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Man and Nature: The Spiritual Crisis in Modern Man

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In this short book, Seyyed Hossein Nasr takes a look at the relationship between man and nature and the spiritual crisis that inflicts modern man in his "war against nature". In examining ecological crisis, war, and industrial failure, Nasr argues that modern science has lost touch with the sacred in its applications. Rather than being rooted in the unified outlook of traditional man along with his religious traditions, modern man sees the world through the eyes of a crass materialism, scientism, and positivism. It is this lack of worldview which Nasr believes is the spiritual crisis behind the troubled relationship between man and nature. Nasr begins by examining this problem and explaining how a base scientism has attempted to uproot the understanding of traditional man. In making this comparison, Nasr looks at the alternative philosophies of science, beginning with the positivists and comparing them to the viewpoints of various religious philosophers on the question of science. Here it is necessary to understand the limitations of science, particularly as they apply to its application, which is at the root of the ecological crisis in modern man. Next, Nasr turns to the historical roots of science in Greek and Christian philosophy and theology. Nasr argues that much of the problem can be found in the neglect to emphasize these historical roots rather than simply glorify modern science. By placing science within its historical framework, it is possible to see exactly how the crisis has come about. Nasr argues that in particular, the breakdown of the Christian tradition and the secularization of science is at fault. Next, Nasr turns to the metaphysical principles that underlie man's understanding of nature. In particular, Nasr examines those principles as expounded in the traditions of the world's great religions: Taoism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam, particularly with reference to Sufism. Finally, Nasr seeks to explain how the retrieval of this traditional understanding of nature can be applied to the modern situation and crisis. The book concludes with a discussion of what Nasr believes to be the errors of such modern theories and notions as that of evolution. All in all, this book is an interesting discussion of the shifting relationship between man and nature, and it offers hope for the alleviation of spiritual crisis by returning to the traditions within the world's religions.

Seyyed Nasr, takes the reader through history and causes of the descralization of nature in the west and the resultant ecological crisis we face today. He shows how the west via the divorce of science from spirit has wrecked havoc on our planet. And also how the Christian faith helped accelerate this process when it removed elements of its metaphysical doctrines that kept nature as a part of the divine. In addition he elucidates how some of the philosophical schools of thought help widen the schism between man, nature and the divine. He closes with a chapter what can be done to correct the problem via the resacralization of nature as a reflection of the Creator.

Seyyed Nasr main thrust in correcting Christianity's loss of sapiential wisdom or gnosis is to turn to the eastern traditions like Tantra or Taoist alchemy. However considering the animosity that mainstream churches have towards the other spiritual traditions this is not likely to occur for a number of reasons.
1) The Christians who've adopted other methods are considered marginal at best, heretics at worst. Just try promoting yoga at your local highschool and see what happens. A current example would be Thomas Merton. He came closet to what Seyyed Nasr is asking. Still to many Christians he is considered an apostate.
2) Christianity in many instances has been reduced to down to after life fire insurance policy and God being a banker and greengrocer to the elect. Just get 'saved' and thats it.
3) Christian intellectual tradition is so bad nowadays as to be non-existent. So bad it took a devout Moslem to write about what should have been obvious to any Christian leader with a functioning brain.
4)To recreate a gnosis within Christianity it would take man whose a "finished student" of say Tantra and had the intellectual capacity and church authority to integrate these teachings in a seemless manner. Plus establish a living transimission. No small task.

What I even more amazing is that this book was first written in 1967 and is better than most of the recent writings on this problem including: Ken Wilbers Sense and Soul and Robert Ornstein's 'The AxeMakers Gift".

Overall it is a very informative and a easy read that one can keep comming back to and learning something new.

If you like E.F. Schumacher, Huston Smith, Gregory Bateson, Jacob Needleman, you will enjoy this book. I would also include anyone who is concerned about what is happening in the world via the loss of faith, runaway technology and destruction of the planet we live upon.

BTW the references section is a excellent starting point for further research.

Seyyed Hossein Nasr, noted Islamic scholar and philosopher, has produced an outstanding text on modern man's spiritual crises. Now, I may disagree on some points here and there, and as a Christian, I think Islam has some theological problems; but, with that said and out of the way, Nasr's book gets past any polemics with Christians and Jews, and while differences persists, shows that in a modern scientific and postmodern world, that secular society is more concerned with taking the higher forms of life and insists on devaluing humakind to the lower forms of life 9nature). Man becomes nothing but an animal, with no direction. He (she) has lost what they were truly meant to be. Nasr forcefully argues his position, drawing on mostly Sufi Islamic teachings(but other traditions as well) to not only show that this modern world has the priority backwards, but there are answers to fix the problem. There are a lot Christains and other devoute people of faith can agree with and find insightful in this book.

This early work of Nasr is testament to the author's wisdom and foresight. He is heir to not only Muslim sages, and the best Ambassador for Islam and its universal message of peace and harmony between man and man and mankind and nature, but he is, arguably, equally an heir to St Francis of Assisi and saints and sages of other traditional faiths and the perennial philosophy.

lol, please do not put Prof. Nasr on the same level as St. Francis of Assisi. The level of asceticism St. Francis operated at would make Prof. Nasr blush with shyness to such a degree as to never write a book ever again for the rest of his life. Sadly, this is a poor book, or maybe even a practical joke. I am a Muslim, and I sought this book to find guidance towards arriving at a correct method of material and intellectual advancement based on the principles of Islam, such as Quran and Hadith, in other words the Shariah. Unfortunately, as most of Prof. Nasr's books, this is completely filled with name droppings, and historical anecdotes rather than **actual solutions to problems**. I am sure even a child can say that deforesting is bad for the environment; so give me a analysis on how modern society utilizes, say, timber as a resource, what is the Quran's stance on non-biodegradable synthetic materials, and what should we do reduce waste, etc. Instead what we find here is verbose academic foolishness and intellectual gymnastics on what this or that scholar said. I was honestly expecting an intelligently crafted and scientifically imbibed discourse on our current situation in the light of the verses of the Quran and the approach taken by the early Muslims towards the use of natural resources employed in the development of an urban settlement/society during and after the time of the Prophet (saw). Topics such as what was the instruction given by the Prophet (saw) to the people during his lifetime regarding developing one's material life in this world (whose development and well being is directly dependent on the materials extracted and acquired from the earth's surface, which in turn is shared with countless other species as well) are completely alien to this work.

Sustainable Infrastructure Development is a super complex topic and it is not be taken in jest as most authors do (especially this one), and its seriousness is exponentially increased if God is actually going to call us to account for the destruction we have wrought upon the surface of the earth. "Corruption has appeared on land and sea through what people's hands have earned, to let them taste something of what they have done, that haply they may repent" (Qur'an 30:41). A deeper analysis of the situation can very easily be sought in first year university Environmental Engineering text books or take a look at the work by George Perkins Marsh, "Physical Geography as Modified by Human Action or Man and Nature". Marsh's book is a robust analysis on the subject at hand and was published in 1864, which I would presume was before Prof. Nasr was born.

It is funny that Prof. Nasr talks about the environment and the 'spiritual crisis' as he has published 'over fifty books' whose paper has been made by felling trees and consuming fossil fuels, and ironically whose end results have been no more than historical sketches rather than an actual analysis on the proposed topic; for e.g. Science and Civilization in Islam, Cosmological Sciences in Islam, Transcendent Theosophy of Mulla Sadra, etc... These works are melancholically superficial and mock the intellect of an inquiring mind and very often veer into territories strictly prohibited in the Shariah; such as the study of Astrology, Music, Polytheism (for e.g. the adoption of the Pythagorean view of divinity of numbers within the Islamic intellectual doctrine), etc. I also find that Prof. Nasr relies on Sufism or I would say Tasawwuf way too much as his spiritual foundation rather than the teachings of the Quran and Hadith. No doubt that Tasawwuf is firmly rooted in the Shariah, but there are a lot of dangers on this path in the methodologies of the different Tariqas awaiting those who have yet to attain mastery or a firm footing in the foundational Islamic sciences such as Classical Arabic, Fiqh, Tafseer, Hadith, etc. I formerly used to read quite a bit from the works of Classical Sufism, and it did a wonderful job at introducing me back to my religion in a heart felt way, but wore out its usefulness once I reached the text of the Quran. Hence, as a practicing yet liberal Muslim, Nasr's works do not suffice my studies towards arriving at an authentic Muslim intellectual creed. If you are a Muslim, study the Quran, use Nasr extremely carefully, maybe for his bibliography, haha...do your own analysis and apply it to your fields of research.

To gain a deeper understanding of the intellectual spirit of Islam I would suggest reading the unabridged "Ihya Ulum ad-Din (Revival of the Religious Sciences)" and "Ma`arij al-Qudus (Ascent to the Divine through the Path of Self-Knowledge)" by al-Ghazzali. Surprisingly, Prof. Nasr in several of his works criticizes the lack of intellectual development of Imam al-Ghazzal due to his firm position against the practice of speculative philosophy in Islam; as acccording the revered Imam the 'science of polemics' pollutes ones intellect and takes the pilgrim away from the remembrance of God and the Quran. "Know that the life of the world is only play, and idle talk, and pageantry, and boasting among you, and rivalry in respect of wealth and children; as the likeness of vegetation after rain, whereof the growth is pleasing to the husbandman, but afterward it drieth up and thou seest it turning yellow, then it becometh straw. And in the Hereafter there is grievous punishment, and (also) forgiveness from Allah and His good pleasure, whereas the life of the world is but matter of illusion" (Quran 57:20). Since Prof. Nasr has roots in Shi'ism, I find that he very intelligently walks the fine line between Sunni and Shia modes of Islamic knowledge, however, I find that his slighting of someone as honourable as al-Ghazzali, possibly shows his own lack of spiritual development.

this is what Rumi/Sufism says in his mathnawi about knowledge of the physical world, its implementation and acquisition:

"Your spirit was bearing you towards, the highest sphere
(of heaven): you went towards the water and the clay
amongst the lowest (of the low).
By this fall you metamorphosed yourself from that
(state of) existence which was the envy of the (spiritual)
intelligences.
You urged the steed of ambition towards the stars:
you did not acknowledge Adam who was worshipped (by
the angels).
After all you are the son of Adam. O degenerate! how
long will you regard lowness as nobility?
How long will you say, "I will conquer a whole world, I
will make this world full of myself"?
If the world should be filled with snow from end to end,
the glow of the sun would melt it with a single look."