DP#7 Efforts to Work with Nature
I wrote this essay in two parts -- one on June 4, 2004, and the other several months later at Jenni's suggestion, since she didn't think it answered the criteria. I still liked the "Ecology & Orthopraxy" theme, so I just appended the original essay to include the "missing" bits.
(WARNING: religious views expressed in a potentially offensive manner; they are not meant for non-heretic eyes. Read further at your own risk.)
Ecology & Orthopraxy
(& Ethics)
Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.
-Mahatma Gandhi
As Ian Corrigan says, this religion is about “orthopraxy, not orthodoxy.” Right practice means doing right in ritual, but also doing right in ordinary living. Too often in Christian practice, the idea is that you go to Church on Sunday, confess if you’re Catholic, and then you don’t have to worry about it the rest of the week. Christian theologians don’t condone such thinking, but in practice, many of the parishioners act that way. To my mind, when one rejects the authoritarian doctrine, or sheep-like spiritual slavery, one is then taking on the responsibility of aligning one’s actions with one’s spiritual/ethical belief. It is an awesome responsibility, as it is easier to be dependent upon an outside authority, than it is to be the authority within oneself.
Orthopraxy as it pertains to ritual is more in the purview of piety, so I shall concentrate on ethics in this essay. I have long debated the nature of ethics and morality (the former being pragmatic and independent of particular belief systems, and the latter being entirely a matter of faith, IMHO), and I find that either one is useful only to the extent of its pragmatic applicability to the environment in which one exists.
Ethics, when properly applied, are useful in that they promote happiness (and survival). Thus, it makes sense to become harmonious with the world, the natural world (that of the sidhe), and everything that impacts existence, whether physical or spiritual or otherwise.
Right practice, harmonious practice, Karma-are all synonyms. Right now, there are two predominant issues facing us, which are tantamount to the same thing: ethical behaviour towards fellow humans and ethical behaviour towards our environment (Gaia, if you will). We are mutually interdependent and should act accordingly if we are to sustain ourselves and survive. Mutual benefit can be had by acting thusly, and mutual destruction is the natural consequence of acting disharmoniously.
It is often difficult for a single human, especially without socio-economic power, to act in a manner that has an impact on the environment, but collectively, the more Karmically good acts there are, the more harmonious our environment becomes. So it behooves us as ethical people to perform as many ethically good acts as we can.
Reducing, Re-using and Recycling, in order of preference, are useful in creating harmony with our en-vironment. At home, I am often gratified when our recycling bin is more abundant than our trash bin. We are not perfect in our decision-making when it comes to being consumers, being influenced so much by American culture, especially being unable to afford certain more environmentally responsible consumables, but we at least keep some environmental consciousness alive. I, more than my family, have come to an aesthetic sensibility that less is more - reducing my needs. “The Rich Man is not he who has the most, but he who needs the least” (origin unknown) resonates with me (especially as I have fewer “bio-survival tickets” (R.A. Wilson) than most).
However, it seems to me that that reduction is only necessary where items are not supported by natural processes - life is more powerful than artificial human enterprises. Chernoble is an example of how Gaia can bounce back after human tragedy. But if we, as humans, wish to survive, we’ll have to learn from those tragic mistakes and not recreate disharmony on such a grand scale. We need abundance in the crops to be able to weather unforeseen circumstances, but we should be aware of how natural processes can take care of themselves and how if we’re going to circumvent nature with our artificially constructed items, that they have their own cycles of construction, use, destruction and recreation (like the life cycle of growth, death, decay, rebirth). Thus, it is not anti-industry, but rather a wiser approach to industry to make it more harmonious with nature, a cyclical rather than linear approach.
I was speaking with Todd Covert recently about how we as pagans are predisposed to less socio-economic success (since capitalist goals are less in keeping with pagan beliefs), and that we would need to face this reality in order to make good plans for our development. Socio-economic success provides more power to effect change, yet we as pagans are obligated by our beliefs to strive for change in the destructive institutions of our society. Thus, we need to find solutions to the Catch-22 power paradox in order to effect the changes required by ethics (and just plain survival of the species).
So far, I have not found any practical solutions to these dilemmas, but I think it is a good start to help sow the seeds of thought that can grow into right action when appropriate fertile ground, inspiration-giving water and reasoning light can coalesce together. I have begun to network with like minds to see if we can gather the appropriate resources to have a synergetic chance of success. People have said recently “action, not talk,” but I think we need a harmonious balance of both: talk for the sake of interconnected thought and planning, then use the impetus to create right and proper action. Neither one is possible without the other, being interdependent as all things in existence appear to be.
Break a warp or weft thread with unethical or improper action and the fabric becomes weak; strengthen the individual threads through ethical, interdependent harmonious interaction. The Greeks had the concept of the Fates weaving the fabric of existence; knotwork in Persian culture represents water-Indoeuropean culture sees water as the representation of the chaotic source of creation-and knotwork imposes a simple order on seeming chaos, with interconnection as an underlying theme; Gothic arches require the interdependence of synergistic stones for structural integrity. All these models or metaphors support the integrity of an ethically based, Karmic interdependence of harmonious action. Music of the Spheres.
Written a few months later:
When I first wrote this essay, I considered it to be my honest answer to the seventh documentation re-quirement regarding my efforts to work with nature, honor the Earth and understand the impacts and ef-fects of my lifestyle choices on the environment/local ecosystem. I am by nature intellectually oriented, and as such, I must approach my actions first through a reasoning for those actions. The above discus-sion reflects my emphasis on the right mental approach to my actions. However, one of the advisors to whom I turned for feedback on my DP, suggested that I had not adequately answered the question in terms of exactly how I could impact my local environment, so I will attempt to summarize.
I have recognized my renewed commitment to recycle, as our local community only offers recycling for those who wish to participate (other communities are like my parents’ town, which fines people who toss recyclables into the regular trash). Since recycling was first available to me, I have used it, but I have become even more conscious about what packaging is recyclable. I have also made myself more aware of the “Reduce-Reuse-Recycle” mantra, in order of best impact on the environment. I look for ways to reduce my consumption of disposable items (i.e. trash), and have noticed that our weekly trash pickup is lower than that of other households on my street. I wish I didn’t have any trash at all.
Our grove has been talking about participating in the “Adopt a Highway” program, in terms of picking up litter and perhaps even spreading wildflower seeds amongst the grasses. To me, the spreading of wildflower seeds is a way of sowing diversity, and manifesting diversity in its aesthetically pleasing sense. At home, I prefer a natural approach to lawn care (much to the annoyance of my neighbors). I enjoy the diversity of grasses in my lawn, and enjoy the purple, white and yellow flowers that populate my lawn. I do not use chemical treatments to get rid of these plants. I notice that our lawn is more consistently green than those neighbors that use the chemicals…
Another way in which I can impact the environment around me is by voting. I am not currently capable of tolerating the political world (too much vapid sophistry and inane power struggles), but at least I can start by voting for the more environmentally conscious politicians, when I can.
And I should constantly be open to new ideas on how I can live in harmony with my natural environment, and seize the opportunities that arise.
(WARNING: religious views expressed in a potentially offensive manner; they are not meant for non-heretic eyes. Read further at your own risk.)
Ecology & Orthopraxy
(& Ethics)
Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.
-Mahatma Gandhi
As Ian Corrigan says, this religion is about “orthopraxy, not orthodoxy.” Right practice means doing right in ritual, but also doing right in ordinary living. Too often in Christian practice, the idea is that you go to Church on Sunday, confess if you’re Catholic, and then you don’t have to worry about it the rest of the week. Christian theologians don’t condone such thinking, but in practice, many of the parishioners act that way. To my mind, when one rejects the authoritarian doctrine, or sheep-like spiritual slavery, one is then taking on the responsibility of aligning one’s actions with one’s spiritual/ethical belief. It is an awesome responsibility, as it is easier to be dependent upon an outside authority, than it is to be the authority within oneself.
Orthopraxy as it pertains to ritual is more in the purview of piety, so I shall concentrate on ethics in this essay. I have long debated the nature of ethics and morality (the former being pragmatic and independent of particular belief systems, and the latter being entirely a matter of faith, IMHO), and I find that either one is useful only to the extent of its pragmatic applicability to the environment in which one exists.
Ethics, when properly applied, are useful in that they promote happiness (and survival). Thus, it makes sense to become harmonious with the world, the natural world (that of the sidhe), and everything that impacts existence, whether physical or spiritual or otherwise.
Right practice, harmonious practice, Karma-are all synonyms. Right now, there are two predominant issues facing us, which are tantamount to the same thing: ethical behaviour towards fellow humans and ethical behaviour towards our environment (Gaia, if you will). We are mutually interdependent and should act accordingly if we are to sustain ourselves and survive. Mutual benefit can be had by acting thusly, and mutual destruction is the natural consequence of acting disharmoniously.
It is often difficult for a single human, especially without socio-economic power, to act in a manner that has an impact on the environment, but collectively, the more Karmically good acts there are, the more harmonious our environment becomes. So it behooves us as ethical people to perform as many ethically good acts as we can.
Reducing, Re-using and Recycling, in order of preference, are useful in creating harmony with our en-vironment. At home, I am often gratified when our recycling bin is more abundant than our trash bin. We are not perfect in our decision-making when it comes to being consumers, being influenced so much by American culture, especially being unable to afford certain more environmentally responsible consumables, but we at least keep some environmental consciousness alive. I, more than my family, have come to an aesthetic sensibility that less is more - reducing my needs. “The Rich Man is not he who has the most, but he who needs the least” (origin unknown) resonates with me (especially as I have fewer “bio-survival tickets” (R.A. Wilson) than most).
However, it seems to me that that reduction is only necessary where items are not supported by natural processes - life is more powerful than artificial human enterprises. Chernoble is an example of how Gaia can bounce back after human tragedy. But if we, as humans, wish to survive, we’ll have to learn from those tragic mistakes and not recreate disharmony on such a grand scale. We need abundance in the crops to be able to weather unforeseen circumstances, but we should be aware of how natural processes can take care of themselves and how if we’re going to circumvent nature with our artificially constructed items, that they have their own cycles of construction, use, destruction and recreation (like the life cycle of growth, death, decay, rebirth). Thus, it is not anti-industry, but rather a wiser approach to industry to make it more harmonious with nature, a cyclical rather than linear approach.
I was speaking with Todd Covert recently about how we as pagans are predisposed to less socio-economic success (since capitalist goals are less in keeping with pagan beliefs), and that we would need to face this reality in order to make good plans for our development. Socio-economic success provides more power to effect change, yet we as pagans are obligated by our beliefs to strive for change in the destructive institutions of our society. Thus, we need to find solutions to the Catch-22 power paradox in order to effect the changes required by ethics (and just plain survival of the species).
So far, I have not found any practical solutions to these dilemmas, but I think it is a good start to help sow the seeds of thought that can grow into right action when appropriate fertile ground, inspiration-giving water and reasoning light can coalesce together. I have begun to network with like minds to see if we can gather the appropriate resources to have a synergetic chance of success. People have said recently “action, not talk,” but I think we need a harmonious balance of both: talk for the sake of interconnected thought and planning, then use the impetus to create right and proper action. Neither one is possible without the other, being interdependent as all things in existence appear to be.
Break a warp or weft thread with unethical or improper action and the fabric becomes weak; strengthen the individual threads through ethical, interdependent harmonious interaction. The Greeks had the concept of the Fates weaving the fabric of existence; knotwork in Persian culture represents water-Indoeuropean culture sees water as the representation of the chaotic source of creation-and knotwork imposes a simple order on seeming chaos, with interconnection as an underlying theme; Gothic arches require the interdependence of synergistic stones for structural integrity. All these models or metaphors support the integrity of an ethically based, Karmic interdependence of harmonious action. Music of the Spheres.
Written a few months later:
When I first wrote this essay, I considered it to be my honest answer to the seventh documentation re-quirement regarding my efforts to work with nature, honor the Earth and understand the impacts and ef-fects of my lifestyle choices on the environment/local ecosystem. I am by nature intellectually oriented, and as such, I must approach my actions first through a reasoning for those actions. The above discus-sion reflects my emphasis on the right mental approach to my actions. However, one of the advisors to whom I turned for feedback on my DP, suggested that I had not adequately answered the question in terms of exactly how I could impact my local environment, so I will attempt to summarize.
I have recognized my renewed commitment to recycle, as our local community only offers recycling for those who wish to participate (other communities are like my parents’ town, which fines people who toss recyclables into the regular trash). Since recycling was first available to me, I have used it, but I have become even more conscious about what packaging is recyclable. I have also made myself more aware of the “Reduce-Reuse-Recycle” mantra, in order of best impact on the environment. I look for ways to reduce my consumption of disposable items (i.e. trash), and have noticed that our weekly trash pickup is lower than that of other households on my street. I wish I didn’t have any trash at all.
Our grove has been talking about participating in the “Adopt a Highway” program, in terms of picking up litter and perhaps even spreading wildflower seeds amongst the grasses. To me, the spreading of wildflower seeds is a way of sowing diversity, and manifesting diversity in its aesthetically pleasing sense. At home, I prefer a natural approach to lawn care (much to the annoyance of my neighbors). I enjoy the diversity of grasses in my lawn, and enjoy the purple, white and yellow flowers that populate my lawn. I do not use chemical treatments to get rid of these plants. I notice that our lawn is more consistently green than those neighbors that use the chemicals…
Another way in which I can impact the environment around me is by voting. I am not currently capable of tolerating the political world (too much vapid sophistry and inane power struggles), but at least I can start by voting for the more environmentally conscious politicians, when I can.
And I should constantly be open to new ideas on how I can live in harmony with my natural environment, and seize the opportunities that arise.