Epistemic relations between mysticism and the environment

Science of mysticism is knowledge of knowing God, God's attributes, God's manifestations and how to attain the position of monotheism and being divine. Therefore, science of mysticism has been considered the science of monotheism and being monotheistic. Realms of mysticism or its similar science can be these four prominent kinds of science: theoretical mysticism, practical mysticism, philosophy of mysticism and comparative mysticism.
Theoretical mysticism like philosophy reviews and deals with epistemic foundations and ontology or mystical worldview, In other words, Theoretical mysticism answers to this question that how mystics see the world and the people and the religion and the uviverse and practical mysticism explains the principles to attain the position of divine Caliphate or proximity to the divine shrine.
In practical mysticism methods of achieving and identifying the monotheism is expressed in personal and social life; In other words, the subject of practical mysticism is the imaginary and behavioral dos and don'ts of theoretical mysticism.
Philosophy of mysticism deals with the external and rational review of mystical science and basics of mystical claims. In this study, contrary to the theoretical and practical mysticism we are dealing with philosophical issues but in those two types of science issues of Quran, Hadith, or intuitive perception are also dealt with. Comparative mysticisim is comparative knowledge, namely in that theoretical or practical mysticism in a school is compared with other schools and methods and differences and similarities of two trends are specified.
But the discourse of environment is a new discourse, namely in previous centuries that science and technology were in their initial stages, environment was not a matter of importance But in the second half of the nineteenth century and the recent century that the industry and its effects are increasing, environmental crisis is becoming serious in the west and other industrialized countries.
We know that after the production of chemical and atomic weapons and the use of these kinds of weapons by the US and colonial powers, disposing nuclear wastes turned to be an environmental crisis. On the other hand, extraction, transportation and consumption of fossil fuels such as oil and gas in industry and promoting urbanization and its environmental effects deepened the crisis.
Therefore, the discussion of environment comes seriously to the realm of science and public and private organizations and Interdisciplinary studies such as economics and environment, ethics and environment, religion and environment and … are becoming more common. Especially after the Islamic Revolution, in our country as a rapidly developing country a disciplinary and interdisciplinary discourse of environment is gaining popularity.
Therefore, environment means the place and the conditions in which we live and breathe and science of environment is a kind of science which considers the biological relationship of human with the surrounding environment and the interaction between the individual or society with their environment, its aim is protecting human's mental and physical health and taking care of the purity and freshness of natural and human environment and its three major topics are: issues of natural environment, issues of human environment and philosophycal issues of environment.
The first study discusses natural pollutants namely solids, liquids, gases, plants and animals. These types of topics have physical, chemical and biological nature but human environmental issues consider the ethical-cultural, economic and political phenomenons of the environment; environmental pollutants such as audio, visual, and behavioral pollutants and … have human nature. In environmental issues western and secular cultures pay due much attention to the natural environment, but in the religious - Islamic point of view the importance of human environment is not less than natural environment.
Human environmental issues may be related to political science, management and economics, not the environmental issues; without considering the biological issues and physical and mental health and from the aspect of political, cultural - moral and economic relations, human environment is related to the field of political science, sociology, economics but from the aspect of the association between the mentioned phenomena with physical and mental health, it is related to the field of environmental issues.

How is the third range of environmental issues which are philosophical debates?

Yes, environmental debates have external and general issues as well. For example, definition of environment, history, environmental issues, relation between environmental issues with religion, art, theology, mysticism, philosophy, law and etc. these are all philosophical and external issues contrary to the issues of the first type and second; namely natural and human issues that are internal discussions.

Where is the epistemic place of the subject; it means that is the relation between mysticism and environment among the issues of mysticism or natural and human environment?

This issue is among interdisciplinary issues; ie, it has both mystic and environmental identity and therefore; it can also be among issues of philosophy of mysticism and philosophy of environmental issues as well. In other words, this question is an external and philosophical question about mysticism and environment. So I know the position of this issue in the philosophy of mysticism and also in the philosophy of environment.

Now, let's examine the relationship between mysticism and environmental issues that is the main mission of this conversation;

I said earlier that the environmental problems became crisis in industrialized societies as today this crisis in the west and other countries remains a threat especially due to the military threats and the spread of nuclear and biological weapons and conditions in occupied countries.

Now the main question is how to overcome the crisis and environmental problems of today's world?

Two main solutions in the west and industrialized world are: secular and non secular solution. The first solution is that we should solve the environmental crisis by science and technology, because the crisis itself is the result of science and technology, its solution is possible through the reason of the crisis.
So we should wipe out pollution and pollutant factors by the assisstance of science and technology. The second solution is a philosophical – spiritual solution. This solution is by the German contemporary philosopher Martin Heidegger. He says the crisis of science and technology is a fundamental crisis; namely we should change the infrastructures and the frameworks of modern science and technology. In other words, until the origins of crisis are in science and technology, the crisis will also remain. The problem of modern science and thought is that they are devoid of meaning and life, This means that the man today has lost the meaning of life and he is unaware of the conscience of life, so the viewpoints should be changed, otherwise the First World War is not ended, the Second World War will start and the story will be continued.
For resolving the crisis, he recommends two basic strategies to the contemporary man; the necessity of emancipation from things and the openness to mystery; That is, the human who is captured by the joy and power coming from science and industry, should save himself from this captivity and that we should listen and pay due much attention to the voice of the universe soul which comes out from trachea of art, mythology, mysticism, and … .
The crisis-striken human of industrial west has closed the doors of sky for centuries and he has rejoiced in earthly pleasures. Thus Heidegger believes that human of the twentieth century lives in the dark night of human history. Although the solution proposed by Heidegger is very precise and fundamental, but he does not clearly explain the solution to the problem, so some consider his point of view as non-spiritual and atheistic. In our opinion, the best approach to solving the environmental crisis today is returning to the mystical vision existing in the Islamic civilization; at firs, our viewpoint towrds the world and people should be monotheistic romantic look. A person who knows the nature as portray of the divine names and attributes and he loves it, he never destroys and pollutes it. Saadi says:
I am happy in the world because the world is blooming from the existence of God. I am a lover of all parts of the world because the whole world belongs to God.
As Hafiz says:
I am famous in the city of love; I have not infected my eyes to see bad things.
As deceased Sepehri believes the first step in overcoming the environmental crisis is washing the eyes and looking at the world and the man differently, the second step is engineering science, new technology and art based on the above approach, otherwise the natural and human disasters of the environment never leave the human today. Although he may overcome the crisis of natural environment by the assisstance of science and technology, but he will never overcome the human and spiritual environment.
As Molavi says:
That person is happy in prison and this man is sad in the garden.
Because his view has made the beautiful garden and nature disfiguring.
Molavi says in another masnavi:
You are all thought and idea
The rest you are root and bone
If your thoughts and ideas are as beautiful as flowers, then you turn to a become a garden
If your thoughts and ideas are as unfavorable as thorns, you will be burnt and will be used for making others hot.

Two questions seem to be remained; is Islamic philosophy useful and applicable? And does every type of mysticism have this efficiency?

If Islamic philosophy is intertwined with Islamic mysticism like that of Sheikh Eshragh and Molla Sadra, yes, it has the same efficiency, otherwise no; In this case, the Islamic philosophy can be the introduction to the Islamic mysticism that it is efficient in its place. But all types of mysticism are not efficient; some mystic methods even ignore the environment and cause environmental pollution. For example, a type of mysticism which recommends the extreme exclusion of the world and its beauties due to not seeking the world and even living in unsanitary and dirty conditions is considered to be the cause of the nearness to God, how this kind of mysticism can be effective in protecting the environment, examples of this kind of mysticism can be seen in Attar's Tazkeratol Olia. So we mean the efficient mysticism, like that of Molavi, Hafiz, Imam Khomeini, Molla Sadra, Mohyeddin and … .