Fear of the Divine: How Supernatural Punishment Can Help Humans Live in Harmony with Nature

Ortolan Bunting

21-10-2025

Kingfisher asks again: “Oh? So the uselessness must remain untouched to be truly wondrous?”
Now Zhuangzi really laughs: “You spiky creature—are you uncomfortable unless you go against the Dao? This habit of always distinguishing—hasn’t it nearly starved you many times already? In the end, what matters more: being full, or distinguishing fish?”

In Kingfisherish Wandering [1]

© Wix

Human society’s overexploitation of natural resources continues to destabilize ecosystems, prompting scientists to explore unconventional pathways to sustainability [2,3]. A recent study by Shota Shibasaki and colleagues [4] in Humanities and Social Sciences Communications uses evolutionary game theory to examine how supernatural beliefs—particularly the fear of divine punishment for harming nature—might promote cooperation and preserve environmental resources.

Throughout history, many cultures have attributed natural disasters or ecological imbalance to supernatural retaliation. For instance, Japanese folklore describes mountain or forest spirits punishing those who overuse natural resources [5], and the Batak people of the Philippines believe forest spirits enforce sustainable resource use [6]. Such beliefs may act as moralizing ecological norms, deterring selfish exploitation that leads to the tragedy of the commons [7]. However, until now, the conditions under which these beliefs can spread and remain stable in societies were unclear.

The researchers constructed a mathematical model integrating three factors: belief in supernatural punishment, the intensity of resource exploitation, and the abundance of natural resources. They discovered that fear of supernatural punishment can sustain cooperation—where individuals use fewer resources—if two conditions are met. First, fear must be strong enough to outweigh the short-term benefits of overexploitation. Second, it must be moderate enough to allow such beliefs to spread through “missionary” interactions, rather than being rejected for being too severe.

Their simulations show that when these conditions hold, societies evolve toward equilibrium states where cooperative “believers” dominate, ensuring resource recovery and sustainability. In contrast, if fear is too weak or the transmission of belief too slow, selfish behaviors prevail, leading to environmental collapse.

This study illuminates how cultural and spiritual mechanisms can substitute for formal punishment systems by internalizing ecological ethics through belief. The findings suggest that moral or spiritual narratives—supernatural or secular—can effectively embed environmental responsibility within communities. From the perspective of Nature Quotient (NQ), this reflects a high level of human–nature attunement: individuals act not out of enforcement but reverence, embodying relational awareness and moral restraint [8]. Such internalized harmony fosters both individual peace (freedom from greed and guilt) and social peace (collective stability and sustainability) [9].

References

[1] Nguyen MH. (2025). Kingfisherish Wandering. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FVLLLXNW/

[2] McPhearson T, et al. (2021). Radical changes are needed for transformations to a good Anthropocene. npj Urban Sustainability, 1, 5. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42949-021-00017-x

[3] Pascual U, et al. (2023). Diverse values of nature for sustainability. Nature, 620, 813-823. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06406-9

[4] Shibasaki S, et al. (2025). Fear of supernatural punishment can harmonize human societies with nature: an evolutionary game-theoretic approach. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 12, 1575. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-025-05734-7

[5] Nakawake Y, Sato K. (2022). Does nature take revenge? a quantitative analysis of Japanese folklore on supernatural revenges. Proc JinMonCom, 119-124. [In Japanese]

[6] Eder JF. (1997). Batak resource management: belief, knowledge and practice. IUCN--the World Conservation Union and World Wide Fund for Nature.

[7] Hardin G. (1968). The tragedy of the commons. Science, 162(3859), 1243-1248. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.162.3859.1243

[8] Vuong QH, Nguyen MH. (2025). On Nature Quotient. Pacific Conservation Biology, 31, PC25028. https://doi.org/10.1071/PC25028

[9] Nguyen MH, Ho MT, La VP. (2025). On “An” (安): Inner peace through uncertainty, nature quotient, and harmony with Dao. http://books.google.com/books/about?id=NIKMEQAAQBAJ