It’s Easter long weekend, and
today is Good Friday; a solemn day of remembrance for Jesus’ death on the
cross. Mid-morning and the local
aged-care facility erupts with noise: not of wailing, but of the amplified exuberant
sounds of piano and song...’hokey pokey’, and similar. It is a ‘Cabaret moment’:[i] one in which on one level something
horrendous is occurring, or is remembered as having occurred, while
simultaneously there is a loud party in progress which drowns out and blocks
any thoughts of the not-so-pleasant.
For me this juxtaposition is also
a metaphor for our world and how we, as humans, act. We seem to turn from facing the tough and
ghastly events in our world, prefer to direct our attention and/or the blame
elsewhere, and carry on as if nothing has happened. What I don’t understand is how we don’t seem
to be able to, as a global village with a global consortium of leaders, face
and sort out the horrendous events occurring across the globe and agree and act
on real solutions. Our leaders are
intelligent beings, as we are, so they must be aware. How can they in all conscience ignore it,
pretend it doesn’t exist, act as if it isn’t occurring?
But no, better/easier to open yet
another coal mine than support alternatives that may slow our oceans’ and
atmosphere’s increasing temperatures which are gradually killing all that lives
there/here. Better/easier to
over-harvest/over-produce and throw the excess away than to live on what we
need. Better/easier to make sure our sexual organs perform at optimum level by
tormenting and killing animals than to confront and give in to human
limitation. Better/easier to continue an
arms race than to explore ways of working together - well it takes too long
after all. Better/easier to kill or maim
‘the other’ than to compromise, even a little.
Better/easier to leave distressed people to struggle for survival
somewhere else than to find ways of absorbing them into our own ‘family’ and
giving assistance, even if it can only be in a limited way. Better/easier to create robots as workers,
pets, children, friends and partners than to deal with the messiness, unreliability
and expense of real people. Better/easier
to believe in the economic paradigm of eternal growth than to face the reality
that this is a finite world. Better/easier
to see the solution to all this as finding another planet to begin the same
thing all over again[ii],
than to confront this world and respond to what it is telling us here and now.[iii]
Over the last couple of months
I’ve been reading a number of books and articles that have come my way and they
all repeat the same message – we are losing control of our planet and our
future, and we have lost respect for the natural world: the non-human world that is alive and that we
are part of, as it is of us. In
particular, Richardson’s conversations with environmental scientists addresses
the issues and questions I am raising here.[iv]
In Australia we are in autumn and
heading towards winter, a time of death and withdrawal, perfect for Good Friday
contemplations. Yet the Resurrection on
Easter Sunday three days later does not sit comfortably in this context. The resurrection is a promise of hope; that
all is not lost and regeneration is possible.
Resurrection is a theme better suited to spring and New Year when
traditionally the concept and celebration of the death-resurrection cycle make
more sense.
Certainly there is no hope for
resurrection of our planet or human awareness at present, even given three days
grace. Yet is it possible to absorb this
promise into our consciousness and not let go what we believe is an alternative
path for our world and its healing? It
is a hope that our ancestors’ death-resurrection rituals and myths encompassed
so it must be carried in our psyche somewhere.
Is it tied to awareness and feelings such as frailty, humility, wonder,
love, compassion...not at all robot-like?
As I have reflected on this I
have ended up in a place I did not expect to be this Good Friday; one of me, as
an unbeliever, hoping and, yes praying, for the awakening of the human psyche
and for the future resurrection of our world and its beings.
This week is also the time of
celebrating Passover, another spring festival:
a time to remember and give thanks for the Exodus when God liberated the
Jewish people, ‘His people’, from slavery.
But do we expect God, or goddess, or Life Force, or the Cosmic
(un)conscious, or whatever we believe in, to save us from the destruction we
have caused ourselves? I don’t think so. That is shifting the blame. We do need to take responsibility and
act.
So who are my prayers directed
to…my higher self…like-minded others...the Internet network…the great vacuum of
space…the space between? And what
purpose do they serve? Is it enough that
my prayers and writing articulate my concerns to myself and that they may offer
some support to others chancing on this blog who may be as concerned as I am[v]...I/you/we
are not alone in this? Wherever my
prayers go and whatever purpose they and my writing serve, they remind me of
Susan Griffin’s wonderful poem, Prayer
for Continuation[vi]. Here are a few verses.
1
There is a record
I wish to make here.
A life.
And not this life alone
but the thread
which keeps shining
like gold floss woven into cloth
which catches your eyes
and you are won over…….
4
It is my love I hold back
hide
not wanting to be seen
scrawl of hand
writing
don’t guess
don’t guess at my
passion
a wholly wild and raging
love for this world…
21
Do you think it is right
to despair?
No, no, it is not about
right and wrong.
It is the thread
shining…
The 22nd April is UN Mother Earth Day. Let's take a few minutes to dance/sing/make music...for the healing of the Earth and all that lives here. International Mother Earth Day
The 22nd April is UN Mother Earth Day. Let's take a few minutes to dance/sing/make music...for the healing of the Earth and all that lives here. International Mother Earth Day
c. Annette Maie, 2017
[i]
Alluding to the stage musical and film of the same name.
[ii]
A solution which has been suggested by respected scientists Paul Cox and
Stephen Hawkins.
[iii]
The paradox is that we humans have invented and created amazing things. We are incredibly clever in many ways, but
not in this…not in finding and acting on a solution to clean up the mess we are
leaving behind. I also acknowledge that the idealism underlying this paragraph is challenged by the reality of multi-layers and complexity, including conflicting interests, embedded in these issues and that there are those who may never care.
[iv]
Kolbert, E. (2014) The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History; Habib, B (2015) Sustainability
is not enough: a call for regeneration; Low,
T. (2001) Feral Future; Shaw, S. &
Francis, A. ed. (2008) Deep Blue: Critical Reflections on Nature,
Religion and Water; Richardson, J. H. (2015) When the End of Human Civilization is Your Day Job.
[v]
Although I am concerned that our world and our leaders are heading down this
path, I am more concerned that our leaders choose to refuse to face it, and by
doing so are consciously betraying us. I
love life and all that it has to offer and that is enough for me. The earth
will sort it out and create something new with or without us, and the cosmos
will continue. It is the perception of our
leaders’ betrayal of the people they have been entrusted to care for which I
find unforgiveable.
[vi]
Griffin, S. in Caldecott, L & Leland, S (eds) 1983. Reclaim the Earth: women speak
out for life on earth. pp. 215-224. There is also research that explores how our feelings and intentions can physically change our DNA, and speculation about how our DNA might possibly influence outside factors via, as yet unpinpointed and unproven, energy-like fields - Cal et al.
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