Reestablishing the Natural Order : v2

This is a version of my article posted as Reestablishing the Natural Order that was published at the India Reloaded news site.
As published at India Reloaded site
Link to India Reloaded

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Nature seems so willing to be constrained by man’s buildings and bulwarks. Until it is not. And when the courses we set for nature are breached it is with devastating effect.

It makes me wonder about our petty, stupid, idiotic, fundamentalist politicians and people who will deny and debate the incontrovertible, mostly for petty human reasons. Reasons that, while nature rests biding her time, seem so important, seem to be the only things that are important. And while the daily life of world transforming financial systems, wars, and dogmatics, whirl away with little awareness of, and less care about the people whose lives are destroyed, or the Earth who bears the wounds.

Until the Earth stirs, then all of this is put into perspective and the natural order of things is restored. And we realize, however dimly, that we are subjects of our environment, not its masters. And that the Earth needs to be treated with respect. The seemingly invincible man-made buildings and institutions revealed to be merely functional. As if these are simply allowed to exist for a while until something like March 11th happens in Japan and all of it is subject to being swept away. A little humility seems to be called for as we absorb the magnitude of what has happened and what our response should be.

Each crisis presents an opportunity to learn humility. Humility that would cause some reflection about who we are and how we are in this world. Humility that will show us how we can become more congruent with our world. First with our environment, then the institutions and systems of mankind. Thus allow some rethinking about our relationship to the Earth and how to sustainably use her resources. And to each other. And our structures of ownership. And wealth. And life. And indeed all of our relations.

All of our systems are constructions of our thinking thus far. Whether we did the best we could or not, we have done what we have done. And we live with the consequences of our constructions as they are. What is being repeatedly told to us by nature’s events, and those created by man like the regime change in Egypt and the tumult in the Middle East as well as the recent battles in Wisconsin, is that the structure of our relationships with the Earth, our governmental systems and often each other are profoundly flawed and irretrievably broken.

Deep systemic thinking that pays attention to the entire system, the Whole System, will be necessary to address the cataclysms that have happened, and the ones that are in the making. If we are to survive, indeed thrive, we must absolutely abandon the creeds and certainties of the past and quite literally think anew.

Those who persist in unquestioningly perpetuating the unsustainable paradigms; whether political, social, financial or environmental, are condemning the world to continually experience this level of human misery and be constantly perplexed by it, while learning little from it.

I started this essay to express two thoughts. These events in Japan are mind-blowing, astonishing and breath taking, as seen in the video above. There is nothing that can be done by man when the forces of nature and the Earth are released upon us, other than to do the best one can to weather the moment. And so the thought about the need for humility in our dealings with the world and the need to recognize our place in the natural order of things came to mind.

The second thought was how we seem to be dealing with the issue of climate change in light of the extreme events in Japan. As amazing and earthshaking, and change inducing as this event is, how much more so when the full effects of global climate change start to assert themselves. As harsh as it sounds this earthquake and its aftermath will be small in comparison.

We simply cannot continue to allow our need to perpetuate the “way it is”. These man-made systems of how we apportion wealth, resources, life and our relationship to the Earth and environment have to be revisited.

The blinding dogmas of right wing fundamentalism, both religious as well as political, will not concede an inch to anything that challenges the premises of the paradigm, no matter the consequences. Consequences both predicted as well as currently being manifest. Now these consequences reveal plainly how inadequate the “solutions” implemented by these fundamentalists have been. Already the forces of the status quo are attempting to gain control of the message and are trying to minimize what has happened. The essential choice this cataclysmic moment is presenting to us is whether to continue with the status quo or evolve our thinking to develop a more sustainable environment for our future.

At a different level – the human level – in our country and in our political power centres, the profound principles of our Constitution are shredded in real time on a daily basis. Science is ignored when it is inconvenient and the resources we have are being re-apportioned to those political masters who already have more than enough by taking it from those who have, quite literally, not enough.

I think this unwillingness or inability to reflect on the structure of our systems and how they need to be changed and adapted for new realities will leave us continually astonished at each new event, as if it has never happened before. As if we are victims of unintended consequences and uncontrollable forces, when instead we are simply prisoners of our own belief systems.

The March 11 Japan earthquake should wake us up to the much larger consequences of the global climate change issue. And how that issue is being diverted from any real progress or change by foolish men and women at all levels of government around the world. Many of whom have something to gain by resisting change. But when these consequences come – as they most certainly will – will we be left crying out our astonishment, and wondering how this happened to us. Will we have no awareness or sense of irony that it is the consequence of ignoring the natural order of things.

Our human systems, need to be re-organized to take into account the larger system within which we live. What that means is of course complex. That it is complex and difficult does not excuse us from doing the work. Hopefully this tragic event in Japan will help us, as a world community of peoples, to start the conversations we know we must have and make the changes we already know must be made.

When the only thing left is to mock…

There are times, and we are in one of them now, when a belief system becomes so untenable that the only way to describe those who remain devoted to it is True Believers. These days the GOP has attained that level of mindfulness in many areas. Perhaps none so manifestly idiotic as their slavish rejection of reason and science necessary to sustain their various potty beliefs.
Among them the invincible ignorance required to deny climate change.

There comes a time when rational discussion has been rejected by those who, however temporarily, hold the positions of power, the only thing left to do is mock them to their face. Even then they will be impervious to the meaning and portent of what is happening. But, maybe, unlikely, but maybe the derisive laughter will puzzle them enough to wonder what is happening.

With that wan hope in mind, I have to say this performance by Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) is priceless.

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Link to Video

With sardonic humor, Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) mocked today’s markup of legislation to overturn the scientific finding that fossil-fuel pollution is causing dangerous climate change. Markey, who championed climate legislation that passed the House of Representatives in 2009, protested the energy subcommittee’s consideration of the Upton-Inhofe bill to overturn the Environmental Protection Agency’s rules on climate pollution, including its endangerment finding:

Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to a bill that overturns the scientific finding that pollution is harming our people and our planet.

However, I won’t physically rise, because I’m worried that Republicans will overturn the law of gravity, sending us floating about the room.

I won’t call for the sunlight of additional hearings, for fear that Republicans might excommunicate the finding that the Earth revolves around the sun.

Instead, I’ll embody Newton’s third law of motion and be an equal and opposing force against this attack on science and on laws that will reduce America’s importation of foreign oil.

This bill will live in the House while simultaneously being dead in the Senate. It will be a legislative Schrodinger’s cat killed by the quantum mechanics of the legislative process!

Arbitrary rejection of scientific fact will not cause us to rise from our seats today. But with this bill, pollution levels will rise. Oil imports will rise. Temperatures will rise.

And with that, I yield back the balance of my time. That is, unless a rejection of Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity is somewhere in the chair’s amendment pile.

Re-establishing the natural order

When natures power breaks her bounds – http://youtu.be/iQD-2tlppdY Seemingly so willingly to be constrained by man’s bulwarks, until it is not.  And when the courses we set for nature are breached it is with devastating affect.

It makes me wonder about our petty, stupid, idiotic, fundamentalist politicians and people who will deny and debate the incontrovertible, mostly for petty human reasons. Reasons that, while nature rests biding her time, seem so important, seem to be the only things that are important.  And the daily life of world transforming financial systems, and Wars, and dogmatics whirl away with little awareness of, and less care about, the people whose lives are destroyed, and the earth who bears the wounds.
Until the Earth stirs. And all of this is put into perspective, and the natural order of things is restored.  And we realize, however dimly, that we are subjects of our environment, not its masters.  And the earth needs to be treated with respect.  The seemingly invincible man made buildings and institutions revealed to be merely  functional.  As if these are simply allowed to exist for a while until something like March 11 happens in Japan and all of it is subject to being swept away.  A little humility seems to be called for as we absorb the magnitude of what has happened and what the response should be.

And not just this most recent event in Japan, but also not to forget Haiti. However forgettable Haiti is to a world that reacts, but does not respond to each next crisis.   The list of events like this that we have forgotten is long.  Katrina?

Each one being an opportunity to learn humility.  Humility that would cause some reflection about who we are and how we are in the world.  And how we could become more congruent with our world: First the environment.  And then the systems and institutions of humankind.

And thus allow some rethinking about our relationship to resources and to each other.  And ownership.  And wealth.  And life.  And each other.  And indeed All of our Relations.

All of our systems are the constructions of our thinking thus far.  Whether we did the best we could or not, we have done what we have done.  And we have the conditions and live with the consequences of them as they are.   What is being repeatedly told us by nature’s events like these as well as the only-human events like Egypt and the roilings in the middle east; and even the recent battles in Wisconsin, is that the systemic constructs we have created are profoundly flawed and irretrievably broken.

Deep systemic thinking that pays attention to the entire system, the Whole System, will be sufficient to address the cataclysms that have happened, and the ones that  are yet in the making.  If we would survive, indeed thrive, we must absolutely abandon the creeds and certainties of the past and quite literally  think anew.

Those who persist in unquestioningly perpetuating the unsustainable paradigms; whether political, social, financial, environmental…  are condeming the world to continually experience this level of human misery.  And to be continually perplexed by it, while learning little from it.

I started this essay to express two thoughts.  That these events in Japan are mind-blowing astonishing and breath taking. As seen in the video link I cite in the opening line.  There is nothing that can be done by man when the forces of nature and the earth are released other than to do the best one can to weather the moment.  Because the moment is happening, and it is not considerate of life or things or how it has been.  How it is after the event is what matters.  The landscape, literally, has changed.  So the thought about the need for humility in our dealings with the world and each other came to mind.

The second thought was how we seem to be dealing with the notion of Climate Change in light of the extremes events in Japan.   And as amazing and earthshaking, and change inducing as that event is and will be for some very long time to come, especially for the Japanese people; how much more so when the full effects of global climate change start to assert themselves.   As harsh as it sounds this earthquake and its aftermaths will be small in comparison.

And the conclusion I intended to draw from these two observations/points was that the idiotic, childish, and churlish manner in which we contend with this issue is amazing.  Just one point: we allow our need to perpetuate the “way it is” – the man-made systems of how we apportion wealth, resources, life, and our relationship to the earth and environment – to veto any change to that system.   The blinding dogmas of this right wing fundamentalism, both religious as well as political,  where the only principles that seem to matter are power and wealth for some, and Justice for a few.  These dogmas that will not admit of anything that challenges the premises of the paradigm, no matter the consequences. Consequences both predicted as well as currently being manifested. (Like the melting of Arctic ice cap).

At a different level – the human level – In our country and in our political/power centers the profound principles of our Constitution are shredded in real time on a daily basis, Science is ignored when it is inconvenient, and the resources we have are being re-apportioned to those political masters who already have more than enough by taking it from those who have, quite literally, not enough.

I think this unwillingness and/or inability to reflect on the structure of our systems and how they need to be changed and adapted for new realities will leave us continually astonished at each new event, as if it has never happened before.  As if we are victims of unintended consequences and uncontrollable forces, when instead we are simply prisoners of our belief systems.

I “publish” this little essay knowing that it is incomplete.  I started out to express one core thought I thought important: That the Japan earthquake should wake us up to the much larger consequences of the global climate change issue. And how that issue is aborted by foolish men and women, typically of a republican stripe: all who have something to gain at a personal provincial level by not being aware of what is happening.   And how that should utterly disqualify them from the conversation.   And how when these consequences come – as they most certainly will – will we be left screeching out our astonishment? And wondering how this happened to us?  With no sense of irony or awareness that it is the nature result of ignoring the natural order of things…. That our human systems need to be re-organized to take into account the larger system within which we live.    But to say that requires opening up other lines that need to be woven into the conversation…Lines that can only be alluded to not fully explicated in a little “essay” like this.

So later perhaps, a larger treatise will come of it.   It does strike me funny to remember that 1.5 hours ago I started this as a twitter post…