|
By Jackie Alan Giuliano, Ph.D.
The brook has gentle melodies,
and far is dust and city;
the tree-tops are swaying to and fro
and making me so weary.
The wood is wild, the world is wide,
my heart is clear and big;
pale solitude is holdingmy head upon her lap.
-- Rainer Maria Rilke, translated by M.D. Herter Norton
In the midst of a political climate in which the U.S. president and vice president are telling us that conservation doesn't matter and that war in space is our next big priority, it is easy to become disheartened, to feel that the helm of the most powerful ship in the world is running amok.
The reality is, though, that we all have the power to act, to change, to transform our relationships with the natural world - and with ourselves. We don't need approval from anyone else to make that choice.
Baby sees his first waterfall. (Photo by Jackie Giuliano ?2001)
Seeing our Earth from space has inspired millions. But it has also made crystal clear that we use the planet of our birth like an infinite supermarket and at the same time as a sewer. We extract materials to use as resources, confine our neighbor species into pens and warehouses and use them either as slaves or as food, and use our chemical knowledge to create materials the byproducts of which poison us at the genetic level.
Yet we have the technological power to create sustainable practices today, if we want to. But that can't happen automatically. Greed churns parts of the Earth into comforts for many, cash for few. It may feel like these pathways are set in stone, yet they are really all about choice. What do you choose?
Choices are happening all around us, yet we may not notice because of all the distractions that fill our lives. Joanna Macy, a great environmental scholar, psychologist, and Buddhist teacher, describes the time in which we live as The Great Turning. She says that this time has three great aspects.
Holding Actions
Actions taken by people all over the world that slow the damage to the Earth and its beings are the most visible dimension of the Great Turning. They include the political lobbying done by groups defending the Earth, the boycotts of destructive products, and the writing done by individuals who are documenting the effects of the non-sustainable choices of our culture.
Analysis of Causes and the Creation of Alternative Institutions
The second aspect to the Great Turning is a dimension of attempting to understand how the world works on a level that has previously been ignored. This involves understanding what forces are at work that create obscene wealth for a few while millions of children suffer and die. Communities are banding together around the world to challenge the notion that for some to be powerful, others must suffer. From the recognition that many aspects of our way of living are incompatible with life, new ways of being are springing up, as Macy says, "like green shoots pushing up through the rubble."
Fundamental Shift in Worldviews and Values
Macy reminds us that none of the harmful institutions and practices can exist on their own without being sustained by deeply ingrained values. These values, based on a profound separation from the natural world, insist that the Earth is a source of resources to create perceived comforts for us, comforts that increase the separation. This self-sustaining process ensures that a system of classes will exist to fuel the fire of this view.
We are taught to be afraid and that the fear can be quenched with purchases and good solid jobs in industries that manufacture goods. This guarantees that a few will be super rich while the rest of us work to make and then buy their goods.
Protest for indigenous rights of the Innu people (Photo courtesy
Innu Nation)
But shifts are taking place that are exposing these values for what they are - destructive ethics designed to make a few very rich while the rest of us wander in search of home. People all over the world are merging ancestral teachings and scientific thought. You won't hear about these people on the evening network news, but they are out there, working to change the face of how we perceive our world. Those insights are necessary if we are to free ourselves from the grips of the Industrial Revolution that is choking our planet.
This third element of the Great Turning requires a solid rethinking of how we have been taught to define ourselves. We can learn to expand our definition of who we are to include our family, our friends, and the creatures and ecosystems around us. We don't have to be so lonely.
http://ens-news.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-11g.html
|
