Ch. 3: Stewardship
Theme Song: Let Your Love Flow – Bellamy Brothers
“A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”
~ Albert Einstein
The GOD-centric and GOOD-centric mantra is “How would my action affect the movement of love in the world?” When it comes to the exterior spiritual discipline of stewardship, both GOD-centric and GOOD-centric might ask: "How might I better affect the movement of love in the environment and non-human life?" Stewardship may be defined as "the responsible overseeing and protection of something considered worth caring for and preserving." GOOD-centric stewardship would involve treating the environment and non-human life with love, goodness, and fairness.
GOD-centric Christians may find motivation in these biblical calls for stewardship:
And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. (Genesis 1:20-21)
The righteous care for the needs of their animals, but the kindest acts of the wicked are cruel. (Proverbs 12:10)
GOOD-centrics may find motivation to stewardship in Martin Luther King, Jr.'s reflections:
It really boils down to this: that all life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny. (Christmas Eve sermon, 1967)
One day the absurdity of the almost universal human belief in the slavery of other animals will be palpable. We shall then have discovered our souls and become worthier of sharing this planet with them.
GOD or GOOD-centric, the exterior spiritual discipline of stewardship invites us to extend to non-human life our building of a world in which love, goodness, and fairness thrive. As an influencer but not a controller, I will provide in this chapter GOOD-centric stewardship guideposts in the domains of the environment and animal welfare. I hope these ideas will germinate in individuals and local groups then emerge in broader infrastructural change.
