FINALLY it seems to be spring! That, and the fact that our next face-to-face discussion on May 26th will focus on "Stories of Creation," has reminded me of things written by two very different, very great men.
The first is from Albert Einstein, who was arguing in 1945 (25 years before the first "Earth Day," so the argument can be made that he was a little in front of the curve) that caring for the created order was not a pleasant option but an absolute necessity:
"A human being is part of the whole called by us 'universe,' a part limited in time and space. The human being experiences him[or her]self, his [or her] thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his [or her] consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty."
The second, from Chief Seattle, in a letter to President Franklin Pierce in 1854, urging a different perspective on western expansion:
"We know that the white man does not understand our ways. One portion of the land is the same to him as the next, for he is a stranger who comes in the night and takes whatever land he needs. The earth is not his brother, but his enemy, and when he has conquered it, he moves on. He leaves his father’s grave behind, and he does not care. He kidnaps the earth from his children. He does not care. His fathers’ graves and his children’s birthright are forgotten. He treats his mother, the earth, and his brother, the sky, as things to be bought, plundered, sold like sheep or bright beads. His appetite will devour the earth and leave behind a desert…
"You must teach your children that the ground beneath their feet is the ashes of our grandfathers. So that they will respect the land, tell your children that the earth is rich with the lives of our kin. Teach your children what we would have taught our children that the earth is our mother. Whatever befalls the earth, befalls the sons of the earth. If they spit upon the ground, they spit upon themselves.
"One thing we know, which the white man may one day discover – our God is the same God. You may think now that you own him as you wish to own the land; but you cannot. God is the God of all creation, and God’s compassion is equal for the red and the white. This earth is precious to God, and to harm the earth is to heap contempt on its Creator. The white, too, shall pass, perhaps sooner than all the other tribes. Continue to contaminate your bed, and you will one night suffocate in your own waste."
I think, I hope, we are finally starting to get it.
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2 comments:
I've always felt closest to God in a forest. Or in a canoe. But I never knew how that fit with Christian life. Again, my Christian education has been bits of this and that coming from here and there and I somehow heard that a "pantheistic" approach to God was not exactly kosher with the Christian ideal.
I have read Chief Seattle before. And Lao-Tzu - "There is a thing, formless yet complete.
Before heaven and earth it existed.
We do not know its name, but we call it Tao.
It is the Mystery of Mysteries."
These felt right, but I didn't think that they were supposed to.
So now I am both gladdened and confused.
Which is not a bad thing:>)
For a few more weeks I will be working outside each day with children from all over the Chicago area. I never ceased to be amazed at how many children virtually NEVER go outside except to go from house to car to school to whatever. Those children's time at the Arboretum, hiking through the woods or learning about water cycles ALWAYS brings awe to these kids.
I agree with Stephen that there is a holy connection to God when we are outside and especially in an isolated spot that feels untouched by man. When that happens the natural progression is for us to want to protect and nurture that place and places like it. Then the understanding that at one time all of this was in some way holy might follow.
I think that one way we as a church family can become better stewards of Creation and, most importantly, create future stewards of this world is to connect our kids to the Spirital in Nature.
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