Conversation 4: Planting Seeds of Hope

 

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Notice the bookends. Our conversation has been framed by Brent’s blog, Surrender(ed) to the Joy of the Dance, on March 11 and Lois’ poem, Living Water, at the end.

In between, we were seeking to understand the world and each other. When we checked in with each other, we found that an important word came up: “carrying”.

We were able to share with each other what we are carrying — and who we are carrying with us. Family was an important theme, consistently, in what we spoke about. Our children, our aging parents, our grandparents before us, our grandchildren, and the strangers whom we welcome as family.

 

This was strongly echoed in the video segment we watched from An Optimist’s Guide to the Planet (Season 1, Ep. 3, 6:05-14:18). The idea was that we plant seeds of hope. Ecologically and spiritually, we plant them for future generations, and those that survive disasters in life and return to thrive. 

One of the lessons in the Optimist's Guide was our underestimation of the power of nature and its beauty in the face of all things, the creation pointing to the Creator. 

But we need to find lenses through which to read the complexities which face our planet and its people. What are the ways of knowing, of understanding and of discerning the times that we are in? Perception, reason, introspection, memory, and testimony. This is epistemology, philosophy; literally, the love of wisdom and how to live wisely in the world.

 

A topic that we broached, as we have before, was excess in contrast to enough. So much of the information and the many issues pertaining to the climate crisis have an element of greed for wealth and power on all “sides” of the discussion; Eden is burning.

The climate crisis has so many varied perspectives, laden with so much information (see the PowerPoint). It also has vested interests on all fronts. We tend to live with the hermeneutics of suspicion, that is, as being skeptical of everything. One of the ways to approach this, as Peter has shared, is through the Precautionary Principle:

"The precautionary principle is a risk management approach advocating for proactive, protective action when an activity raises threats of serious or irreversible harm to human health or the environment, even if full scientific certainty is lacking. It shifts the burden of proof to demonstrate safety before launching new technologies or substances."

The story from Heather Robertson's 1970 book Reservations Are for Indians is instructive. The community on the reserve was going to their local hospital to heal their illnesses. These illnesses were created by the hospital dumping waste into the river, poisoning the people on the reserve downstream. This simplifies a complex issue. We must open our eyes to know that there are consequences when we do not care for creation. 

We citizens and scientists who may disagree vehemently about causes and solutions for the environment often fail to see how much we agree upon regarding harm to the planet. This may be only one outcome of the spiral of silence: the failure through fear to find common ground in our conversations and to learn from uncommon ground. As Peter outlined:

“The spiral of silence theory was proposed in 1974 by Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann, a German political scientist. The theory states “that we are more willing to communicate our ideas to others if we believe that most people in the group hold the same view, that is, if we believe that our opinion is in line with the perceived majority opinion. On the other hand, if we think that our opinion is different from the perceived majority opinion, we are more likely to stay quiet about what we think.”

Perhaps we fail to find common ground, mutual flourishing, because we ourselves are not feeling grounded. Peter shared an exercise to help us ground ourselves, as a spiritual practice, the 5-4-3-2-1 Method applied to nature. 

"It is possible to ground yourself by identifying five things you can see, four things you can feel (e.g., breeze, chair, feet on ground), three things you can hear (e.g., wind, birds), two things you can smell, and one thing you can taste. This pulls you out of abstract panic into the present, physical world."

Our challenge is to practice this method of grounding ourselves. To do so, we need to briefly stop the narratives we are hearing, walk out into nature, see, hear, and experience the Spirit and mind of Christ, which is the way of knowing. If you do so and want to share your experience, let us know.

Be open to the surprises of creation that awaken us to being fully alive. Be intentional in choosing encounters. Then surrender to the joy of the dance, and to the living water. 

With notes from Peter Farrugia