Islam and the Spiritual Malaise of the Oil Spill

i had dinner with 7 friends wednesday night, a likely topic of conversation was the oil spill, and how all 8 of us felt helpless in the matter.
this article via the huffington post, may fall in a somewhat extreme spiritual viewpoint, but at this point, how can anyone not feel that we are obliterating our surrounding (intentionally or unintentionally) and the beauty of the clichéd idea that the best things in life don´t cost, and not want to write vehemently about them?......


I realized how this violation of nature not only speaks volumes about our society's values but also reflects a spiritual crisis.

Yet, we continue to abuse the Earth, and I wonder to what extent our actions echo our culpability.

Representative Don Young, R-Alaska, told USA Today that the oil spill, "is not an environmental disaster, and I will say that again and again because it is a natural phenomenon...We will lose some birds, we will lose some fixed sea life, but overall it will recover." Young is underestimating the damaging repercussions from the incident, minimizing it as a random occurrence of nature when in actuality the spill is destroying an ecosystem. This same sentiment would write off the Bhopal gas leak in 1984 as a natural phenomenon, and the 15,000 people killed as collateral damage.

These approaches include contemplating how the spaces we inhabit affect the psyche. The more integrated we feel within, the greater peace we experience. The more selflessness we practice, the more likely we are to take care of the world outside of our heads. By starting within and then moving outward, our actions have the potential of being well-intentioned and less self-serving. This approach might have helped BP, Warren Anderson and many others make decisions that didn't kill people and destroy the environment.

It all comes down to choice. Will we opt to feel connected and whole with the world around us? Or will we select a path void of thought, reflection and spirituality? If we don't shed greed and apathy, not only is the Earth at stake but so is our well-being.

fragments of article taken from huffington post, read whole article here.


i won´t lie, i´ve done little for the environment, but the current state the world is in, it makes me rethink my role and how this role does affect others in the process.