Eco-humanism?

If humans have a spiritual core that demands satisfaction in one way or another, how is that core fed at the moment? In the UK the Christian religion seems to be in decline, and though Islam is on the rise it has not yet attained the poition of majority faith. Consumerism was invented in the 1950's by Lebow; he called for the linear of buy-consume-discard to become a ritual. Perhaps consumerism has fed our sprituality in recent decades, but its requirement that the process must go on for ever in orrder to be a market for new production, has meant that it has not and cannot satisfy humanity. "I never realised Jesus Christ was crucified on Good Friday - what a coincidence!"; this syndrome is resulting in difficulty in understanding our history, art and literature as it is replaced by Lebow's religion. Perhaps the credit crunch is leading to some extent to people realising their need for spirituality and the hollowness of Lebowanism. Perhaps a new eco-ethical humanism can oust consumerism. Perhaps also the old religions could never both satisfy human spirituality and achieve a just sustainability, because they are about worshiping a god or gods over and above the adoration of nature and humanity.

The Flood

Lay upon the sinner his sin,
Lay upon the transgressor his transgression,
Punish him a little when he breaks loose,
Do not drive him too hard or he perishes,
Would that a lion had ravaged mankind
Rather than the flood,
Would that a wolf had ravaged mankind
Rather than the flood,
Would that famine had wasted the world
Rather than the flood,
Would that pestilence had wasted mankind
Rather than the flood.

Epic of Gilgamesh, Utnapishtim the Faraway's story of the flood

London, William Blake,

I wander through each chartered street,
Near where the chartered Thames does flow,
And mark in every face I meet,
Marks of weakness, marks of woe.

In every cry of every man,
In every infant's cry of fear,
In every voice, in every ban,
The mind-forged manacles I hear:

How the chimney-sweeper's cry
Every blackening church appalls,
And the hapless soldier's sigh
Runs in blood down palace-walls.

But most, through midnight streets I hear
How the youthful harlot's curse
Blasts the new-born infant's tear,
And blights with plagues the marriage-hearse.

William Blake, published in Songs of Experience in 1794