Among those of us who reject the Old Story of civilization, and want to live in a New Story we can believe in, some of us, at least, are going to have to dive really deep into history and philosophy, and even a little into science, to understand the foundational myths of our culture—the premises upon which our cultural narrative is based. And we are going to have to go further than that, in order to see not only what is wrong, but what is right and true, and how that truth got overridden, and overwritten, by lies. Being the cultural creatures that we are, we have taken these lies into ourselves, mostly unconsciously, and they serve as the lenses through which we see the world. One of the biggest lies is that the human being is separate from Nature--separate from, and (somehow) above Nature--and of course vastly superior to all the other creatures of the Earth, and different in kind. Many of us know this is a lie, but since the lie so pervades the culture, our own sensing of the truth is marginalized, made to seem quirky and aberrant: hippie New Age pap. The concept of separation, though foundational to civilization, is based on deeper assumptions still—assumptions about the nature of the Universe, the nature of matter, and the nature of mind. These include the notions that mind and matter are separate; that matter controls mind; or that mind controls matter; and it is generally assumed that matter is insentient “dead” stuff. If the planet Earth is made of dead matter, and if all the other creatures of the Earth are merely insentient machines, as Descartes believed (and influenced other to believe), then taking dominion over this world and exploiting it for all we can take is an acceptable notion, and can be made to seem a laudable purpose for our lives: wealth creation out of dumb beasts and an otherwise valueless planet. But what if our wild, indigenous ancestors were right all along? What if the Earth itself is both sentient and sacred? What if all living beings are sentient and sacred? And, going further yet: What if the entire Universe is sentient and sacred? We are told these are the notions of primitives, poor benighted creatures that they are, lacking our civilized sophistication in these matters. They didn’t have the scientific experts we do to tell us what is real and what is not. But wait, science itself is based on assumptions, and what if, just possibly, some of those assumptions were dead wrong? What if, instead of everything being “dead matter,” everything in the Universe had the quality of sentience—some level of awareness, some ability to sense and feel? What if everything, or most everything, in the Universe had individuality and personhood? Consider the implications of this new truth to the New Story that many of us would like to be living in. Imagine treating everything in the world with the respect due to all beings with personhood. Imagine treating the Earth itself with the reverence it is due as our Sacred Mother. Imagine telling ourselves this New Story and doing our very best to inhabit it and live it with integrity. And, really, what have we got to lose by trying? I’ll tell you what I’d like to lose: I’d like to lose this damn industrial death machine that is destroying our Sacred Mother and All Our Relations. But first we have to lose its premises from within our own minds. Call it internal decolonization; call it rewilding; whatever we call it, it is surely a necessary step in the direction of finding and creating a New Story to live in.
Posted on: Sun, 16 Mar 2014 19:06:47 +0000
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