Everything we hold sacred now hangs in the balance. Will humanity evolve our cultural systems of economics and politics away from the juvenile pursuit of material gain? Can we grow up and become mature adult stewards of our planetary home?
These are questions I ask myself today — April 22nd, 2017.
Something truly historic is happening right now. Scientists around the world have organized marches that take a stand for the sacred practice of seeking knowledge about the world. It is also Earth Day — a time for celebrating our sacred relationship with the only planet we have ever known that is capable of being called home.
I would like to put this moment in perspective by saying that a deeper threat to science now exists. And this same threat places all that we hold sacred in jeopardy. For we are now in a time of consequences when planetary-scale collapse is all but inevitable and much that we held dear before will not survive the maelstroms of the next few decades.
Stated simply, the world of yesterday is already gone. The climate “doomsday” already happened. All of the confusion and disorientation we feel now is a kind of quickening through the abyss as we move into uncharted territory. We are stepping into a broken future.
It can be felt in the collapse of fish populations across the world ocean, the dying of the Great Barrier Reef that is nearly complete, erosion of topsoils from industrial agriculture and deforestation that is sweeping the surface of our increasingly fragile Earth. And it is also felt in the rise of military dictatorships and the ominous threat of war, in a time of unprecedented political corruption and wealth inequality unlike anything the world has known before. We are in the end game of wealth hoarding in the midst of a Mass Extinction caused by humanity itself.
We must find a way to be rooted in reality. Discernment is the key to our eventual salvation. Being able to separate the bullshit of “fake news” from credible knowledge about the world must be our modus operandi — the purpose of which is to navigate storms unlike anything we have ever seen before. This is why we need to protect science in this time of deep and profound confusion.
Those of us who hold small children in our arms (my daughter is only three months old) know full well that the unraveling of our biosphere and the collapse of trust in societal institutions go hand in hand. Our babies may not see a future we want for them. Being hopeful about the future will not be easy for us.
Yet still we must take a stand firmly on the side of preservation for sacred things. If you love all that lives in this world, ready yourself for what is to come. Know that from this day forward, we will not have Earth Days where people gather to pick up trash in their communities. Instead we will see a rising tide of severe storms and relocated peoples — the Syrian refugee crisis but a mild appetizer before the main course. Those who benefit from building bombs and dropping them on the mothers and children in other lands will do so with increasing fervor.
We must bear witness to much death. And still be midwives for birthing sacred life yet to come. This is our mission should we choose to awaken to the seriousness of these times.
Onward, fellow humans.
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