Ecoculture, Ethics of Care, and United Actions to Save the Planet and Society
This article by Macedonian-based Independent Researcher and Visual Artist Татјана Миљовска, or Tatjana Miljovska, can be found by clicking on the following link:
Ecoculture, Ethics of Care, and United Actions to Save the Planet and Society
For more information about the author, please scroll down, but first here is the abstract:
Abstract: In this paper, I aim to analyze some of the more complex cultural and socio-anthropological aspects and causes of the current crisis we're all struggling with. It is clear that fundamental changes in society, our habits, culture in general, and the whole system are required to resolve the crisis. But the critical mass for change is not being reached because the resistance is fragmented and people are not sufficiently informed about the severity of the crisis. Most people live in a delusion of the contemporary world. This is because of the materialist-consumerist culture and lifestyle dull people and breed passivity. What’s more, technology creates an addiction to comfort. Ideological norms are globally imposed through culture: physicality and separate existence (individuality), conceptuality and discursiveness are forced, and the soulfulness, heart feeling, spirituality, and unity are suppressed in the background, or completely neglected and rejected. Too much imbalance exists on many grounds. Globalism is the neoliberal political imaginary core idea/force in world governance!
We build a grand ego that alienates us from ourselves, others, and nature. I argue that today’s environmental, social, climatic, and health crises are an extension of the spiritual crisis and are the outcome of a long term of reckless, selfish, greedy, and aggressive human behavior. That is why care, empathy, compassion, solidarity, and love are the threads that will weave the unification of different layers of society, sectors, ecologies, and movements to develop a current in the opposite direction. When we return to nature and when instead of material goods, career, prestige, and power we begin to worship the mountains, lakes, forests, and the whole planet, without craving to possess them, a quantum leap into consciousness will occur. It brings us joy and revives energy, so much needed in our fight to solve multiple crises, to save the planet, society, and the soul.
Keywords: spiritual crisis, social crisis, ecological crisis, health crisis, ecosophy, ecofeminism, ethics of care, the culture of resistance, ahimsa (non-injury), karuna (compassion).
Bio:
Tatjana Miljovska was born in Bitola, Republic of North Macedonia, on November 3rd, 1966.
She graduated in 1992 and earned her Master’s of Science Degree (with the title Sublime Beauty) in 2011 at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Skopje, in the Painting Department (at UKIM: Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje). In November 2020, she earned her Ph.D. in Cultural Studies at the Institute of Macedonian Literature (at UKIM) with the title Revitalization of the Spiritual in Abstract Painting.
She has realized many solo exhibitions of drawings and paintings, the most important of which are: "Tower on The Bridge" at the National Gallery Skopje (1996); "Inner Sun" at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Skopje (2003); the touring exhibition "My Lake" (2009); and "Sublime Beauty" at the Museum of Skopje (2011).
She participated in a dozen performances, and group shows, and realized mural paintings as a member of the art group "Zero" from 1986 to 1992. In 2009, she had a retrospective exhibition with Zero at the National Gallery of Macedonia.
From 1995 to 2008, she worked as a designer for the company "Mattis”.
She has been involved in social activities through the media and social activism since July of 2012. She has published over 150 articles and reviews on art, aesthetics, ecology, spirituality, a critique of Macedonia's current political crisis, and general cultural topics in magazines, online media, and daily journals.
She published the following research publications between 2017 and 2022: 1) “The Dream of Utopia – Hope, Escape from Reality or Realization of the Ultimate Striving?”; 2) “The Divine Mother and the qualities for entrance into higher status: Wisdom, Strenght, Harmony, Perfection”; 3) “Spiritual Vitality in the Life Circle (Towards the Trilogy of Animated Films “Round Trip”)”; 4) “Malevich and Kandinskyʼs Creative Principles in Dealing with Consumerism”, (Culture on sale: Consumerism and commercialization of cultural products); 5) “Environmental Aesthetics: An Outline for Aesthetic Evaluation of the Prespa Region” in Context: Review for Comparative Literature and Cultural Research ( Vol. 15,17& 26) and Philological Studies (Vol. 16), Institute of Macedonian Literature – Skopje.
TATJANA MILJOVSKA'S WORK AS AN ARTIST AND INDEPENDENT RESEARCHER SUMMARY:
“My work as a painter is intrinsically linked to meditation. I’ve been practicing meditation (integral yoga) for over 30 years. Painting is, in fact, a form of meditation. Because both activities require the introspective process, which means assembling a distracted personality and turning inside. The fundamental goal is to calm this mind of ours, which is full of noise and constant chaotic movement. Calming the mind (particularly, the common, so-called mechanical, surface mind) takes time and requires the transformation of vital energy as well as emotions. The result of that process is a realization of our inner being, Peace, Joy, and Beauty. In painting performance, we energize our system and transform the raw material (emotional) into something more delicate and even sublime. The finished artwork glows with immanent freshness. That is spiritual nourishment for us.
The intuitive realization of our true self (through art) is complementary to intellectual understanding (theory). Words are my second medium. Of course, the beauty of any artwork, whether a painting, a musical piece, or a poem, suffices as an aesthetic experience. Since the experience is direct, we don't need words to describe or explain it. In any case, the theoretical study assisted me in refining my artistic experiences and reshaping my personality.
Art for art’s sake is adequate to fulfill our spirit and soul, but it is insufficient to transform society. As a result, artistic work as a form of social engagement is now essential. The artist's social involvement is always where there are massive, seemingly intractable problems. His or her task is to locate blocked energy so that it might be channeled or transformed. Their mission is to unite the fragmented parts of our society, too. Some of these difficulties were addressed in my paper Ecoculture, Ethics of Care, and Joint Efforts to Save the Planet and Society.
The goal is to make positive changes in our lifestyle. The planet can no longer absorb humankind's destruction. To put it another way, we should intercept and intervene and strive to modify negativities on a mental and energetic (vital) level (meaning deconstruction) before they materialize and become irreversible (destruction).
Eastern wisdom, particularly Vedanta philosophy, is my greatest source of inspiration. Eastern wisdom provides us with a grand paradoxical logic that resolves western logic's impasses (of Aristotelian logic ). That Ultimate Reality (Purnata-wholeness /completeness in Vedanta, Sunyata- Emptiness, Voidness, Silence in Buddhist philosophy, or Tao harmony) is oneness and multiplicity in creative fusion, deep peace but dynamic at the same time, fulfilled void, sonorous silence, and sublime beauty. That wisdom carries a tremendous amount of positive energy. That is exactly what we need. From that perspective, we have a clear discernment vision and the ability to distinguish between what is important and what is not in our actions. We won't be able to transform society or save the Earth unless we attain a higher level of consciousness. Will the pro-life movement win out over the anti-life movement? That is the overall issue.
If every one of us finds our own beam of truth and contributes to a better society in our own unique way, we will live in a radically new planet and society.”
Cover photo by Guillaume de Germain