What does a belief in the earth offer humanity?

When we talk about belief we talk about valuing the earth in our everyday lives the way we value our family, friends and community.

At the moment, we live in a State of Separation. Our lives are lived separate from the reality of the earths systems, both physically and philosophically.

One could even argue that many global philosophies have evolved to such a point that the earths systems are considered primitive rather than grand, and that the painful reality of our daily lives necessitates the continued wearing away and outright destruction of the real world around us.

Out side of avoiding a global natural system collapse (one that becomes ever more real as we drive ourselves forward into the new millennium), what can the individual, the human community and humanity as a whole gain from (re)-fostering a real and practical value in the earth and in our place among its grand systems?

As I argued in the previous post, believing in the earth is about accepting, understanding and respecting the reality of the world around us and our place among it.

Every element that will ever be was created long ago at the dawn of the universe, and since that time, elements interacting have evolved systems - at first chemical, then physical and, over time, living.

The elements that are within you are the same that have formed the stars and the planets, the oceans and the mountains, the reptiles and the mammals, since the dawn of time. These elements are constantly passed between systems, to be used in different ways for different purposes.

In that sense, you are the universe, or more immediately, you are the earth. Valuing your place as part of it is thus basic real world stuff. It is not based on stories, or historical institutions or hierarchies. Not only is it scientific fact, It is physical, it is uniquely human and it is spiritual.

As a practical human belief system then, what does it serve?

Well, all value and belief systems, outside of their evolved institutions, mythologies and hierarchies, serve a basic healthy human need. They fulfil the burning human need to understand our origins, they give us a sense of belonging to something greater than ourselves, they give us a sense of life beyond death, they offer us a moral framework to which we can refer, and more often than not they provide us with a sense of community and purpose.

I am not talking here just about established communal belief systems, but individual and deeply personal value systems as well.

Without trying to sound like a salesman, valuing the earth ticks all the boxes, it ticks more than most, it does so in a way that brings all communities together and its is beautifully (open-your-eyes-to-the-reality-all-around-you) real.

- Origin Myth? Done - though the word myth can now be deleted from the phrase. For me this specific origin story is far more fantastical and dramatic than any in existence, with the added advantage, as if one was needed, that it actually did happen ‘once upon a time’.

- Belonging? Done - though it is neither ‘imagined’ nor community specific. When you gaze out at a sunset and feel the same real world sense of belonging that you get watching your first born getting married or your team winning the world cup you will know what I am talking about.

- Life after death? Done - (ish!). When our bodies eventually die, the elements that make them up will return finally to the earth’s grand systems. There is no heaven myth here, no afterlife for the being that is you. I will deal with this a little further down.

- Moral Framework? Done - It solidifies the idea that we are all one and the same, something the people of the earth, forever divided, will need now in this contemporary global village if they are to truly progress. We are all elements that make up the system entire. This should, by its very nature, foster the desire to evolve an all encompassing value system and way of life whereby humanity can live in relative peace, as part and parcel of the earths grand systems.

- Purpose? Done - Outside of highlighting the basic beauty of our own natural purpose I spoke about in the last post, there is the sense that our existence as part of the earth is adding something special and unique to the grand tapestry. Just as the evolution of plants or animals added a new and unique aspect, helping to create an overall balance, so to our human ways of life should aim for that, adding to the systems both physically and (considering our unique talents and abilities) culturally.

- Community? Done - we are the human community, part of a much larger community of living beings, working as part of a larger whole. Whether we choose to do that together or in spite of one another is our choice.

At a more local level, our nature connects us to a familial community and fosters in us a desire to live as part of a community at large. Instilling a value for the earth in that community gives it a chance to work as a team, evolving a way of life that compliments them and the world around them on a daily basis. The community can base much of what it achieves together on that value system, and know that it is good.

The beauty of all of this is that as a way of thought and a way of life going forward, it can feed into and inspire all existing value systems and belief systems. Much of what it incorporates is already part of the basic value systems of all cultures anyway.

It is not based on any particular ideology, culture or institution. It is broad enough to be incorporated but specific enough in that it focuses all people onto the ideal that we are part and parcel of the earth, that we all belong, that we have a spiritual connection to the earth and therefore to each other.

Furthermore, it need not replace existing mythologies or institutions. Just as Irish Christianity incorporated many of the Celtic beliefs that preceded it, so too these values can evolve into existing practices, ideologies and rituals.

This is an important point when considering that there is no solid heaven myth put forward by the value system I am highlighting here - there is no place where we go when we die, no undiscovered country. Cultures can keep there myths, in tact, along with all of there other values and institutions. There is no conflict here. No opposing mythologies.

For me a heaven myth is not essential. Granted, as death closes in around me, Ill want to feel like this is not the end for me personally. At that level, a heaven myth is comfort, for me and those around me. But realistically I just can’t see a ‘higher power’, so that’s that. The systems that run our bodies are finite. Nature has made it so for the good of Life itself.

What comforts me is the fact that you and me and him and her have had the chance to live at all. Consider for a moment the countless possible outcomes of all these systems interacting over such a vast amount of time, and realise that we are all very lucky indeed just to be able to stand as living beings on the earth.

It can be agued that morally, the idea of heaven makes people believe that they will have to answer for their lives on earth in the afterlife and that that keeps people in check. Equally I would argue that it allows them to justify actions on earth that may be morally skewed in the hope that somehow they will be rewarded in heaven.

In both cases, the heaven myth takes away from the present, and I believe that is a bad thing overall. Life and living are about the here and now. Our focus must be on the earth and the physical universe, on our place within there grand systems and on the great natural potential of the human species. These things in themselves are deeply human and fulfilling.

The real moral issue that this focus on reality addresses then is ‘what kind of life am I living?’, ‘how am I contributing?’, ‘what good am I doing?’

The beauty for the individual is that he or she gets to ponder and be inspired by the natural world, along with the added human element, and realise the sense of purpose, greatness and belonging that should be part of all human belief systems. This is our home; our church; our place of contemplation; our playing field; the physical world from which we were all borne and to which we will all return.

As an individual, you can just ‘be’ as part of this grand tapestry, and add to it by thinking, and feeling, and creating what is in your heart, as an individual. Your nature does not paralyse you by telling you what you are, and making you feel like you must conform. Instead it instills you with these great desires, it provides you with these great tools, and it allows you the ability to make of them what you will.

How all of this may work practically in the real world, how it will aid humanity and how we get there I will deal with in the next post.