This will begin with a question. Why would the earth want to harm us for what we do?
I'm asking this because it has been bothering me for a while this strange ideology. I grew up Catholic. I know all about Catholic guilt and the oppressiveness of feeling less than love by "God" because well I have sinned in some way. Now, My spiritual path has moved from these beginnings. It has gone through many changes and phases yet its foundation is in finding "truths" and by that I mean ideas, laws and principles that are without doubt the threads that weave together the universe we live in. This journey has taken me from earth based Pagan beliefs to Buddhism, Shamanism, Hermetic Magic, Physics, Earth sciences, Mathematics, Biogeometry, Radiesthesia(vibrational dowsing, etc...
None of these systems if applied says we are bad and the earth will rise against us. Yet for some reason the superstition plaques even the most "open" of persons as they navigate their journey. The web is filled with channeled and written material about how we are seeing and feeling the wrath of the earth as we create bigger messes and dangerous technologies that are bent on destroying our true nature....
I hear some of my friends say they will not believe in a white bearded wrathful man called "God" who judges them and decides who goes to heaven and hell.... yet the same folks will completely accept the "Goddess" earth mother figure as judging us and creating weather patterns, earth quakes and all manner of natural disasters to punish us for what we are doing....
So, tell me what is the difference?
Now the planet we live on is an organism that functions because of complicated systems that promoted the evolution of life. Its been doing that for a very long time... humans have been around for a while and beliefs come and go based on our understanding of these relationships. We have created religions, civilizations, art, sciences, theories, and all manner of technologies from stone tools to cellphones. Everything we create has had an impact on our relationship to the planet. Some how no matter how we mess it up, create it, or exploit it, the planet still marches on... its not always a pretty process and we get ourselves into trouble with wars and incomplete knowledge about some our our creations yet we some how we resolve it.
Let me get back the the idea of guilt and the way we personify things that seem beyond our control. It seems the earth we live on is doing what it knows how to do... shifting continental plates, releasing magma, adjusting the weather to meet the chemical compositions that exist in our atmosphere, etc... We can spend time blaming corporations, individuals, Illuminati, governments, Churches, Religions each other, Gods, Goddesses etc... We can feel guilty that we are not "doing" enough or "caring" enough or "loving" enough yet this planet is all about evolution, adaptation, and creation... and WE are part of that brilliance, beauty, potential, and all of it. Guilt has no useful place if we really want to be part of this amazing experience.
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Adhi you ask the best questions. I also have looked in many spiritual directions, although not as thoroughly as you have. What I feel is not guilt, yet a sense that what I do, say and think matters on some level. I sense that unaddressed cruelty lingers and also that 'senseless' acts of kindness and beauty make a difference. The study of ancestor reverence and the native american concern for the next seven generations make perfect sense to me. We are on the continuum. Soon to be ancestors, and I for one will be the best ancestor I am able. May future generations be given cause to admire what we have done.
ReplyDeleteAnother thought-provoking post, Adhi.
ReplyDeleteI often see evidence of the same guild-laden thought process, and agree with you that guilt plays no useful role in understanding our creative universe. I think that this is part of the paradigm shift we are experiencing. People are resonating with the concept of letting go of a separate, far-away, punishing, judgmental god, and embracing an inclusive, interconnected, dynamic all-that-is, which is often called Goddess. And yet, the old underlying belief system is hard to release. It takes a lot of contemplation, and questioning of assumptions, doesn't it? I see part of our roles as teachers, priestesses, facilitators of experiences, livers of life as helping to guide others toward questioning the old assumptions for themselves. We can offer language that helps to show a different way of thinking. I like Chrys's reference to the consideration for seven generations (past and future). We can remind ourselves that we are co-creators of/with the universe. We can breathe with the earth, with Gaia, and know that we are not separate, but all parts of one living being...