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The-Sacredness-Of-Natural-Sites-And-Their 230 The ‘sacredness’ of natural sites and their recovery: Iona, Harris and Govan in Scotland Alastair McIntosh Science and the sacred: with which science can, and even a necessary dichotomy? should, meaningfully engage? It is a pleasing irony that sacred natural In addressing these questions science sites (SNSs), once the preserve of reli- most hold fast to its own sacred value – gion, are now drawing increasing rec- integrity in the pursuit of truth. One ap- ognition from biological scientists (Ver- proach is to say that science and the schuuren et al., 2010). At a basic level sacred cannot connect because the for- this is utilitarian. SNSs frequently com- mer is based on reason while the latter prise rare remaining ecological ‘is- is irrational. But this argument invariably lands’ of biodiversity. But the very exist- overlooks the question of premises. ence of SNSs is also a challenge to sci- Those who level it make the presump- ence. It poses at least two questions. tion that the basis of reality is materialis- Does the reputed ‘sacredness’ of these tic alone. The religious, by contrast, ar- sites have any significance for science gue that the basis of reality, including beyond the mere utility by which they material reality, is fundamentally spiritu- happen to conserve ecosystems? And al. Both can apply impeccable logic is this reputed ‘sacredness’ a feature based on these respective premises < Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris) 231 and as such, both are ‘rational’ from cie rule themselves out of court from a within their own terms of reference. scientific perspective. For example, idea that God (as the ‘ground of be- This leads some philosophers of sci- ing’) created the world in six days is ence to the view that science and reli- manifestly preposterous. But scratch a gion should co-exist in mutual but little deeper and most modern theolo- compartmentalised respect, separat- gians view such imagery as poetic or ed, as it were, by an impermeable metaphorical truth rather than literal membrane. The evolutionary biologist truth. The one speaks the truth of the Stephen Jay Gould advanced this view ‘heart’, the other of the ‘head’, and we where he wrote: need both to be fully human and there- ‘No such conflict should exist [be- by to engage the ‘hand’ in active man- tween science and religion] be- agement. Every time a scientist speaks cause each subject has a legiti- of ‘parallel universes’, or even of the mate magisterium, or domain of school textbook construction of the teaching authority - and these atom, they too are using metaphor. magisteria do not overlap (the prin- More than just reflecting on the struc- ciple that I would like to designate tures of logic and language, we might as NOMA or ‘non-overlapping also ask, if we are to be scientific, magisteria’). The net of science whether the sacred might actually be covers the empirical realm: what is amenable to scientific inquiry. If people the universe made of (fact) and claim that the sacred is something ‘ex- why does it work this way (theory). perienced’, and if it appears to be an The net of religion extends over experience with consistencies, why questions of moral meaning and should that not be studied empirically value. These two magisteria do not like any other perceptual phenomenon overlap. (Gould 2007: 594)’. that purports to shed light on reality? But is such a position good enough, Who said that religion must be confined especially when the scientist is invited to being the straw man of blind faith? to engage with the ‘sacred’ because What interests are served by keeping it sacred groves, mountains, lakes, etc. there? Is it not so that, as with other sci- might be just about the only remaining entific phenomena, if you don’t look you semi-intact areas of biodiversity won’t see? Is it therefore not incumbent around on account of the ravishes of upon science at least to entertain inves- materialism? Such a scientist will tigation of the claims derived from reli- doubtless have the generosity to con- gious experience, especially where cede the biological utility of the sa- these appear to find a measure of con- cred, but is there also ground for her or sensual validation? This is increasingly him to entertain the root phenomenon being undertaken in medicine where of ‘sacredness’ itself? It is true that advances in neuroscience have opened many of the claims of religion prima fa- up new vistas of research into spiritual 232 experience as part of the healing of the subsequent experiences reported by body (Clarke 2010). Why should it not visitors. The theologian may speak of also be a new field for conservationists experiences as ‘visionary’ or ‘mystical’. who have a responsibility for planetary Rudolf Otto used the word ‘numinous’ health? So doing can allow park manag- in popularising ‘the idea of the holy’. ers to optimise their assets. It can syner- The humanistic psychologist Abraham gise benefits across an extended spec- Maslow, best known for his hierarchy trum, thereby ultimately strengthening of human needs, devised the term the political will to sustain and resource ‘peak experience’. This latter term al- nature conservation. lows the inclusion of experiences that may not have an explicit religious con- In hinting that ‘nature is good for the notation but is still perceived as uplift- soul’ the hard-pressed biological scien- ing to the ‘spirit’. All of these comprise tist should not be expected to become an area of study known as ‘transper- an authority in spiritual matters. Howev- sonal psychology’ For our purposes it er, it may be useful to know that an ex- is helpful to follow Wulff (in Cardena et tensive body of research and literature al. 2000: 397–460) in recognising a has build up over the past century, cul- continuum from mild to extreme (or minating in the field of consciousness weak to strong) transpersonal experi- research. An early milestone was Wil- ences – so-called because they sug- liam James’s classic study, The Varieties gest a realm of experience that lifts of Religious Experience, first presented consciousness beyond normal ego- as the Gifford Lectures in ‘natural reli- bounded limitations. gion’ at Edinburgh University between 1900 and 1902. The twentieth century Weak peak experience (to use Mas- saw further experimental and conceptu- low’s term) is very common outdoors. al advances. A fine review of the litera- These include mildly intensified aes- ture is Varieties of Anomalous Experi- thetic experiences with nature and ence: Examining the Scientific Evidence close bonding with fellow humankind. published the American Psychological For example, a mildly euphoric feeling Association (Cardena et al. 2000). Es- of closeness to one’s friends might be pecially relevant is the last chapter by memorably felt while mutually witness- Wulff on mystical experience. ing a breath-taking sunset. Ringer and Gillis (1995) have indicated Weak and strong sacred the importance of outdoor trainers un- derstanding that such weak experienc- experience es can readily escalate to strong levels A range of terms have been devised to of psychological depth. They propose describe religious and related ‘anoma- an eight-point scale ranging from sur- lous’ experiences such as might be as- face-level aesthetic experiences, sociated with either the founding through deepening levels of identity for- ‘saintly’ figures behind SNSs, or with mation, all the way to the ‘universal lev- 233 el’ of mystical experience – something black in the depths.... We knew that is widely experienced by indige- without speaking that we had found nous people. They suggest that levels ‘the place’. We fell silent at the sight, of depth should be managed during knowing that this would be the turn- adventure training in order to respect ing point, ‘the most sacred’, the the implicit contract of what groups place of deepest wilderness, for this have signed up for. In an important an- day, for this trip, for this time in our thology Grof and Grof (1989) also high- lives, and perhaps in our entire light the importance of recognising that lives.... We swam, crawled onto the ‘spiritual emergence’ can become a hot rocks ... most of us slept for a ‘spiritual emergency’; an ontological time. Later some spoke of amazing- crisis. This, perhaps, is one reason why ly vivid dreams.... Distance disap- the sacred is often held at arms length. peared and there was an openness into ourselves that was an openness That recognised, some people actively to each other that embraced the seek out strong experience. Robert pool, the river, and further out into Greenway, a pioneer of ecopsychology, the wilderness, the ‘other world’, the invoked what he calls the ‘wilderness whole Earth, the universe’. effect’ to facilitate this with some of his students. In his studies covering 1380 Such an example is not tied to any people, 90 percent described ‘an in- specific religion. An example of a creased sense of aliveness, well-being, strong mystical experience that is tied and energy’ and 38 percent described would be the following from George life-changes that ‘held true’ five years Fox, the founder of the Quaker after their return from what he led them movement. through. Greenway offers as fairly typi- ‘I now came up in the spirit past the cal the following account from a group flaming sword into the paradise of of twelve people near the end of a two- God. Everything was new. And the week trip up the Eel River in northern whole creation gave off another California (Greenway 1995). smell to what I knew before, be- ‘We had gone as deep into the cent- yond what I could ever express in er of the wilderness as we could, words.
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