{"id":4037,"date":"2015-02-13T21:26:16","date_gmt":"2015-02-13T21:26:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=4037"},"modified":"2015-02-13T21:26:16","modified_gmt":"2015-02-13T21:26:16","slug":"earth-we-have-a-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/earth-we-have-a-problem\/","title":{"rendered":"Earth, We Have a Problem\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Earth\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As I read our text for the week, I thought about the now famous Apollo 13 mission transmission, \u201cHouston, we have a problem.\u201d The actual quote was, \u201cHouston, we\u2019ve had a problem here.\u201d[1]<\/a> Yes, the Apollo spacecraft had a major problem. And those of us who inhabit this earth also have a problem, and \u201cwe\u2019ve had a problem here\u201d for some time. We humans are killing our planet. Everyone knows this is true; it is a no brainer. But unlike the NASA Command Center who immediately went into action, we as a species have been slow to respond to our problem. Many of us have either decided that it is too late or just flat out don\u2019t know what to do.<\/p>\n

In their important book, Active Hope<\/em>, authors Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone make their case that not only do humans need to be aware of ecological and social realities, but we also need to act \u2013 before it is too late. Speaking of the condition of the world, the authors write, \u201cWe can no longer take it for granted that our civilization will survive or that conditions on our planet will remain hospitable for complex forms of life.\u201d[2]<\/a> The book, written by a medical doctor and a Buddhist philosopher has some good things to say. I appreciated much of the book, but was not bowled over by it. I could not help but think of how a First Nations person would read this book; it would definitely be through a different set of eyes. Indigenous peoples have a much better way of viewing \u201cMother Earth,\u201d but since the enlightenment and the industrial revolution, Westerners have usually viewed this way of understanding nature as either foolish superstition or as an impediment to progress. Perhaps we should rethink our assumptions.<\/p>\n

As the 21st<\/sup> century unfolds, although we are increasing in our abilities with technology, at the same time it can be argued that we are also decreasing in our abilities to be connected, both with one another and with the earth on which we live. For example, the authors point out that in the mid-1970\u2019s the Ladakh people in northern India were cut off by snow many months each year from the rest of the country. However, they had a deeply satisfying lifestyle due to their \u201chighly developed cooperative culture.\u201d[3]<\/a> But all that changed with the inception of the modern consumer culture into these people\u2019s lives. Due to a new set of values that are governed by extreme individualism, these people\u2019s lives have changed drastically. Although they now have consumer goods filling their homes, there is an underlying sense of dissatisfaction and despair among the Ladakh people. Is this progress \u2013 or regress? Will we settle for this kind of disconnectedness we have with each other and with the earth upon which we live, or is there a better way?<\/p>\n

In 1990, Steve Wall and Harvey Arden published their important book Wisdomkeepers: Meetings with Native American Spiritual Elders<\/em>. The book is a compilation of photographs and narrative interviews with Natives American spiritual elders that began in 1981. It is a unique work that has greatly influenced me and the research I am doing. I could not help but make connections from this book with this week\u2019s reading. Wisdomkeepers<\/em> is more of a prophetic message than a mere piece of photojournalism. And I think it does a better job than our weekly reading to get us thinking deeply about our responsibility to the earth and to one another. In this book are messages that need to be heard today. It is my hope that I and we would listen carefully to this message and then act accordingly. I am going to share some excerpts from the text in the hopes that this message complement our week\u2019s reading.<\/p>\n

Vernon Cooper is an elder who comes from the Lumbee tribe of North Carolina. In his interview he relates this message to Wall and Arden:<\/p>\n

I wasn\u2019t cut out for the age we\u2019re living in. Everybody\u2019s hurrying but nobody\u2019s going anywhere. People aren\u2019t living; they\u2019re only existing. They\u2019re growing away from spiritual realities. These days people seek knowledge, not wisdom. Knowledge is of the past; wisdom is of the future. We\u2019re in an age now when people are slumbering. They think they\u2019re awake, yet they are really sleeping. But this is a dangerous age, the most dangerous in human history. People need to wake up. They can\u2019t hear God\u2019s voice if they\u2019re asleep.<\/p>\n

Heavy equipment and light-minded people have destroyed just about everything nature has provided. Well, we can\u2019t keep ruining the earth and poisoning it and think we can get away with it. Certain destruction is going to hit one of these days. We\u2019re on the verge of a change such as has never been seen before. God is going to intervene.[4]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Oren Lyons is the Faithkeeper of the Turtle Clan of the Onondaga Nation and spokesperson for the Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy. He says, \u201cThere are no secrets. There\u2019s no mystery. There\u2019s only common sense.\u201d[5]<\/a> In a section called All Life is Equal<\/em>, Lyons continues:<\/p>\n

Another of the Natural laws is that all life is equal. That\u2019s our philosophy. You have to respect life\u2014all life, not just your own. The key word is \u201crespect.\u201d Unless you respect the earth, you destroy it. Unless you respect all life as much as your own life, you become a destroyer, a murderer. Man sometimes thinks that he\u2019s been elevated to be the controller, the ruler. But he\u2019s not. He\u2019s only a part of the whole. Man\u2019s job is not to exploit but to oversee, to be a steward. Man has responsibility, not power.<\/p>\n

In our way of life, in our government, with every decision we make, we always keep in mind the Seventh Generation to come. It\u2019s our job to see that the people coming ahead, the generations still unborn, have a world that is no worse than ours\u2014and hopefully better. When we walk upon Mother Earth, we always plant our feet carefully because we know the faces of future generations are looking up at us from beneath the ground. We never forget them.[6]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Then comes the voice of Leon Shenandoah, the \u201cTadodaho\u201d\u2014presiding moderator of the fifty coequal \u201cpeace chiefs\u201d comprising the Grand Council of the Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy in upper New York State. Speaking of power, Shenandoah says, \u201cI myself have no real power. It\u2019s the people behind me who have the power. Real power comes only from the Creator. It\u2019s in His hands. But if you\u2019re asking about strength, not power, then I can tell you that the greatest strength is gentleness.\u201d[7]<\/a> He continues:<\/p>\n

Our religion is all about thanking the Creator. That\u2019s what we do when we pray. We don\u2019t ask Him for things. We thank Him. We thank Him for the world and every animal and plant in it. We thank Him for everything that exists. We don\u2019t take it for granted that a tree is just there. We thank the Creator for that tree. If we don\u2019t thank Him, maybe the Creator\u2019ll take that tree away. That\u2019s what our ceremonies are about, that\u2019s why they are important\u2014even for you, the White Man. We pray for the harmony of the whole world. We believe that if we didn\u2019t do our ceremonies in the Longhouse the world would come to an end. It\u2019s our ceremonies that hold the world together. Some people may not believe that, they may laugh at it, but it\u2019s true. The Creator wants to be thanked. When we go to the Longhouse to thank Him for His Creation he kneels down and listens to us. He puts His ear to the Longhouse window. He hears His own children, so holds off destroying the world for a while longer.<\/p>\n

If you white men had never come here, this country would still be like it was. It would be all pure here. You call it wild, but it wasn\u2019t really wild, it was free. Animals aren\u2019t wild, they\u2019re just free. And that\u2019s the way we were. You called us wild, you called us savages. But we were just free! If we were savages, Columbus would never have gotten off the island alive.<\/p>\n

We are made from Mother Earth and we go back to Mother Earth. We can\u2019t \u201cown\u201d Mother Earth. We\u2019re just visiting here. We\u2019re the Creator\u2019s guests. He invited for us to stay for a while, and now look what we\u2019ve done to His creation. We\u2019ve poisoned it, we\u2019ve made a wreck of it. He\u2019s bound to be mad\u2014and He is.[8]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We must listen to these voices. They are consistent. They are clear. They are calling us to action. They are calling for change. They are also wise voices that have been silenced for too long. It is time to listen. God help us to listen.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> This quote was said by astronaut John Swigert Jr. and then by James Lovell. See http:\/\/www.phrases.org.uk\/meanings\/houston-we-have-a-problem.html<\/a><\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone, Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We\u2019re in without Going Crazy<\/em> (Novato, CA: New World Library, 2012) 1<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Ibid., 87.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Steve Wall and Harvey Arden, Wisdomkeepers: Meetings with Native American Spiritual Elders<\/em> (Hillsboro, OR: Beyond Words Publishing, Inc., 1990) 63.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Ibid., 64.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Ibid., 67-68.<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Ibid., 104.<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> Ibid., 105-106.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As I read our text for the week, I thought about the now famous Apollo 13 mission transmission, \u201cHouston, we have a problem.\u201d The actual quote was, \u201cHouston, we\u2019ve had a problem here.\u201d[1] Yes, the Apollo spacecraft had a major problem. And those of us who inhabit this earth also have a problem, and \u201cwe\u2019ve […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[491,2,176],"class_list":["post-4037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-lgp4-3","tag-dminlgp","tag-macyjohnstone","cohort-lgp4"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4037","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4037"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4037\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4039,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4037\/revisions\/4039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}