Beyond the Pandemic: Spiritual and Ecological Challenges

by Diarmuid O'Murchu

Overview

In the three years since the onset of COVID-19 we are still reeling from the reality of death and suffering on a massive scale, as well as ongoing economic and social dislocations. And yet, amidst the efforts to recover some lost sense of normality, there remain urgent issues to be addressed. Some of these bear on the ecological consequences of humankind’s unending encroachment on the natural world—one of the underlying factors in this and possible future pandemics. But then there are the spiritual lessons to be learned as well. As Diarmuid O’Murchu argues, the pandemic calls for a “reset,” a major shift in human consciousness, in the very ways we see and understand life—or fail to do so.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781626984950
Publisher:	Orbis Books
Publication date:	11/03/2022
Pages:	200
Sales rank:	691,593
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 8.10(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	17 - 18 Years

About the Author

Diarmuid O’Murchu is the author of many pioneering books that include Evolutionary Faith, Beyond Original Sin, When the Disciple Comes of Age, and Doing Theology in an Evolutionary Way (all Orbis). He lives in Ireland and speaks throughout the world.

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Introduction

From the great trials of humanity—among them this pandemic—one emerges better or worse. You don’t emerge the same. I ask this of you: how do you want to come out of it? Better or worse? —Pope Francis

For many years to come people will remember and recall their experience of 2020, the year when the whole world was engulfed in a global crisis. Some countries were less impacted than others until we moved into 2021 and the virus mutated into variants, some of which became even more contagious than the initial strain. Now every nation was affected.

Meanwhile, in late December 2020, the first vaccine was approved, and by the end of 2021 many developed nations were 90 percent vaccinated. But the vaccines had not reached the bulk of the human population, and therefore the prospect of herd immunity as a defense against future illness was still highly uncertain.

Initially, the virus generated a range of reflective responses, purporting that this was a humanly induced crisis related to our reckless exploitation of the natural world. In the long term we began to realize that it could only be resolved by drastic changes in our entire way of living. Terms like a “new reset” and “new normal” were extensively adopted.

However, the virus began to take a heavy social and economic toll. In just a matter of a few weeks many businesses ground to a halt, schools and universities were closed, and travel was severely restricted. At the same time the medical profession went into overdrive, battling a disease that was extremely difficult to prevent from spreading. Governments scrambled to contain a crisis that defied much of their power and wisdom. And the scientific community scurried around for any clue that might lead to a vaccine and a cure.

The vaccine(s) arrived, much quicker than initially anticipated. The World Health Organization and many world leaders hailed this as the great breakthrough for which we had all been waiting. However, few seem to have noted that while the vaccines have helped to prevent the spread and severity of COVID-19, its underlying causes were left unexamined. Everybody wanted a quick fix, and for millions it worked, until the end of 2021, when the new Omicron variant spread rapidly, generating yet another pharmaceutical-led response as earlier vaccine doses were considered inadequate and the focus shifted to the need for booster doses. From here on, the unarticulated consensus was that we must learn to live with this virus. And that leaves us with the tantalizing question: What have we learned from it?

Several books and articles have been written on what the World Economic Forum (of June 2020) called the “Great Reset,” with attention given mainly to the social, political, and economic readjustments that need to be made on a global scale. Few of those written sources noted that for the World Economic Forum the Great Reset began with the need for a shift in consciousness. It was the very first item on the list, yet bypassed by several commentators.

It is that consciousness reset that I seek to explore in the present work. I want to address the serious neglect of a major underlying dimension without which we cannot hope to address in a responsible and creative way all the other major challenges ensuing from COVID-19. I am adopting an old scholastic dictum from my seminary days: action follows thought. How we think and perceive determines the quality of our behavior, locally and globally.

And central to such a reconstruction is the notion of spirituality. This has scarcely been mentioned throughout the entire COVID-19 pandemic. Without an empowering and liberating spirituality there can be no reset—at any level! And it will probably be just a short few years until humanity has to deal with an even more devastating crisis, global warming being just one of the dark clouds on the impending horizon.

In the opening quote of this introduction Pope Francis asks if we are coming out of the pandemic better or worse. As many countries reopen to normal business, we are behaving as if we have eliminated the serious health threat. Yet variants remain virulent, causing infection and death. Life is better when compared to the harsh experience of lockdown, but our health as a global species remains extremely vulnerable and faces an uncertain future.

Consciousness, spirituality—and now I will add the word discernment. To date, these are the missing dimensions without which we cannot hope to move to the better future that Pope Francis, world leaders, and all of us desire. I hope the reflections of this book will help us move to that deep layer of reflection and analysis, and to the practical strategies that will engender genuine hope.

Table of Contents

Contents Acknowledgments............................................................xi Introduction...................................................................xiii

Part One
What Do I Mean by an Empowering Spirituality?

1. The Religious Landscape after COVID-19.................5
Care for the Vulnerable ..............................................6
Beyond the Polarization of Mistrust ...........................8
Toward a New Spiritual Horizon .............................12
God in the Midst of COVID-19...............................14

2. COVID-19 and the Paradox of Creation..................16
Toward the Spirituality of Paradox...........................19
How the Christian Church Deals with Paradox........22

3. Healing Body and Spirit...........................................26
A Brief History of Medicine .....................................27
Curing through Healing ...........................................30
The Need for an Earth-centered Spirituality .............32

4. Zoom and the Triumph of Virtual Worship .............35
Virtual Worship........................................................36
The Consciousness Reset and Virtual Worship..........38
Technology and Faith Education ..............................39


Part Two
Toward a New, Earth-centered Mysticism

5. Pandemic and Mystical Oneness..............................45
Mystical Perception..................................................46
Oneness Revisited ....................................................51
Centering Interiority ................................................53

6. Zoonotic Spillover as a Spiritual Wakeup Call.........55
Human Interference .................................................57
The Interconnected Web...........................................58
Sacrificing Animals...................................................60
Back to Relationality ...............................................62
Zoonotic Spillover—Spiritual Consequences.............64

7. Reawakening Our Identity as Earthlings? ................67
Coming to Terms with Our Earthiness.....................68
Split Off from the Earth ..........................................69
How Do We Reclaim Our Earthiness? .....................73
Paradise Revisited.....................................................76

8.Empowered by the Spirit..........................................79
Enter the Great Spirit ..............................................80
Source of Creative Energy ........................................83
Our God-given Status as Earthlings.........................84
Worship in a New Light...........................................86
Celebrating an Empowering Presence .......................89


9. The Face of God after COVID-19 ...........................92
Our Inherited Image of the All-powerful Deity ........93
Allowing God to Reenter through Creation .............96
Love as a Transpersonal Force .................................98
God with a New Face ............................................100


Part Three
What the New Spiritual Reset Will Look Like

10. Gospel Healing after COVID-19............................107
From Curing to Healing.........................................108
Parabolic Healing ...................................................109
Healing in God's New Reign..................................111
Healing through Meaningful Work.........................112
Gospel Healing for Empowerment .........................114

11. Listen to Creation—God's Primary Revelation for Us ..................................................................116
Where Do We Start? ..............................................117
The Spiritual Dimension ........................................118
Revelation Redefined..............................................122
Faith-filled Horizons ..............................................123

12. Humans Re-membering the Incarnational Narrative................................................................125
Eco-spirituality and Incarnation.............................126
Humans in an Expanded Incarnational Context.....129
Reclaiming Our Ancient Creativity ........................131
Spirituality before Theology ...................................134

13. Worship—Revisiting Indigenous Sacramentality ....136
A New Sense of Worship........................................137
Indigenous Sacramentality......................................139
Worship and Eco-justice.........................................142

14. Meditation and Eco-justice ....................................144
Toward a More Integrated Wisdom........................145
The Spirit of Justice ...............................................151
Discernment and Climate Justice............................153

15. Spirituality in the Face of Global Extinction..........156
Enter the Anthropocene .........................................157
Religion’s Problematic Power.................................158
Reconnecting with Hunter-Gatherers .....................159
Integrating Spirituality ...........................................162


Appendix: Doing Theology after COVID-19 ................165
From the Ground Up .............................................166
A Mystical Reawakening ........................................167
Ecological Earthliness............................................167
Reframing Incarnation ...........................................168


Works Cited..................................................................171 Index.............................................................................178

Editorial Reviews

In Beyond the Pandemic, Diarmuid O'Murchu calls us to know life in a larger way, aware of the need for a new mind-set and a deep re-visioning of what it means to be human. He invites the reader to "flow with the great paradoxes of creation," encouraging us to see that Earth and humans are evolving together as one process, leading us to the divine mystery that radiates from within creation itself. If I could, I would put this important work into thousands of waiting hands. -Paula D'Arcy, author of Waking Up to This Day and Stars at Night.

“In an age battered by the twin crises of a devastating worldwide pandemic and global climate change, Diarmuid O’Murchu offers us a resource to think through what it means to respond with an empowering spirituality, ecological grounding, and what healing and growth might look like moving forward. Anybody who is tired and weary in the wake of the present moment will take consolation in the insightful, challenging, and hopeful theological reflections Beyond the Pandemic provide to the church and world. This is a book for our time.”- Daniel P. Horan, OFM, Professor of Philosophy, Religious Studies and Theology at Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame and author of A White Catholic’s Guide to Racism and Privilege.

From the Publisher