Environmental Transformation and Socio-Economic Justice. Spiritual Resources for New Perception and Motivation

University for Life and Peace (Ling Jiou Mountain, Taiwan; Yangon, Myanmar) 

In Cooperation with the University of Munich, Germany and the Catholic University of Linz, Austria 

Online School March 9 / March 29-30 / April 12-13 / May 10, 2025 

Environmental Transformation and Socio-Economic Justice. 

Spiritual Resources for New Perception and Motivation 

Background 

The two most important ecological issues are probably global warming and the fast destruction of biodiversity. More and more governments, industries, research centers and large civil movements do see the problems and engage in preventing the ecosystems from collapse. But this is not enough. Why do we (human beings in general) not act, though we know basically what needs to be done? How can we enhance and speed up the processes that would lead to a fundamental turn in our behaviour? Why do we not act with sufficient intensity? 

The basic question for our Online School are:  

• How to create a new perception of reality (aisthesis) that enables us to see things and events in their interrelated settings? 

• How do we generate individual and collective motivation in order to come to action for the needed ecological and social transformation? 

• In which ways are the strive for socio-economic justice and the ecological transformation interrelated?  

We can learn to live in harmony within ourselves and with our environment, if we get to a deeper perception and unbiased motivation to act sustainably. Many people (especially indigenous cultures in the forests) do still have a mentality we can learn from. In modern sciences this is being taken up by fascinating research about the life (and sensitivity) of plants and animals: Plants and animals are not objects to our disposal but co-beings, and we humans share our life with them. What does this mean for our communication with other forms of life, and for the development of our technologies which are not tools for using and exploiting nature in destructive ways, but instruments for sharing with nature the fundamental resources of life.