“Take Root And Grow” by SAM-halfshark

In the past, people heavily relied on religion to answer our questions. Today, science is our go-to for our questions. In a way, science has become a new religion.

But when I talk about religion, I do not mean it in the traditional fashion. When I talk about religion, I’m talking about the beliefs we have concerning the unknown. Science and religion live in a dichotomous state of light and dark, known and unknown.

What we need today is a better relationship between our religion and our science. We too heavily keep them separated, when in fact together they complete the big picture. As said in the quote below, the two come from very different, yet necessary perspectives.

Religious thought is the driving force for science; the need to turn dark into light, unknown into known, abstractions into concrete.

What else has science told us other than about our religion? Where we were right and where we were wrong? Now we need to reinforce our religion, and allow it to drive us to something better.

Recently I enrolled in a class called called humaNature: Reification, Roots and Resonance. As a part of the class, we’re required to start some sort of blog, and this is it. The goal of this blog is to track daily changes in our lives that relate to the class. However, before I even realized it, I started blogging about this on my other blog during the very first reading (the previous text post).

In an article entitles, The Historical Roots of our Ecological Crisis, by Lynn White Jr., White begins attacking Christianity as the religion that caused our ecological crisis. His argument is that with the rise of Christianity and the fall of Paganism, the ideals of how to treat nature shifted dramatically. Paganism ideals care for the feelings of earth and non-human nature, where as Christianity puts the well being of human before non humans. This is well outlined in the quote posted below.

Recently, Rick Santorum (R) was speaking about the climate change politics and stated the following, “I think it’s a bad idea to put the earth before people.”

That quote troubled me. Does he not realize that it is the earth that supplies all life, including human life? Was this statement out of ignorance or simply lack of knowledge? Or could it simply be that this is truly how Rick Santorum feels?

This blog is dedicated to a change I will be enacting in my every day life. That change is my religion.

I was raised under the Catholic-Christian belief system, and although since my earliest childhood memories I’ve challenged the concept of God as described by the Christian faith, the ideals are still traceable to my persona. Both my mother and my father have these ideals and have raised their children on this (lack of) code of ethics. Now it’s time for a change.

I’ve always seen myself as a guardian of humanity, a protector and ensurer of life. However, it was acknowledged to me at a very young age that I would save humanity not through the progression of humanity, but through the progression of Nature. My thoughts are like a lotus, unfolding themselves in beautiful and unique patterns. My mind moves as organically as fungus through in a rain forest. 

Seldom we realize how much of an affect our beliefs have on the state of our environment. Our individual actions have significant consequences. When the thought of the majority is that humans are the master of the land, and that we may do with what we please, we begin to experience serious consequences (ie. acid rain, polluted waters/air, depleted rain forests, thousands of acres of farm land, etc.).

The funny thing is though, as much as we affect the Nature around us, Nature affects us as well. Our affects have and are causing increased heat, drought, extended rain seasons, increased sea levels, nutrient-stripped soils, etc. These affects on us; increased energy use, higher demand for water, inhospitable environments, unsafe food and water supply, etc.

As my daily change, I will begin to instill ideals into my own head to care for every aspect of nature, and in some cases putting non-human nature before human nature. I will not impose these ideals on other people, however, I hope that through demonstration of my ideals and how they affect the larger picture, others will begin to follow. 

Welcome to the beginning of the Neu.