The Devil and His Friend
The devil once went for a walk
with a friend. They saw a man
ahead of them stoop down and
pick up something from the ground.
“What did that man find?” asked
the friend.
“A piece of truth,” said the devil.
“Doesn’t that disturb you?” asked the
friend.
“No,” said the devil,
“I shall let him make
a belief out of it.”
I ran across the above story in a book of proverbs and it struck a chord. It seems to me that when I begin to read about "dead zones” in the seas, for example, my feeling of helplessness and disempowerment stem somewhat from a mistaken understanding of the divine. As the devil character in this proverb so intelligently points out, we as humans can perceive very real truths about the world and then take those truths to form beliefs that are untrue.
For example: Being a student of contemporary environmental issues I read about the destruction of natural systems often. I hear the facts of global climate change and fish populations on the brink of collapse and somehow turn these facts into beliefs about God and about my identity. What are these beliefs? They are not fully articulated yet, but I know that they affect the way I live. Here are two ideas to start with:
Truth: There is a large scale break down of the earth's ability to co-exist sustainably with human resource use as we know it.
Belief: Perhaps the divine is not as powerful as the forces causing the destruction of the earth.
Belief: Perhaps the experience of the divine is diminished in a world with diminishing natural beauty. (This thought is set forth briefly and then discussed in Roger S. Gottlieb's book A Greener Faith)
Belief: I as an individual I must figure out how to handle the current ecological crisis.
That is all for now,
Peace and Blessings,
Mikaila
3 comments:
I think this idea is really interesting and important. I really know what you mean about the idea that the divine is perhaps less present in creation as it is being distructed- I feel this way in dispair often when I am thinking about our the environment. hmmm, good words of wisdom :)
What a powerful insight! I never thought about this so concretely. I've been moved lately to think about the role of prayer in the ecological crisis. If we believe that prayer can affect the small details of our life, like getting a job, healing another person, finding a great parking spot, then why don't we think that prayer is the answer to the ecological crisis.
But it's more complicated than just praying away global warming. It is said that we shouldn't pray for things to change or other people to change, but we should pray for God to transform us. The transformation of ourselves opens us up to be instruments of God's power in the world.
And what is the answer to the ecological crisis (besides a miracle)? That we would all change our behavior and the way we live in the world. If that is the answer, then I propose that the only way to acheive such a change is through prayer!
deanna- thank you for your comments. I agree! I think for me, part of this transformation is to make me humble. Humility does two things. The first is to remind me that I am not God (This is extremely difficult for me, more days than not I wake up thinking that I can save the world!). The second purpose, or you could say, an incredibly valuable byproduct of this humility, is that I am relieved of the burden that I've have attempted to take upon myself. After I have ignored the fact that God is God and I am not, and been arrogant enough to think that I could solve the world's problems by myself, God gracefully reminds me that I can not and ought not do anything more than follow her/his guidance. As I said, this is a large part of what I find God is working to transform in me.
Post a Comment