Earth and Nature-Based Spirituality (Part II): From Earth First! and Bioregionalism to Scientific Paganism and the New Age By Bron R Taylor

https://www.academia.edu/4550080/Earth_and_Nature_Based_Spirituality_Part_II_From_Earth_First_and_Bioregionalism_to_Scientific_Paganism_and_the_New_Age?rhid=37243980226&swp=rr-rw-wc-1692332&nav_from=d0f4d7dc-9b0d-4fd3-9908-7b0ccb8e5210 Earth and nature-based spirituality is proliferating globally. In Part I of this study, I argued that although participants in these countercultural movements often eschew the label religion, these are religious movements, in which persons find ultimate meaning and transformative power in nature. Focusing on the deep ecology movement, I further argued that (1) experiences of nature spirituality are evoked by practices as diverse as mountaineering, neo-shamanic ritualising and states of consciousness induced by hallucinogens; (2) earthen spiritualities are often contested and may be viewed as inauthentic or dangerous by practitioners of other forms of nature spirituality, and (3) despite significant diversity, a sense of connection and belonging to nature (sometimes personified as a transforming if not transcendent power) unites these cross-fertilising, and sometimes competing, spiritualities. Part II examines additional forms of nature-oriented religion, searching further for continuities, discontinuities and ironies among its diverse forms. ...