{"title":"Experiences of Beauty and Eco-Sorrow: Truths of the Anthropocene and the Possibility of Inoperative Care","authors":"Ryan LaMothe","doi":"10.1007/s11089-024-01127-w","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>This article investigates the experience of beauty and eco-sorrow with the aim of depicting some painful truths, as well as existential responses to eco-sorrow. The article begins by portraying the attributes of the experience of beauty, relying on an emended version of Christopher Bollas’s notion of transformational objects and Buber’s I–Thou experience. This lays the foundation for explicating the attendant experience of eco-sorrow, which entails the painful recognition of (1) the degradation of the Earth and a loss of beauty, (2) the extinction of other species, (3) human-caused climate disaster, and (4) existential insignificance and impermanence. The latter is further understood in terms of Giorgio Agamben’s notion of the ontological rift, which is produced and maintained by the Abrahamic religious traditions and Western political philosophies. Recognition of the ontological rift, which is a defense against existential insignificance and impermanence, is a key part of the experience of eco-sorrow. The last section explores responses to beauty and eco-sorrow, such as despair, nihilism, forced hope/optimism, flights of fantasy, and, ideally, a categorical demand for inoperative care.</p>","PeriodicalId":19961,"journal":{"name":"Pastoral Psychology","volume":"41 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8000,"publicationDate":"2024-03-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Pastoral Psychology","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11089-024-01127-w","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"PSYCHOLOGY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This article investigates the experience of beauty and eco-sorrow with the aim of depicting some painful truths, as well as existential responses to eco-sorrow. The article begins by portraying the attributes of the experience of beauty, relying on an emended version of Christopher Bollas’s notion of transformational objects and Buber’s I–Thou experience. This lays the foundation for explicating the attendant experience of eco-sorrow, which entails the painful recognition of (1) the degradation of the Earth and a loss of beauty, (2) the extinction of other species, (3) human-caused climate disaster, and (4) existential insignificance and impermanence. The latter is further understood in terms of Giorgio Agamben’s notion of the ontological rift, which is produced and maintained by the Abrahamic religious traditions and Western political philosophies. Recognition of the ontological rift, which is a defense against existential insignificance and impermanence, is a key part of the experience of eco-sorrow. The last section explores responses to beauty and eco-sorrow, such as despair, nihilism, forced hope/optimism, flights of fantasy, and, ideally, a categorical demand for inoperative care.
期刊介绍：
Pastoral Psychology, founded in 1950, is one of the most well-established and respected journals in the field of psychology and religion/spirituality. Pastoral Psychology is an international forum that publishes scholarly, peer-reviewed original articles that address varied aspects of religion and spirituality from physical, human science, and interfaith perspectives.
Historically, the word “pastoral” has referred to the care of individuals, families, and communities. Today, we additionally consider “pastoral” in terms of lived experience as it relates to embodiment, the social-political, economic, spiritual, and environmental dimensions of life.
All theoretical perspectives are welcome, as Pastoral Psychology regularly publishes articles from a variety of schools of thought, including, but not limited to, psychoanalytic and other dynamic psychologies, cognitive psychologies, experimental and empirical psychologies, humanistic psychology, transpersonal psychology, and cultural psychology. Insights from existential perspectives, intersectional theories, philosophical and theological theories, gender and queer studies, sociology, anthropology, public mental health, and cultural and empirical studies are welcome. Theoretical contributions that have direct or indirect relevance for practice, broadly construed, are especially desirable, as our intended audience includes not only academics and scholars in religion and science, but also religious and spiritual leaders, as well as caregivers, chaplains, social workers, counselors/therapists, clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, and persons interested in matters of religion/spirituality and psychology.
Pastoral Psychology welcomes scholarship and reflection from all religious and spiritual traditions. In addition to scholarly research papers, the journal welcomes thoughtful essays on a wide range of issues and various genres of writing, including book reviews and film reviews. The community of scholars represented in its pages has demonstrated that the life challenges the journal seeks to address are universally shared, yet also reflect individual social, cultural, and religious locations. The journal, therefore, welcomes submissions from scholars from around the world.
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