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What is nature teaching us? Jeff Waistell, Principal Lecturer, Oxford Brookes University, UK. ABSTRACT The paper reflects upon and is organised around a number of Japanese Haikus. This type of poetry, with its focus on the beauty and character of the natural world, offers a route to personal enlightenment while fostering a more enlightened relationship with our physical environment. Everything conveys the Dharma and the planet teaches us both through its eloquent beauty and its responses to our harmful actions. Haikus can move individuals beyond their narrow perception of self to become more mindful of their interconnectedness with the broader human community, other species and their succeeding generations. The merging of self and nature is an essential step for transcending self-interest and nurturing care for our environment. Current approaches to exploiting, fighting and conquering nature can be displaced by a growing awareness of the sacredness of the natural world, where we experience its ‘suchness’ as a path towards enlightenment. We learn to respect nature and observe its right to be – independent from our attachments to its resources and our utilitarian exploitation of them. Mindful awareness can help us to understand the complex web of human impacts on the environment and how to unravel them. This stream of the conference is concerned with care for our environment and the Buddhist response to climate change. It is argued in this paper that we can begin to learn what the Buddhist response should be through a direct encounter with nature itself. Secondly, it is argued that to care requires from us a change of heart and mind - and that the Haikus can be instrumental in this process. Such poetry teaches the values of simplicity and frugality, and instils a love and appreciation of our world, particularly of the small and usually unnoticed species, which might otherwise be neglected. However, the Haikus’ most important function is that of an alarm clock; they wake us up from our sleep-walk to destruction and engender a deeper awareness and love for our environment. Dreaming means that we are unaware of the reality around us; Haikus awaken us to this reality and provide a vehicle for personal enlightenment. There is a possibility for a virtuous circle, where peace with nature leads to peace inside, which in turn leads to peace with nature. Poetry helps us to reconnect with and directly encounter the wild forests and mountains, where there is less opportunity for worldly attachments and more scope to experience the natural world itself. In solitude, silence and stillness we can let go of our worldly ideas about how we can exploit natural resources and find wisdom and compassion for the planet. Jeff Waistell Curriculum Vitae Current Job Title Principal Lecturer Roles and Responsibilities Deputy Programme Director Department Name Human Resource Management and Organisational Behaviour Educational Qualifications - Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education; Open University, 1999-2000 Professional Positions - Oxford Brookes University; Principal Lecturer, 2005-current (half-time post recently converted to full-time post); Associate since 2003. Professional Qualifications FHEA (Fellow of the Higher Education Academy) International Experience Lectured in Ethiopia, Brazil, Hungary, Romania, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Ireland and UK. Memberships Fellow of the Higher Education Academy Measures of esteem 2 lecture tours on ‘Managing Knowledge’, arranged through UNIDO, in Brazil (2000 - Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia, Manaus; 2001 – Porto Alegre, Recife, Salvador, Belo Horizonte) Published in ‘Journal of Organisational Change Management’ and ‘Culture and Organisation’. Forthcoming publication in ‘Philosophy of Management’ Major Research Interests Engaged Buddhism, organisational change, values and discourse. Major Teaching Activities Organisational change, knowledge management and innovation. |
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