The Philosophy of Sustainability: Element 2 - Love

This is Part 2 of a 6-part series wherein elements of a philosophy of sustainability are suggested.

2.      Love

‘All you need is love.

All you need is love.

All you need is love, love.

Love is all you need.’

All You Need is Love - Lennon/McCartney

Love is good.  A simple truism perhaps, but if so, why is it not universally applied?  Granted, it is rare for anyone to be able to express love toward all those one encounters.  Harder still is the ability to express love toward those we have never met and shall never meet.  When we feel love toward another we acquire a sense of connectedness and responsibility.  When we feel love toward others we recognize interdependencies and we care about the consequences of our actions toward them.  When we care about those interconnections, we not only express love towards others but also towards ourselves.

We are all interconnected.  We can observe the effects of actions on others in space and time and recognize the potential to impact future generations through our actions today.   Because we are all interconnected, one can never do just one thing.  Our actions and words have innumerable and unforeseen consequences.  As Chief Seattle is believed to have put it:  ‘Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.’

As applied to sustainability, love helps us to take the time needed to consider the implications of our actions toward others.  We care about how our actions will affect our fellow humans as well as animals, plants, and natural systems of Earth.  We recognize that despite such good intentions, it may not be possible to avoid some negative consequences.  Still, we treat the natural environment with the reverence appropriate to the source of our existence and we treat future generations with the respect and consideration we direct toward our loved ones.

While few would dispute that ‘all you need is love,’ there are few saints among us who can live by that mantra.  For those of us who find it too difficult to feel and behave with love toward everyone at all times, perhaps a simpler notion can be embraced – respect.  What if everyone respected the individual rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, for all living things?  What if we all lived in accordance with the medical professional’s creed to first, do no harm?  What if we all lived by the Golden Rule – ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you?’  What if all words and deeds were inspired by love?