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This week, the Spotlights podcast welcomes Dr. Mirei Takashima Claremon, a global citizen, behavioral scientist, and cross-cultural consumer insights expert based in Los Angeles. She discusses her work leading the Behavioral Sustainability movement, reflecting on the limits of analytical thinking and the importance of holistic and cross-cultural perspectives. She also talks about the important role that Shintoism and Buddhism play in her thinking. You can learn more about her work here. She blogs regularly here. You can connect with her on LinkedIn. Posted 11/01/2021.

One of the ecological problems today is the notion that the earth is devoid of the sacred nature. When desacralized, the earth may become a mere resource for human use. To help enact a shift from this anthropocentric view to a “mutually enhancing relationship” (Thomas Berry) between humanity and the earth, I explore how Shinto, a Japanese indigenous spirituality, can reawaken a sense of the sacred nature of the earth and ourselves so that we can become participants and contributors to the thriving earth community filled with intrinsic values. Japanese myths, as the Shinto’s guiding force and inspiration, reveal to us how the Japanese psyche seeks to create balance and harmony among the opposing elements while appreciating multiple and diverse expressions of the sacred. These myths and Shinto spirituality can remind us of the deep connection we have with all of existence, heal the wound of separation and alienation from it, and inspire us to live astonished by the awesomeness of the sacred phenomenal world. When grateful celebration of sacred existence becomes a foundation of new ecological and spiritual sensitivities, we may experience a more intimate and caring relationship with the enchanted world.