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15th Biennial JAINA Convention 2009
thing, we often do exactly the wrong thing. To take but one example, years ago a region on the Oregon-California border introduced small flies called midges to control the mosquito population. Unfortunately, the insects thrived to the point that in the summer, one can barely drive the highway due to masses of dead insects on the windshield. Undoubtedly, those that introduced them thought that the midges would be helpful since they obviated the need for traditional chemicals to control mosquitoes. What could be more ecologically sound? Yet, the result was certainly more harmful to the environment than the mosquitoes would have been. Jainism's 'live and let live' might have been a better solution.
On the other hand, to fail to respond to the unrestrained rape of the environment is at least as bad as doing the wrong thing in an effort to
ශශශ් ර භාන
protect the environment; and for many an 'emotional vicarious suffering' like that experienced by Jesus, promotes the tenacity needed to confront the greed that leads to environmental destruction. Compassion, then, whether personal or ecological, is a matter of finding the sweet spot that is the balance between a longing to help and a desire to do no harm, and Jainism's hope that 'the suffering I caused knowingly or unknowingly' can one day cease, promotes the courage needed to continue to seek that balance. Thus, by encouraging the hope that the damage done to the environment can, with time, be undone, and by teaching me to participate actively in environmental efforts, while remaining detached from the results of those efforts, Jainism and Christianity collaborate to teach me a balanced environmentalism.
With Best Compliments
Ecology - The Jain Way
JAIN SOCIETY OF GREATER DETROIT
29278 W. 12 MILE ROAD
FARMINGTON HILLS, MI 48334
248-851-JAIN www.jain-temple.org
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