Monika Sosnowska

One of the assumptions in posthumanities and ecological humanities is that homo sapiens is a part of a larger whole of a living system – the Earth,1 around which, and around which future, a global cross- and trans-discpilnary discussion was initiated by scientists, thinkers and activists in the early 2000s. It was stimulated by the emergence of the notion of the Anthropocene in the Earth sciences proposing that modern homo sapiens became a geological force, collectively impacting particular Earth’s ecosystems and the environment, in general. The present article addresses the concept of “Earthbound,” “the terrestrial” as well as earthly, multifaceted, urgent issues and dillemas of the Anthropocene, both as a notion and our “unstable environmental now” (Mentz, Break Up the Anthropocene, 2019), put forth by Donna Haraway, Rosi Braidotti, Francesca Ferrando and Bruno Latour. To discuss the root cause of the Anthropocene problem, I refer to teachings of Thich Nhat Hahn (a Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk, who died in 2022, a peace activist, author of more than 100 books) to offer non-Western ways of reconceptualizing human-nature relationship, rethinking and reshaping relations between humans (earthlings) and the Earth. His non-dualistic concepts of interbeing and “carrying Mother Earth within oneself” may be treated as an alternative to Western thought that operates on dualisms, promotes intellectual knowledge, mechanistic understanding of life processes and separateness between earthlings and the Earth. Nhat Hahn, who was familiar with scientific findings (e.g. quantum theory), advocated for care and respect for all living entities composing a complex web of relationships. I turn to his essential writings and interviews to discover everyday practices that can be used and understood as forms of activism triggered in response to the environmental change. I analyze how his teachings contribute to shaping environmental awareness on a planetary scale. In addition, I also focus on the linguistic, symbolic, and metaphoric dimensions of the gendered image of the Earth in his talks and writings. Thich Nhat Hahn’s writings and lectures offer a powerful posthumanist message for earthlings living in the Anthropocene as they invite us to redefine the place of ourselves on Earth and re-connect with the planet through our worldly entanglement(s).