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A defining characteristic of an ecozoic society is the honoring of wisdom. The late modern period dominated by the quest for wealth and power over the conditions of existence has given rise to an individualistic, consumer culture severed from traditional sources of wisdom. The wisdom needed now has its roots in ancient knowledge and in Earth as community.
Thomas Berry has held up four source of wisdom that are especially important to the ecozoic. They are the wisdom of women, the wisdom of science, the wisdom of indigenous people and the wisdom of classical humanistic and religious traditions. Each of these sources of wisdom has negative aspects. For example Berry observes that science is not a cosmology. When science thinks it is a cosmology, it becomes destructive. When science functions within a cosmology it becomes a wisdom. Cosmology for Berry means the value and meaning dimension of life.
The transition into the ecozoic will involve the discipline of self-limitation on the part of humans, a discipline that runs counter to the naïve expectations of unlimited fulfillment implicit in the striving of modern society. Wisdom allows acceptance of the challenging aspects of existence and shapes offers realistic possibilities for benign presence in the Earth community.
Wisdom of Women (WOW)
The Center for Ecozoic Studies currently has a program on the wisdom of women. In Winter 2008 the published the Wisdom of Women issue of The Ecozoic Reader (Vol. 5, No. 1). This issue has been more widely distributed than any other issue of the Reader. Wendy Burkland , Joanna Haymore , Ann Loomis , and Nancy Rickard head up this area of the Center’s work.
Wisdom of Indigenous Traditions (WIT)
WE expect to begin a program on the wisdom of indigenous traditions. Tim Watson , Vice President of CES and an adopted member of the Cherokee Tribe and the Keeper of the Sacred Pipe, will initially lead this program area. |
