOCK; BOTTOM: TAMARA DRAGOVIC/ISTOCK
EarthandSpiritCenter.org
“We are talking only to ourselves. We are not talking to the rivers, we are not listening to the wind and stars. We have broken the great conversation.”
TOP LEFT: COURTESY OF KYLE KRAMER; TOP: BORCHEE/ISTOCK
Kyle is the executive director of the Passionist Earth & Spirit Center, which offers interfaith educational programming in meditation, ecology, and social compassion. He serves as a Catholic climate ambassador for the US Conference of Catholic Bishops-sponsored Catholic Climate Covenant and is the author of Making Room: Soul-Deep Satisfaction through Simple Living (Franciscan Media). He speaks across the country on issues of ecology and spirituality. He and his family spent 15 years as organic farmers and homesteaders in Spencer County, Indiana.
