The Historical Mandate: Restoring Indigenous Culture to Protect Gaia
GAIA, our Mother Earth, is in deep pain and stands on the precipice of extinction.
Climate experts across the globe, numbering in the thousands, have sounded the alarm, setting the symbolic “doomsday clock” to just one minute before midnight. Humanity is staring at two possible endpoints: nuclear annihilation or ecological collapse. Both are products of human hands. GAIA is dying because of anthropogenic or man-made, climate change, driven by what can rightly be called the principal disease of our age: the worship of money.
According to an Oxfam study, this high veneration of profit has already captured the
mindset of governments, institutions, universities, the mainstream media, and even religious groups. Like cancer that eats away at the body if left untreated, this disease gnaws at the very foundations of our civilization. It has buried humanity in unbridled materialism and consumerism, leading not only to greed but to a form of collective insanity. We have been blinded by egotism, imprisoned in false beliefs about success and happiness, and have sacrificed truth for wealth.
The power of money ensures that the luxuries of a tiny elite mean the unimaginable
suffering of billions. Civilization is being sacrificed so that the super-rich may accumulate even more wealth, while the majority are left dispossessed, hungry, and homeless. The
manifestations of this principal disease are everywhere. Gross inequities and deep injustices both social and ecological are increasing at a frightening pace. Forests are burning, glaciers are melting, and biodiversity is collapsing with millions of species driven to extinction.
The United Nations warns that by 2040, climate refugees could number as high as 400 million worldwide. By the end of the century, rising sea levels may submerge islands across the Pacific, including large parts of the Philippines. Imagine one hundred million Filipinos suddenly added to the tally of climate refugees. Where will we go?
This disease spreads most aggressively through corporate globalization, which views the
planet not as a living home but as private property to be exploited. The profit motive thrives on greed, enclosing lands and resources that once belonged to communities. Here in Mindanao, this means land grabbing and violence against Indigenous Peoples, who are stripped of ancestral domains they have nurtured for thousands of years. Instead of a culture of abundance, globalization brings exclusion, dispossession, and scarcity. It robs people of their rightful share in the ecological, cultural, and political space. History shows us that this did not happen overnight. For millennia, Indigenous cultures lived in harmony with nature, seeing the land, rivers, and forests not as commodities but as sacred. The worldview was one of interconnectedness, where humans were caretakers, not owners, of creation. But around
500 years ago, a seismic shift began. With the rise of Western colonialism,
capitalism, and industrialization, a new worldview took root. Nature was no longer seen as
sacred; it was reduced to a resource to be conquered and exploited. Colonial powers ransacked continents, enslaved peoples, and pillaged lands. This marked the beginning of the “object consciousness” that dominates today the belief that the world and even human beings are objects to be bought, sold, or discarded.
This history of conquest and exploitation has continued under modern forms of
imperialism and corporate globalization. Logging companies reduced Eden-like forests into
barren wastelands, deaf to the cries of trees, birds, and countless life forms destroyed. Mining corporations gouged sacred mountains. Rivers once teeming with life were poisoned. The Philippines, once a tropical paradise bursting with biodiversity has been turned into an ecological war zone. Some might argue, “But how can one live without money?” The point is not to abolish money itself, but to recognize how our modern way of life has elevated it into a false god. Our civilization, despite its scientific and technological advancements, is fatally flawed. It not only prevents true human flourishing but now threatens our very survival.
We are beginning to see what our ancestors already knew: that life cannot be measured
by profit margins or material wealth. For centuries, we have lived under a distorted worldview that has separated us from the earth and from our spiritual essence. The result is a humanity trapped in greed, competition, and endless consumption, blind to the deeper truth of who we are. It is urgent, therefore, not only to change our lifestyle but to transform our entire belief system. We must remember that we are not mere consumers, not just physical beings enslaved to material wants. We are embodied spirits, more spirit than body, created in the image and likeness of God.
Our task is not to accumulate wealth but to develop the spirit, to awaken to our true-
identity, as consciousness itself. The body is transient, but the spirit is eternal. We do not
merely have life, we are life. The challenge of our time is not simply political or ecological but deeply spiritual. To heal the world, we must heal the disease of the profit motive that has corrupted our consciousness. We must move beyond object-consciousness and rediscover the sacredness of life, the interconnectedness of all beings, and the eternal truth that we are not separate from creation but part of it.
Climate change is no longer an alarming possibility; it has become a fearful reality. We
are called to rise, to awaken, and to resist the principal disease of our time. History has shown us the consequences of greed and conquest, but history can also inspire us. The same human spirit that built civilizations, created art, and sought justice can also choose to heal the earth. The question now is simple yet profound: will we continue to worship the false god of money, or will we return to the sacredness of life and spirit? Our choice will determine not only the fate of our generation but of all generations to come.
This is not new. The power of money has shaped history for centuries. During the Age of
Colonialism, European empires enslaved millions and plundered lands for gold, spices, and
resources. The Industrial Revolution, while bringing material progress, also deepened
exploitation of workers, widened social inequalities, and triggered mass extraction of nature. The 20th century witnessed wars that killed more than 200 million people, driven not only by ideology but by the struggle for resources, markets, and economic dominance. Based on the belief of these imperial powers that war is the health of the nation gaining so much money out of manufacturing armaments.
Today, the paradigm of corporate globalization continues this legacy sacrificing Mother
Earth on the altar of greed and profit. Thus, the disease of money-worship is not merely a
modern accident but the culmination of centuries of distorted worldview, one that treats
nature as a commodity and people as disposable. The Philippines, once a tropical paradise
teeming with millions of species, has lost its ecological integrity. The forests, once sacred, have been stripped bare by loggers. The cries of trees, birds, and rivers have gone unheard. From an Eden-like paradise, we are now turning into a wasteland. This tragedy is not only environmental but also spiritual. For centuries, our ancestors revered nature as sacred. But modern man, intoxicated by money, sees it only as a resource to be exploited.
Many may ask: can we live without money? The truth is not about abolishing money but
about freeing ourselves from its power. Modern civilization, despite its achievements, is fatally flawed.It inhibits true human flourishing and threatens our very survival. We must recover an ancient truth: that we are embodied spirits created in the image and likeness of God. Our true essence is not the ego, the “little me” rooted in selfish desires but consciousness itself, eternal and boundless. The biblical call of Christ to “deny thyself” is precisely the call to liberate ourselves from the false self-shaped by ego and greed.
History proves how dangerous the egoic self has been: from Hitler to Stalin, from Pol Pot
to wars in Vietnam and the Middle East, the 20th century is soaked in blood because of
humanity’s false worship of power and wealth. Today, the same ego, magnified through
corporate globalization, threatens to destroy the very Earth that sustains us. Yet, there is hope. If humanity has the power to destroy, it also has the power to protect. To be liberated from the power of money, we must shift from maximizing profits to maximizing values. When inner values love, service, compassion, and gratitude are prioritized, we awaken to the truth that all life is one.
This sense of universal responsibility can reshape our relationship with one another and with nature. This transformation will not come from policies alone but from a revolution of compassion. Imagine a new earth where: No child starves to death. No woman or child dies in war. Indigenous peoples live in dignity on their ancestral lands. Nations work together not to plunder but to protect creation. The wars in Ukraine and Gaza, where tens of thousands of innocents have been killed, are symptoms of the same disease of money and power. It is unbelievable that climate deniers, such as Donald Trump idolizing leaders of hatred and genocide are once again elevated to power. History warns us: unless humanity awakens, such leaders may finally push the world to destruction.
But light is stronger than darkness. The wisdom of Zhang Zai’s Western Inscription calls
us to see heaven as our Father, earth as our Mother, and all beings as our brothers, sisters, and companions. This worldview shared by many Indigenous traditions offers a path to healing. If we deeply internalize this, we can save our beautiful planet. But it requires radical action now. As Christ taught, our “inner light” must shine forth. The greatest treasures are not money but love, joy, gratitude, and service. These are eternal values that no economy can measure but without which no society can survive.
LOVE AND SERVICE, pagmamahalan at paglilingkod are the true essence of life, not the power of money. Let us not allow greed to kill our planet and humanity. Darkness can never defeat light unless we refuse to act. When the Filipino people unite against the power of money, we shall prevail. For indeed: The people united can never be defeated. To God be the glory!
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