'Nature', Physis and the Holy

Heidegger's later philosophy holds much that is of relevance to contemporary interest in the relationship between nature and religion/spirituality. By interpreting nature in ontological terms as a mode of Being's self-presencing, and defining humanity as Dasein, the essential site for Being's self-manifestation, Heidegger offers us an account of natural/human spirituality that provides both a coherent critique of the origins and character of the modern ecological crisis and the death of the holy. Heidegger portrays humanity as called upon to protect and care for the entities of nature, and points the way toward the rediscovery of our essential relationship with Being, and thereby the resacralization of nature and the rediscovery of the numinous dimension of human existence.