The Language of Reverence and Compassion

Written by Steven Chananie

In working to create a new and transformative “Earth Law” paradigm, we should not underestimate the power of the language we choose to use in expressing the reverence that arises within us upon seeing the precious worth of each life and of  all life – and upon seeing the devastation of ecosystems, the suffering of living creatures, and the cruelty and callous disregard that is so pervasive.  The words we use matter and determine how we view the world and address issues and challenges. 

In fact, the law is built on the power of language, both in written and verbal forms, and on the use of carefully defined words and concepts.  As a result, honestly putting into words what we see and feel can support a fierce commitment to serving a more profound sense of justice with deep and abiding compassion.  And that commitment can then be given shape and force and effect by wielding a vision of reverence and compassion in navigating key legal issues, policy demands, and strategic challenges that face us in all aspects of our individual and collective legal, political and economic lives. 

While there are boundaries beyond which language cannot reach, language nonetheless is one of the most important lenses we use to view and interpret the world and frame what and how we see things.  As Krista Tippet noted in a different context, but in words equally applicable here, “It is language that reframes behavior,” and, as a result, “shifts in words [can] hasten and accompany changes of mind and heart.”[1]  Thomas Berry suggests that one important and concrete way to nurture a broader awakening to the wonder of  life, human and non-human,  is to focus on language that can make available to society a new way to articulate a “life oriented toward communion.”[2]  Such language can allow us to speak of and appreciate a broader way of being in the world; to embrace in our use of language our intimate connection to all life; to move past our bondage to a false sense of our separateness from the community of life; and to be able to talk of how we are here for and with the Earth and each other, rather than insisting that the Earth was made for us. 

There are so many key words, phrases and concepts in the law whose scope and meaning might change if infused with a sense of reverence and then reframed with a recognition of the wondrous value of all life and the way in which we exist only in relationship as part of a greater human community and community of life.  One of the goals of the Society for Earth Law is thus to work to change the legal and political narrative by integrating concepts of authentic and deeply felt reverence and compassion into the very words we use with the goal of thereby changing the fundamentals of legal and political discussion and dialogue. 

If we choose to affirmatively use the language of reverence and compassion, we can modify and expand the lens we look through in examining legal, political and economic issues, and in addressing the concomitant problems and challenges.  And then, to the extent the law becomes imbued with words of reverence and compassion – and to the extent reverence and compassion can be put into active practice – the law just may be able to transform itself and at the same time set an example that can support a wider transformation of society as a whole. 

[1] Tippet, supra, page 35.

[2] Thomas Berry, The Spirituality of Earth, published in Charles Birch, William Eaken and Jay B. McDaniel, eds. Liberating Life: Contemporary Approaches in Ecological Theology (New York: Orbis Books, 1990), 151-58.