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A Purpose In Survival
I was watching a documentary on the Mekong river, appropriately named Mekong: Soul of a River, and a Tibetan nomad made the comment that everything played a purpose in it’s survival. Meaning that all the animals they own and come in contact with have a direct connection and relationship with their existence. This is such a foreign concept to me when most of my relationship to “things” is indirect. And for the most part disposable. In many ways, most of the “things” of my life are nothing more than accessories. Meaning if I got rid of them, I would still survive. They are not directly connected to my existence.
I wonder how much we’ve lost when we no longer have a deep connection to the land. We have divorced ourselves from it except to use it and manipulate it in a disposable fashion.
And further, I think perhaps our greatest arrogance has led us to believe that we are the key to our own survival. And in Babel-like twist, we have chosen to live on our own.
It is against the beliefs of the nomadic Tibetan to kill any animal except for food. Even worms or a bird. Because they realize that worms and birds are even part of a larger ecological system that is integrated with their lives. In the nomads world . . . they are a part of the ecosystem, while in ours we stand outside of it using things in a detached and disposable fashion.
Their circle of life (don’t start singing Lion King) is much smaller and closed. They are a part of the loop. While sometimes I think we’ve opted out of the circle all together and instead chosen a pyramid where we sit at the top. Or to use another metaphor, a funnel that pours straight to us.
I wonder what it says about the Western condition when we choose not to contribute and participate in the ecological cycle . . . the circle of life. In what ways is this damaging us? In what ways are we missing out?
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First-time commenter here,
Great post… coincidentally I’ve been rolling around very similar thoughts myself this evening.
>>>…I think perhaps our greatest arrogance has led us to believe that we are the key to our own survival. And in Babel-like twist, we have chosen to live on our own.
Fabulous wording, I couldn’t agree more. On a related note, I was just pointed towards this mind-blowing article [http://www.bestlifeonline.com/cms/publish/travel-leisure/Our_oceans_are_turning_into_plastic_are_we.shtml ]… the realities described here give some fairly concrete answers (from one aspect of our world) to your question of how our withdrawal is damaging us. And this doesn’t even begin to explore the intangible (spiritual?) damage that we are arguably imposing on ourselves…
Anyway, great blogging. Keep it up.
I think you should be a farmer… Who still does great graphic work for us on the side!
So are you saying that the Tibetans wouldn’t videotape themselves exterminating wasps in the middle of the day (with repellent bought from the little-known mom and pop store, Eckerd’s) and then put the video on YouTube?
We are missing out in so many ways, and we are hurting the world and our selves in more ways than we even know! I really like your analogies of the pyramid and the funnel. By “funneling” some of us have been able to protect ourselves from pain in a time of scarce resources, but not everyone has been so fortunate. It is mind boggling that with all our technology and innovation, millions of people still starve while other people eat themselves into morbid obesity. We are just as integral a part of the ecosystem as the rest of creation, for good and for bad. And if we poison the well, where will we all drink from?
You should type “Eco-Feminism” into wikipedias database and read what it has to say. It resonates a lot with the thoughts in this post.
danielle shroyer got my head thinking when I heard her mention the idea that man is not the pinnacle of creation, sabbath is. when we believe we as people are somehow special and are the key to anything we upset God’s natural cycles of creation.
David,
Your post isn’t clear to me: Help me understand what it means that “sabath is” the pinnacle of creation.
How is man NOT the pinnacle of God’s creation?
Thanks so much for your time.
Great post Josh.
this comes from Jurgen Moltmann’s suggestion that sabbath is the “crown of creation”
A human-centered creation sees the 6th day as the ultimate day and the Sabbath as God’s subsequent command to man, his ultimate creation. But maybe the Sabbath is God’s finale of the creation order rather than its denouement. Rest, cycle and relationship is the focus of creation rather than glorious man. How self-centered of us to assume that we are the “crown of creation”