I haven’t kept my New Year’s resolution to visit “my” tree in the woods every day, but do get there frequently. The other day, after reading the above in quotes, I contemplated the notion that the tree is on “our property”. I had sat under the tree for a little while and then climbed the hill a short piece to put myself on a little higher plane with the tree. I looked straight at the tree and said, “I own you.” The tree just waved in the wind, smiled, I believe; we both knew how absurd the statement was.
How can I “own” something so precious, so sacred? Why would I want to own it? When we see the Earth as sacred, the sense of land ownership becomes senseless and abuse of the Earth becomes sacrilegious.
Is there hope? Slavery was a very common practice 2000 years ago. Ownership of humans was acceptable. If someone had questioned the practice at that time, they would have been considered a little strange (as some think I am as I suggest the notion that ownership of land is a little outrageous.) Over the years, the notion of human slavery became less and less acceptable. The United States was one of the last countries on the planet that accepted slavery as a national policy. Now, no country does.
What we are talking about is the notion of respect and sacredness – and cooperation. What we do to the Earth, to each other, we need to do in a sacred way, because we believe that all is truly sacred. (Sound like it’s time for the men in the white jackets?)
The gospel speaks of “holding all things in common”. Does this word “hold” mean to “own, control”, or does it mean to hold? I don’t know the original language of the “Acts of the Apostles”, but that gives me a chance for my own interpretation. I like the idea of holding – holding the Earth, holding each other.
This all supports an idea of cooperation: cooperative living, cooperative economic systems, a strong support for the idea of bioregionalism. Don’t ask me how it would all be played out. I must admit the idea sounds a little strange to me too, a little idealistic.
But then, the few people 2000 years ago who believed that humans are sacred and that all people should be equal and opposed slavery, were seen as a little strange and idealistic. During the early years of slavery here in the United States, I’m sure those opposed to slavery were considered strange, and the notion as “pie in the sky.”
Maybe, if we begin believing the Earth is sacred, just maybe it will begin to become part of us, and slowly part of those around us. And just maybe, if before we kill an animal, harvest in our gardens, or cut down a tree, we will stop for a moment and thank the sacred, beautiful, mystical creature we are about to kill for giving its life for us, we might begin believing it. And on the way, we might begin seeing each other in the same sacred, mystical way. How much harder it would be for us to war, to allow hunger and famine.
The other day “our” daughter brought home an assignment to write an idealistic constitution. We talked a long time before the notion of including the Earth and its rights into the constitution entered my mind. Ideas are wonderful, all I have to do is learn to integrate them. And so we just keep reaching for that “pie in the sky”.
rjamesschenk.org 