Entering, my head swivels and turns
while my mouth begins to gape. The atrium is vast while my comprehending mind
is minute. The room is tall while my boyish body is tiny. I gaze, for a moment,
at the ceiling that is an eternity away from me. Following the taunt line, my
eyes slowly descend along the pendulum to the bob at the end. Steady, sedated,
rhythmic it goes, and goes, and goes, and goes. How does it knock down all the
domino-like pieces in a circle every day? Why did it continually go back and
forth seamlessly, eternally (in the mind of a boy)? I must have been younger
than ten when I experienced this phenomenon, and the stark memory of it has yet
to vacate my mind. This picture materialized in my thoughts while I read our
assignment. A pendulum… going back and forth, to and fro, left and right, it
never stops or slows.
“How
or why did this cross your mind?” you may ask. I asked myself the same
question. I think I got an interesting response. You see, a pendulum is always
“correcting” itself. For a brief moment it is in an utter extreme until the
forces of nature wrench it down again. However (Let us assume that extremes are
bad. This is really going to help the analogy along), this only results in the
opposite extreme. This persistent, continual back and forth is what captured my
mind, particularly for these readings. I feel like we have struck the domino of
destruction, deforestation, demolition, defecation, and domination. Yet I have
this uncomfortable feeling that we might have let our righteous momentum of
creation care continue on its path a touch to far. The reading mentions the
earth “as a fellow creature” (p. 29). I recoil from this assumption to be fully
honest. Is the rock and dirt living? Can it “justly expect something from us?”
(p. 29) Please, do not misunderstand me. I value the earth and all that is in
it. But I see a sect that is granting life and a sacred status to all,
literally all, things. This catches me off guard. My mind initially wants to
label this thought as pantheistic. However, I am trying to be, maybe, a bit
more understanding and at least give ideas a chance to be tested and tried. Who
knows, maybe this awkward feeling within me is the scalding heat of truth that
thirsts to open my eyes or… maybe it is not. Maybe it is an already discerning
prudence that has been cultivated within me. I do not know, but I hope to find
out. Anyways, I digress, back to the earth and pendulums. One of the reasons I
assumed pendulum motion is because it seems to be so inline with human nature
and history. We humans seem to incessantly overcorrecting our mistakes. In the
realm of religion, my mind jumps to the puritans. Trying to set apart their
lives from what they believed folly, the puritans brought about an entire
civilization that was legalistic. In America today we are still deciphering
through the consequences of that. On the backstroke of the puritanical pendulum
swing (especially the 1950’s) would be the hippie generation. Albeit some
positives did commence from that, I would hope that we could agree that the
hippie movement was not entirely wholesome. So back and forth we go.
In the pendulum of
creation care I personally see two extremes. One is the molestation of the
earth while the other is the divination of anything nonhuman. I believe, at
least in our honors class, that we can all agree that plundering the earth for
every ounce of self-pleasure is not a righteous thing to do. However, more
controversial is the degree of value that is innate in the material world. At
what point do we sacrifice human comfort for the sake of preserving the earth?
Even more so, if it comes down to it, when do the needs of humanity trump the
current state of the biosphere (or does it even?)? For me, human life will
always be the most precious valuable on earth. We are made in the image of the
Creator, and I believe that that truth is unique to the mystery that is man.
Even though dominion is bestowed upon man, responsibility ensues. The sheep are
the shepherd’s, but the shepherd sacrifices all that he is for his flock.
I find it interesting that you think we are always trying to correct ourselves just like the pendulum. I loved your story and it does feel as if it we go back in forth till we end up in the same place especially during our discussions. I think your views are very Aristotelian in finding that golden mean. Maybe it isn't a middle ground we need but an extreme towards what Dr. Sunberg talked about loving our neighbor like Jesus called us to unconditionally and unwaveringly.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny you mentioned pantheism - that word came to my mind this week too. Is there a point at which we could become worshippers of the earth itself and not the God who created it? Not the things of this world, some of which we may already see as dangerously close to idols, but the earth itself and the idea of restoring it to a "perfect" condition. Creation care and stewardship of blessings should of course be a priority, but there may be an extreme - one end of the pendulum swing - where we become overly obsessed with saving plants, animals, and perfecting the food production process that those issues take precedence over more important spiritual priorities.
ReplyDeleteMicah (and Tyler), regarding pantheism, I suppose the majority of our authors would argue that whole of creation is holy, but they would stop short of saying the whole thing is God. Do you see this distinction in Berry, Davis, Wright, and Bouma-Prediger?
ReplyDelete