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Evelyn Tucker and John Grim, eds., Worldviews and Ecology. I have attached the article here, although you probably already know it.
I write to you in part because I am moved by its description of the power of the Jain way of life and by the importance of this message in a world facing ecological catastrophe.I write to you even more because I am struck by how essential it is that this message of Applied Jainism be made available in American higher education. Future leaders do not need a "secular," postreligious worldview that tells everyone to "just get along." In the world's oldest religion, Jainism, there is such a depth of wisdom that we can never re-create it simply by inventing a new worldview or ethical code. And of course Jainism is not the only religion of depth; the messages of the other ancient wisdom traditions are also important.
I am moved to write you to encourage you not to give up the quest that first brought the four of us together. Our dream was right; our goals were noble; and what we sought to establish is just as needful today as before. I am convinced in the depth of my being that it is crucial that graduate students, the future leaders of America, are exposed to these teachings. They will express them in different ways, no doubt. But without this guidance they will not have the wisdom to address the profound challenges that await their generation.
In friendship, Philip".
If we don't start acting quickly and in unison, our fate will be what Mahavir Sanglikar-bhai, mentioned in his satirical way in describing Butcher Land. Soon there will be many Jain butcher lands all around and within us. The day is not far off when a new definition of ahimsa will emerge which will condone every kind of himsa by Jains with the only possible exception being in the Thali. Even that is becoming a distinct possibility. In a world of rapid change you either move forward or you move backward. I am afraid that as things are moving in real life (I see it happening daily) when meeting a
An Ahimsa Crisis: You Decide
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