Akha Religion - An Environmental Theology

Akha Religion - An Environmental Theology

Religion, Nature and Life
Environmental Theology, Sustainable Survival - The Akha Model

Akha Environmental Theology - The Akha Way
A way of life that sees all the movements in an economical pattern copying the moves of nature, as to be in rythm with its patterns and waste no moves in the collection of food, farming, hunting and sustaining the Akha community.

The environment is at no time seen as seperate from themselves, God, or their survival.

Long Hearted:
By careful practice, much of what they Akha do and who they are is dependable. They don't need to worry, and this in turn gives them a relaxed view of life and relations to other people. Slow to loose their temper with each other or strangers, the Akha classify themselves as "Long Hearted".

What do the Akha believe in?

The Akha are mono-theistic, believing in one God who created them and the earth.

They believe that after death one enters the earth to a land that exists, God's land.

On the way down the road to God's land, after death, one comes to two villages. The first village is for those who were shot or died violent deaths, and for which no corrective ceremonies were taken. This is bad, but few can say what the conditions are like in this village.

In the Akha religion you do not end up in this village by "being a bad person" or "doing bad things to other people". The Akha rather measure what you did in life by what happened to you. If you died a violent death and were abandoned because no one would care for you, then you end up in this village.

The second village is for children who die before they were born or shortly after. There is also not much discussion of what life is like in this village.

And after passing these two villages one continues on to the open lands of God's land, "Meeh Oh Land". Here there is a big house in which God lives, and all one's relatives are here waiting for them.

The Akha spirit women often go to God's House to ask their older kin and if necessary God himself what theymust do to make some one well, to heal them.

Possible to Christian or other people this view of life is not complex enough, not damning enough to those who do wrong, not laden with guilt enough, but at the same time this explains the Akha hesitancy to blame other people or asign guilt to others or themselves over the details.

Whatever one's belief in life, the Akha Way must be considered for its take on life, the environment and the world.

Abandonment?

The abandonment of environmental theology for a religion which claims to save the soul with absolutely no mention of the environment at all while destroying much good hardly makes any sense. The only alternative opportunity is that the Akha might here the teachings of Jesus without the social and cultural Christianity from the west.

Sustainability

In a time when a portion of the western world is looking for a life that is sustainable, the effort is mocked by the conscious destruction of what is already working in the Akha villge.

You add it up, and for all the critics of the Akha Way, it would be pretty difficult to find a life that consumed less than what the Akha consume.

In western religions, the environment is seldom taken into consideration in practice.

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	Document You may copy and save this document for later reading. Please remember to do a site search for other related documents which may not be shown here. Akha Religion - An Environmental Theology Religion, Nature and Life Environmental Theology, Sustainable Survival - The Akha Model Akha Environmental Theology - The Akha Way A way of life that sees all the movements in an economical pattern copying the moves of nature, as to be in rythm with its patterns and waste no moves in the collection of food, farming, hunting and sustaining the Akha community. The environment is at no time seen as seperate from themselves, God, or their survival. Long Hearted: By careful practice, much of what they Akha do and who they are is dependable. They don't need to worry, and this in turn gives them a relaxed view of life and relations to other people. Slow to loose their temper with each other or strangers, the Akha classify themselves as "Long Hearted". What do the Akha believe in? The Akha are mono-theistic, believing in one God who created them and the earth. They believe that after death one enters the earth to a land that exists, God's land. On the way down the road to God's land, after death, one comes to two villages. The first village is for those who were shot or died violent deaths, and for which no corrective ceremonies were taken. This is bad, but few can say what the conditions are like in this village. In the Akha religion you do not end up in this village by "being a bad person" or "doing bad things to other people". The Akha rather measure what you did in life by what happened to you. If you died a violent death and were abandoned because no one would care for you, then you end up in this village. The second village is for children who die before they were born or shortly after. There is also not much discussion of what life is like in this village. And after passing these two villages one continues on to the open lands of God's land, "Meeh Oh Land". Here there is a big house in which God lives, and all one's relatives are here waiting for them. The Akha spirit women often go to God's House to ask their older kin and if necessary God himself what theymust do to make some one well, to heal them. Possible to Christian or other people this view of life is not complex enough, not damning enough to those who do wrong, not laden with guilt enough, but at the same time this explains the Akha hesitancy to blame other people or asign guilt to others or themselves over the details. Whatever one's belief in life, the Akha Way must be considered for its take on life, the environment and the world. Abandonment? The abandonment of environmental theology for a religion which claims to save the soul with absolutely no mention of the environment at all while destroying much good hardly makes any sense. The only alternative opportunity is that the Akha might here the teachings of Jesus without the social and cultural Christianity from the west. Sustainability In a time when a portion of the western world is looking for a life that is sustainable, the effort is mocked by the conscious destruction of what is already working in the Akha villge. You add it up, and for all the critics of the Akha Way, it would be pretty difficult to find a life that consumed less than what the Akha consume. In western religions, the environment is seldom taken into consideration in practice.