Normally, by this date, we will have launched the pontoon boat and spent some time at our northern cottage, or gone on bike rides and hikes at distant locations; but after a few days of beautiful weather around Memorial Day, we have experienced mostly rainy days this year, setting back our plans. We are hoping for a break in the weather this week to give us a chance to catch up.
Those escapes from routine are important. A chance to disconnect from the political scene and appreciate the natural world is restorative. Most of what we worry about is insignificant in the grander scheme of things.
I recently came across a written piece reflecting on what our true purpose is. Diana Butler Bass took the passage from Genesis 1:26-2:3: Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” She then wrote:
“Dominion” has long been problematic even before its current political associations. In western Christianity, “dominion” has often been interpreted as power, mastery, rule, and authority over others in a hierarchical society. Dominion has been used to justify all sorts of religious crusades, pogroms, and genocides. It was twinned with “dominate,” inspiring the power-hungry with a biblical justification to conquer all the earth’s resources and peoples. After all, the scriptures say to “subdue” — as in to “hold in bondage” — creation.
Jewish writers have been more thoughtful with this text than Christians, emphasizing that “dominion” must be exercised within the whole of creation — not separate from it or as exploitation. As Christian ethicist Larry Rasmussen points out regarding Jewish interpretation of this text, “It is humble participation with God in ongoing creation as a totally interrelated reality, accompanied with a high sense of moral responsibility for consequences. We are shomrei adama — guardians of earth.”
That also is the view of indigenous Americans, who have emphasized their role in caring for the earth and respecting its creatures. The buffalo, for example, were hunted but not to extinction, and every part of the animal was put to use. It was the white settlers who nearly brought the animals to extinction, skinning them and leaving their carcasses to rot in the sun.
As stewards of the sea, the air, and the earth, we should be avoiding exploitation and instead ensuring their survival. Getting out in nature reminds us of how spectacular it is and, if we are open to it, leads to conservation rather than exploitation.
Conservation can go to the other extreme, ignoring the interrelatedness of everything. Climate change is a good example. The scientific evidence of climate change is solid, but activists are taking the arbitrary climate target of the Paris Agreement — limiting the planet’s temperature rise to 1.5° Celsius above its pre-industrial level — as an absolute, beyond which we would be facing apocalyptic conditions. To stay within that goal, there is a push to eliminate fossil-fuel vehicles and switch to all-electric cars. Rushing to manufacture the batteries necessary for such a quick transition would mean extensive mining that scientists say could be more devastating to the earth than continued use of fossil fuels. There can be a solution by developing new battery technology, but that will take time.
All this is to say that we need to take a step back and clear our minds of all the stress and panic that is overcoming reason, and coming back to tackle the problems afresh.
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