Brian’s Reflection: Friday, June 11, 2010

If we go on the way we have, the fault is
our greed; and if we are not willing to change,
we will disappear from the face of the globe,
to be replaced by the insect.

Jacques-Yves Cousteau, French naval officer
and oceanographer, born on this date, 1910


I hope so. The insects would do a much better job that we have in respecting the Earth. I don’t have much hope that we will change – but then, you never know. Sometimes when human beings won’t change, other forces come into play. I would call them, mythologically speaking, Deities. Mother Nature. The Fates. Cause and Effect. Etc. This is, of course, a theological issue.

The “issue” is, to put it in a Christian context, “oneness with all Creation”. The whole business is interconnected. We human beings like to think that we are superior to it all. We’ve taken the misinterpretation of the Biblical story to heart – because we human beings are by nature arrogant and self-aggrandizing. We think that we control everything – which is wrong. And we think that we can manipulate everything to our own purposes – and that is also wrong. Look at the BP oil spill. Look at Katrina. Look at the tornadoes in Ohio. Look at the killing fires in Santa Barbara. The evidence for our helplessness is all around us, but we blithely disregard it.

Yes, I hope that the Insect will soon replace us. Our beloved, beautiful planet will rejoice. I think I’ll have myself frozen – and hope to wake up as a new Adam/Eve, and hopefully get it right then: a real servant to the Planet, not an exploiter.

Think about it my friends – and perhaps we can begin to take up a new role in the Life of our Home.

Brian+