Laudato Si'-encyclical

[jennypenny]

Commentary on the Laudato Si ... Embracing Our Limits: The Lessons of Laudato Si

I liked the following quote in particular. The idea that meaning doesn't stem from our own 'ingenuity' but from our interaction with the rest of the world really resonates with me. It would mean that destroying our environment results in less meaning in our lives because we've limited our encounters with the natural world. It makes me wonder how much of our current near-obsession with finding happiness and meaning is the result of our disengagement with the natural world.

"It is this fantasy of living in an endlessly adjustable world, in which every physical boundary can be renegotiated, that shapes the opening reflections of the encyclical and pervades a great deal of its argument. The paradox, noted by a good many other commentators, is that our supposed “materialism” is actually a deeply anti-material thing. The plain thereness of the physical world we inhabit tells us from our first emergence into consciousness that our will is not the foundation of everything—and so its proper working is essentially about creative adjustment to an agenda set not by our fantasy but by the qualities and complexities of what we encounter. The material world tells us that to be human is to be in dialogue with what is other: what is physically other, what is humanly other in the solid three-dimensionality of other persons, ultimately what is divinely other. And in a world created by the God Christians believe in, this otherness is always communicating: meaning arises in this encounter, it is not devised by our ingenuity. Hence the pope’s significant and powerful appeal to be aware of the incalculable impact of the loss of biodiversity: it is not only a loss of resource but a diminution of meaning. “Because of us, thousands of species will no longer give glory to God by their very existence, nor convey their message to us” (33)."

[enigmaT120]

I was interested in his call for a strong world government to be able to counterbalance multi-national corporations, which seem to be dominating many countries. I guess he meant the U.N., but it's funny that for a time in history his own office served that purpose in Western Europe, to a degree.

[Stahlmann]

(1) (*) This is the first time I've seen such a strong wording and understanding from someone so high up.
(2) One should think he was channelling CHS or similar.

1. isn't it like elites have their own jacobs and simply mislead the masses with propaganda?
2. what does "channelling CHS" stand for?