We are meditating on how today’s science is assisting us to move beyond dualism such as spirit vs. matter. And how our current understanding of matter as light and light being incarnated in matter is such a welcome breakthrough in human consciousness.
In yesterday’s DM we learned of the role light plays in the very structure of trees, “producing a continuous light show from its very cells” as one scientist tells us. Those who defend trees and forests and rainforests are honoring the sacredness of trees as well as assuring the future of our planet because, among other things, we depend on trees and rainforests especially to process the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
That is why the witness of such martyrs as Chico Mendes and Sister Dorothy Stang and others who stood up to the greed and corruption of those who are killing the Amazon is so important to us today.
In this Sunday’s New York Times Book Review we find Sister Dorothy’s story told in this fuller context in the review of Heriberto Araujo’s new book, Masters of the Lost Land: The Untold Story of the Amazon and the Violent Fight for the World’s Last Frontier.
The author reminds us that 2000 environmental activists and land defenders have been murdered worldwide in the 21st century—many of whom were Brazilians defending the Amazon region. The book attempts “to capture, in a single narrative, the factors that have made the largest rainforest on Earth the world’s most dangerous place for environmental and land activists,” according to the author.
The military government of Brazil regularly kidnapped Indians and transported them to reservations, opening the way for wealthy landowners to take over the land and clear the forests through slash-and-burn operations, hire indentured laborers and enforce control over their territory with an “army of gunmen.”
When workers complained about their slave-like working conditions they were subjected to, they were often killed by hit men. Fields of dead bodies have been uncovered. In November, 2002, a leader of the poor workers named Dezinho was murdered outside his home but his widow, Maria Joel Dias Da Sota, took up his vision and continued her husband’s courageous battle to save the Amazon.
This was the context in which Sister Dorothy worked and organized and confronted the greed of the landowners and their gunmen along with certain corrupt police and politicians. This is where she met her death.
See Matthew Fox, Confessions: The Making of a Postdenominational Priest (2015 edition), pp. 341-343, 433, 448.
And Fox, Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth.
And Fox, Skylar Wilson and Jennifer Listug, Order of the Sacred Earth: An Intergenerational Vision of Love and Action.
To read the transcript of Matthew Fox’s video teaching, click HERE.
Banner Image: Paulo Guajajara, one of 120 “Guardians of the Forest” fighting illegal logging and protecting the uncontacted Awá Guajá tribe, was murdered in the Araribóia Indigenous Reserve, Brazil, 11/1/2019. Photo by Karla Mendes/Mongabay.
Queries for Contemplation
How do the courage and commitment of Chico Mendes, Dezinho, Maria Da Sota and Sister Dorothy inspire you to love and save the Earth?
Recommended Reading
Confessions: The Making of a Post-Denominational Priest (Revised/Updated Edition)
Matthew Fox’s stirring autobiography, Confessions, reveals his personal, intellectual, and spiritual journey from altar boy, to Dominican priest, to his eventual break with the Vatican. Five new chapters in this revised and updated edition bring added perspective in light of the author’s continued journey, and his reflections on the current changes taking place in church, society and the environment.
“The unfolding story of this irrepressible spiritual revolutionary enlivens the mind and emboldens the heart — must reading for anyone interested in courage, creativity, and the future of religion.”
—Joanna Macy, author of World as Lover, World as Self
Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth
Fox’s spirituality weds the healing and liberation found in North American Creation Spirituality and in South American Liberation Theology. Creation Spirituality challenges readers of every religious and political persuasion to unite in a new vision through which we learn to honor the earth and the people who inhabit it as the gift of a good and just Creator.
“A watershed theological work that offers a common ground for religious seekers and activists of all stripes.” — Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice.
Order of the Sacred Earth: An Intergenerational Vision of Love and Action
By Matthew Fox, Skylar Wilson, and Jen Listug
In the midst of global fire, earthquake and flood – as species are going extinct every day and national and global economies totter – the planet doesn’t need another church or religion. What it needs is a new Order, grounded in the Wisdom traditions of both East and West, including science and indigenous. An Order of the Sacred Earth united in one sacred vow: “I promise to be the best lover and defender of the Earth that I can be.”
Co-authored by Matthew Fox, Skylar Wilson, and Jennifer Berit Listug, with a forward by David Korten, this collection of essays by 21 spiritual visionaries including Brian Swimme, Mirabai Starr, Theodore Richards, and Kristal Parks marks the founding of the diverse and inclusive Order of the Sacred Earth, a community now evolving around the world.
“The Order of the Sacred Earth not only calls us home to our true nature as Earth, but also offers us invaluable guidance and company on the way.” ~~ Joanna Macy, environmental activist and author of Active Hope.
12 thoughts on “Saving Rainforests: Chico Mendes, Sister Dorothy and Other Heroes”
Matthew, Today you tell us that: “In yesterday’s DM we learned of the role light plays in the very structure of trees, ‘producing a continuous light show from its very cells’ as one scientist tells us. Those who defend trees and forests and rainforests are honoring the sacredness of trees as well as assuring the future of our planet because, among other things, we depend on trees and rainforests especially to process the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.” And you say, “That is why the witness of such martyrs as Chico Mendes and Sister Dorothy Stang and others who stood up to the greed and corruption of those who are killing the Amazon is so important to us today.” Then you tell us of the book by Heriberto Araujo’s–Masters of the Lost Land: The Untold Story of the Amazon and the Violent Fight for the World’s Last Frontier. The author reminds us that 2000 environmental activists and land defenders have been murdered worldwide in the 21st century—many of whom were Brazilians defending the Amazon region. Then you ask us, “How do the courage and commitment of Chico Mendes, Dezinho, Maria Da Sota and Sister Dorothy inspire you to love and save the Earth?” They are a tremendous inspiration, and yet I don’t know that I could have done what they have done–and that is what makes them “martyr-saints.”
Are we to be the unabashed and rightful ‘defenders’ of all the earth or live in harmony with the earth?
Do we have the right to impose our will upon neighbours we live beside in our community and have weigh over what happens on their property which is not our property? If we have some overriding reasons do we not take them up with the local authorities? If we do, we know that we don’t always get our way even when we believe it to be the only way. Others if fact may see another way, or just choose to totally disregard our way, our view as we see quite often.
Is there a recurring theme here when it comes to the rain forest and the corruption of same?
“Matthew 7:6, NIV: Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.”
What stops us from planting a billion trees in other parts of the earth where its inhabitants understand their importance and are welcoming to the practice? Of course, the preservation aspects of Plan A, saving the rain forest is preferable, but when we only have Plan B available to us is there a reluctance to use our efforts to get our knees on the ground, get dirty and toil for something we say we believe in? I know that some do, but maybe not as many that sit back and just get intellectually angry about the devastation of the rain forest.
— BB.
Bill, Thank you for your comment. Today you ask: “Are we to be the unabashed and rightful ‘defenders’ of all the earth or live in harmony with the earth?” I don’t think this is an either / or issue but rather a both / and issue. We are to strive to live in harmony with the earth, while defending it where it needs to be defended. The forests cannot defend themselves. They are among the “anawim”–the voiceless ones who cannot speak or defend themselves. And I believe we are here to help the helpless…
Precisely. We either become Martyr-Saints and stay with Plan A or participate in Plan B, which is an option all can participate in. Many choose neither and still choose to give ‘their voice’ not for the cause or for the voiceless, but for themselves. — BB.
God told me that I should go to the tree and pray. I was about ten years old when I started climbing to the very top of my neighbor’s large oak tree where I would pray the rosary. I loved that tree and it loved me. I would pray for the planet.
I advocate coordinated mass prayer movements as prayer chains focused on stopping the deadly sin of greed that is fighting against our collective understanding of cosmic consciousness. Prayers of “feeling” will silence the murderers.
Gary, I appreciate you comment very much today. The warmth of the story of you in the top of the oak tree praying the rosary was precious. In relation to your comment on prayer, where you say: “Prayers of “feeling” will silence the murderers,” I would direct you to Matthew’s book, Prayer: A Radical Response to Life.
Today’s DM is heartwrenching! That being said, I was also inspired by B.B.’s comment, regarding the planting of trees. It’s something many of us can choose to do, in defiance of those whom choose to destroy the forests of this world, by not only inhumane ways, but also in environmentally destructive ways with regards to the sacredness of the living trees themselves and all of the ecosystems of creatures whom live within them.
Imagine if all of those governing bodies whom globally gather for climate summits made this a priority within their collective climate action plans, investing in providing seedlings to be planted in an organized and coordinated manner, in designated areas… many people I’m certain would turn out… and I’d be one of them.
In the meantime, individually we all can choose to plant some seedlings, wherever we happen to be. My husband collects acorns from several of the oak trees on our land. He then gives them to his students, along with a metaphoric, inspirational story, that encourages them to plant this gift given. Sometimes when we are driving down the road in some treeless area, he just throws the acorns out the window… hopeful that nature will do the rest. Never underestimate small acts, because small acts taken by many, makes a big difference.
Jeanette, Today you write that: “I was also inspired by B.B.’s* comment, regarding the planting of trees. It’s something many of us can choose to do, in defiance of those whom choose to destroy the forests of this world…” I too agree with both you and Bill on this. As you end your comment: “Never underestimate small acts, because small acts taken by many, makes a big difference.”
*See: Bill Barlett’s comment above.
As today’s DM comprehensively and sensitively summarizes, the exploitation of Mother Earth and Indigenous peoples historically since colonial imperialist nations from the 15th century and since industrialist Western ‘civilization’ in the 19th century, continues in the present day systemically in our modern industrial societies/countries of the Northern hemisphere at the expense mostly of societies/countries/Indigenous peoples of the Southern hemisphere. This is why our Mother Nature/Earth, all life, including our human species has been suffering, dying, and at the critical risk of extinction. Fortunately, in spite of our human history of violence, destruction, injustices, suffering, and death, there have always been good and courageous people that inspire us to maintain faith, hope, and compassionate service and strive for justice up to our present day. We are all still eternally evolving in our hearts~souls with one another, and with our Sacred Mother Nature/Earth in our co-Creation~Evolution within our visible and invisible sacred multidimensional-multiverse Cosmos in God’s Loving~Wisdom Diverse Oneness….
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Thank you,Matthew, for this heart-breaking dm. As I read and believe trees are not voice-less but do speak to us. We need to listen in deep silence and they will tell us of both their joy in life and in giving life above and below. They will also let us know that they do suffer and are often mistreated. Because they are sacred they need to be treated with honor,respect and loving care.
The Nature Conservancy has tree planting programs, as do other organization like the Arbor Day Foundation. One thing that we can do is support one of these. https://www.nature.org/en-us/get-involved/how-to-help/plant-a-billion/
Sue, Thank you for the web address for The Nature Conservancy tree planting programs !!!