The freshness of the world after a good rain washes away all the accumulated dirt and debris from our cement encased lives.
In national news over the last week, tens of thousands of birds in Arkansas died in mid flight and nearby fish started floating belly up in some apparent Jonestownian suicide attempt. The specific causes of the events over this New Year haven’t been fully determined, whether toxins, lightning, depression, or the final apocalypse. However, the sensationalized reaction to the event underlines American’s widespread disconnection to the world around them reacting to such environmental issues only when something dramatic happens in their own backyard, while in fact on a global scale it is estimated that over 70% of sea life have already been devastated due to overfishing and pollution in the last 100 years and land animals are going extinct at an alarming rate due to destruction of their habitats and hunting. At the heart of that disconnection at least in part is due to deliberate obfuscation by political forces with an interest in unimpeded exploitation of natural and animal resources of the planet with no concern for the future. This is compounded by an education system in this country which has failed to teach the basic framework to understand the world around us demonstrated by a recent Pew poll indicating that one in five (21%) Americans believe the sun revolves around the earth (for those one in five reading this, it doesn't), a basic lesson from kindergarten science upon which much of natural science builds. Then finally we see an irrational culture of conspiracy and hate-mongering based on simplistic propaganda that should be swiftly refuted and set aside based on easily identifiable facts, but instead have become the basis for burgeoning political forces in this country with a near blind faith in churches and/or corporations as the protectors of truth, justice, and the American way of life (somewhere along the way killing off Superman, however in fairness the police are still investigating; no charges have been brought.)
Admittedly I am one of those people that believes that the environment, the laws of nature, and our relationship to them are actually important and a good thing the way God made them--essential to the health and well-being of ourselves and the billions of organisms with which we share the planet . Conversely, I find it disconcerting the religious and political ideologies that are increasingly the hallmark in America of conservatism on the right and libertarianism on the left, promulgating the assertion that nature and the environment are either the product of some cosmic fall from Grace ripe for exploitation leading to a great apocalyptic collapse in the end times; or merely a nuisance and an illicit impediment to economic progress and/or profit. In an Orwellian twist, these same groups are increasingly, and conveniently, portraying scientists, with whom they disagree and of course know better than, as the enemy of the people (or more sinisterly, friends of the Great Satan.)
One example of this is the Climate Conspiracy theory, straight out of an Austin Power or James Bond movie (or for those who prefer the Cartoon Network, Pinky and the Brain) portraying scientists as planning to take over the world. Born the offspring of a bizarre corporate-politico-religious liason as payback for data intensive Climate research that has led 98% of the experts who have spent their lives working on the subject to conclude that Carbon Dioxide pollution does have an impact on the environment; and more pollution will make it even worse; and then positing that maybe there should be less pollution or we will irreparably hurt ourselves. At the core of the Conspiracy theorists belief system is an essential belief that we don’t have any responsibility for the world or anyone around us. We are the pinnacle of evolution and/or creation and should be able to do whatever we want. No government or their scientific minions should have the authority to tell me that I can’t enjoy any activity I want, any way I want, even if it does cause harm to others who aren’t as special as me (short of actually pulling the trigger of course... well unless they were trespassing)--just as Jesus proclaimed, “the strong shall inherit the earth.”
As part of my Masters program, I spent one quarter studying the cross-cultural contexts for psychological health and healing with native Hawaiians on the Big Island, immersed in both modern and ancient mythology and history of the islands. A very rich experience, I won’t go into now, but one thread that permeated much of what I observed, the fundamental and rather obvious notion, “I am on an island in the middle of a great big ocean.” Contrasting this with the dominant Western mythology of “screw up and move west young man,” an idea that grows untenable very quickly on an island in the middle of a great big ocean, leading to a more basic wisdom, “maybe we should take some responsibility for the place and people around us because tomorrow I am gonna wake up and they're still gonna be here.” Cooperation, consideration, reconciliation became core values that were essentially built into the politics and daily lives of the traditional culture and world view of the Hawaiians.
Obviously one paragraph is insufficient to develop the full notion of the Island Mentality and its necessity in the survival of the Hawaiians over thousands of years. But the gift of the Hawaiians to the survival of modern humanity, is the invitation to examine what this might mean in a world, a planet, that has become increasingly an island unto itself. A tradition developed over thousands of years that invites us to look upon each other as cousins, to resolve our conflicts with certainty, to reach out to one another with generosity, to respect one another with openness and acceptance, and to become aware of, and an essential participant in, taking care of the world around us.
Aloha ("to share the breath/essence of life")
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