Earth Charter International gladly presents a new book launched in November 2009 from two outstanding authors, a prominent liberation theologian Leonardo Boff, and Mark Hathaway – The Tao of Liberation: Exploring the Ecology of Transformation. The book has a Foreword by Fritjof Capra and is published by Orbis Books.
The Tao of Liberation skillfully combines social, political, economic, ecological, emotional, and spiritual approaches of the current crises rooted in unsustainability of global capitalism, which has resulted in rising social inequality, exclusion, a collapse of democracy, deterioration of the environment, and growing poverty. Moreover, authors go further and claim that all current hazards are symptoms of a more profound cultural and spiritual sickness, and the great challenge for the twenty-first century will be to make a fundamental shift in our attitude to nature, and within our value system.
This book takes a different approach to sustainability, traditionally seen in terms of limits and restrictions, and rather offers a new conception of sustainability as liberation both in the personal sense of spiritual realization, and in the collective sense of people seeking their freedom from oppression. Such an approach is conceptualized in the ancient Chinese word Tao referring to both an individual spiritual path and the way the universe works. Hence, spiritual realization is achieved when we act in harmony with nature.
The book has a section on the Earth Charter and its role (See: Part 2, Chapter 10 The Earth Charter as a Common Framework, p. 298-306). As “a truly liberating dream for humanity,” the Earth Charter presents a key resource in the process of profound transformations, and a new way of conceiving ethics, being the result of the broadest consultations with the civil society ever.
For more information see at http://www.taoofliberation.com/
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See comments on the book below:
“I love this book. Its inspiration lives up to its ambition – leading the reader through some of the most complex issues of our age (from globalization and the current recession to climate change and loss of species) while illuminating a path forward through religion and spirituality. Having had the great privilege of serving on the Earth Charter Commission with Leonardo Boff, it was not a new idea that our values and our faith have immediate relevance to the current interlocking web of crises in which we find ourselves. Together he and Mark Hathaway have written a transcendent work of eco-liberation and planetary survival.” – Elizabeth May, O.C., Leader, Green Party of Canada
The Tao of Liberation is a path-breaking book. It brings together the insights of cosmology, ecology, and spirituality in a fresh and powerful way. With their creative collaboration, Mark Hathaway and Leonardo Boff offer us a remarkable new synthesis which will surely becoming an enduring classic. ???Brian Swimme, Ph.D., Director, Center for the Story of the Universe, California Institute of Integral Studies and author of The Hidden Heart of the Cosmos and co-author of The Universe Story
There is no other book that has so carefully identified the new cosmology of Thomas Berry and Brian Swimme as a liberating context for a sustainable future. This is a masterful and important work. ???Mary Evelyn Tucker, Ph.D., Co-Director of the Forum on Religion and Ecology, Yale University and author of Worldly Wonder: Religions Enter Their Ecological Phase
The Tao of Liberation is a monumental contribution toward tackling the global crisis, including analyses that plumb the roots of the crisis and proposals for a fundamental change of direction. The text draws on science, economics, ethics and spirituality, integrating them in a scenario that just might pull us back from the precipice. ???David G. Hallman, Ph.D., editor of Ecotheology – Voice from North and South and Advisor to the World Council of Churches Climate Change Programme
Drawing on compelling inter-disciplinary resources, Boff and Hathaway present us with a holistic, comprehensive, and integrated path toward the transformation required if the human experience is to have a future in our Earthly Home. The crisis we face is spiritual, and The Tao of Liberation is an exciting challenge we ignore at our peril ???Rev. Bill Phipps, International President of the World Conference on Religions for Peace and Chair of the Faith and the Common Good Network
As we reach a crossroads in the history of humanity, readers will find in this book a wealth of ideas and deep insights about the fundamental shift in human consciousness and the radical transformations in our world that are now required. Among all these ideas, the most important and profound, perhaps, is the one at the very center of the authors’ endeavor. Rather than seeing the transition to a sustainable society primarily in terms of limits and restrictions, Hathaway and Boff eloquently propose a new and compelling conception of sustainability as liberation. Fritjof Capra, Ph. D., author of The Tao of Physics, Belonging to the Universe, and The Hidden Connections.
The Tao of Liberation is a seamless and creative gospel for our time. Through a vital and integral synthesis of wisdom both ancient and new, Mark Hathaway and Leonardo Boff craft a prophetic and timely work to address new challenges before us. Their guide to an ecology of transformation is a source of inspiration, engagement and hope for all who search for a comprehensive vision, and a new era of healing for earth and its peoples. ???Jim Conlon, Ph.D., author of From The Stars to the Street, Beauty, Wonder and Belonging and At the Edge of Our Longing.