Abstract

Many people in many cultures have a spiritual connection with nature. Research is beginning to reveal the implications of this “ecospiritual” orientation for two great challenges of our times: preserving the well-being of the natural environment and of ourselves. This article provides an overview of the current research on ecospirituality, with a focus on its role in supporting, and sometimes inadvertently hindering, environmental preservation and human well-being.

If you have ever walked among the soaring spires of an old-growth forest or gazed upward at the countless stars on a cloudless night, you may have felt like you were in the presence of something sacred. You would not have been the first. Many people worldwide experience a spiritual relationship with nature. It manifests in Hindu beliefs about shared divine origins of all living things (Selin, 2003), in Barasana origin myths about Amazonian ancestors traveling the Vaupés River at the beginning of time (Davis, 2009), and in the mystic ambitions of Californian soul surfers seeking spiritual enlightenment at sea (Taylor, 2009). The common thread that connects these culturally distinct and richly structured beliefs is the perception of nature as a spiritual resource—that is, ecospirituality (Billet et al., 2023; Suganthi, 2019).

Ecospirituality is pervasive and has important implications not only for human interactions with the natural environment but also for well-being. Some of those implications are straightforward, but some are not. This article provides an overview of recent research on ecospirituality, with a focus on its unique implications for environmental preservation and human well-being.