Why Do We Treat Earth as We Do?
Last weekend, Jakob and I went to Fotografiska just before it closed for a month due to covid-19. Housed in an industrial-style waterfront building dating back to 1906, Fotografiska is a photography museum that aims to raise our collective awareness of various issues we face today. We wandered through the ground floor exhibitions, soon climbing the stairs to the second floor and passing through ‘Two Hundred Seasons’ by Arno Rafael Minkkinen. The room just beyond it was ‘Our Time on Earth’, a collection of vibrant and yet poignant shots of animal species beyond our own by Mattias A. Klum. I paused a short while longer as I gazed into the eyes of still-life orangutans, marvelling at the similarities between humans and these beautiful great apes.
A description next to one photo, beneath the headline ‘Borneo Rehab’, mimicked the similarity I had observed. It read:
The name “orangutan” is derived from the Malaysian and Indonesian words orang meaning “person” and hutan meaning “forest”, i.e. “person of the forest”.
Borneo Rehab
Borneo Rehab; images of orangutans at rehabilitation centers, recovering from injury and loss of habitat due to widespread deforestation in the region. They’re not the only ones to suffer from the destruction of these natural landscapes. Plants, insects, other animals, and biodiversity as a whole crumble beneath the weight of the systems we impose on them.
As I read about the destruction caused by industrial plantations in Borneo (“Much of the rainforest is gone–perhaps 75 percent–levelled to make way for plantations of palm oil trees or other crops.”), I remembered that all of our hands our dirty. Palm oil is a cheap (yet evidently costly) raw material used in food, snacks, vegetable oils, cosmetics, and personal care products. And if we’ve made an effort to steer clear of this single ingredient, we might be just as mindful to tip-toe our way through others that are equally destructive.
But it would be nearly impossible. It would be next to impossible to refrain from using any product that has a negative impact on the environment. Petroleum, for instance, isn’t something we can avoid by opting to bike to work. It is a component of next to every modern creation - from our lunch container to the road beneath our feet or wheels.
Guilt & Shame or Curiosity?
And yet what dawned on me as I gazed into the eyes of those orangutans was not shame, blame, nor guilt as would be prescribed by much of society. It was sadness, and recognition; recognition that we are all in this together and that rather than point our fingers at others (or harshly condemn ourselves), we might take a moment to feel into the pain of our disconnection. Can we really be with the raw emotion that this recognition stirs before jumping to fix, blame, or condemn?
Contrary to the guilt/shame-evoking tactics used in mainstream media to initiate change, I believe there is a better way - a way that truly inspires and nourishes that side of us that longs to do the right thing. The side of us that does want to be better for the soil, that does want to be better for our neighbours, that does want to be better for the rainforests, the oceans, the rivers, and all those that call these places home. From my personal experience, meaningful change has never been the result of guilt or shame; it has come from a return to the love, compassion, and goodness that already exists inside. It comes from generosity and kindness of spirit, whether granted to me from another or from the tender voice inside.
When we point our fingers at others, we miss an opportunity to understand the situation we’ve found ourselves in from a broader perspective. It might feel natural to blame CEOs, politicians, or our neighbours who see things differently, but the problem we face is bigger than that. The systems in place raise children into teenagers and into adults who find their role within it. Is a dog who was mistreated as a puppy inherently evil, or did he learn to adapt to the situation he was born into? This is not to be in denial about the necessity for decision-makers at the top to be held accountable; however, it does ask us to probe a bit further. It asks that we do the hard, often uncomfortable work of deep digging.
A New Paradigm of Change
As a collective, we’ve come to believe that the best way to make change is through force, as Charles Eisenstein notes. In his words:
… the force could take the form of military force, it could take the form of political force, it could take the form of financial force, making people do things that they wouldn’t ordinarily do. It could take the form of psychological force, using shame and guilt and conditional approval to manipulate people into doing something. It could take the form of logical force.
We might think we can force someone to care about something important to us, to see things in a new way, to be different than they presently are. We might try to force ourselves to be better, others to wake up. We might try to use logic, facts, and stats to change minds, frustrated when this active effort triggers the backfire effect.
What our attempts to use force as a way of making change lack sight of are the root causes that underlie our sense of division in the first place. We might ask (again, with compassion and genuine curiosity):
Why might it be that this person is indifferent to the health of our planet?
Why might it be so difficult for me to make choices that would be most loving towards Earth?
In what ways am I myself disconnected from the forests, the soil, and the waterways?
What are the conditions that make it almost easy for us to neglect the wellbeing of Earth as a whole?
To what extent do conditioning and life experience influence how we treat others and the planet?
As we probe these questions thoughtfully and with an authentic yearning to understand, we might start to uncover some of the root causes that lead us and others to act in ways that are less than nurturing. Themes that arise might include:
Disconnection from the community
Disconnection from natural ecosystems
Lack of meaning and purpose
Addiction, mental health concerns, past trauma
A belief that we are separate from others (referred to by Charles Eisenstein as ‘the story of separation’)
These root causes (and others) overlap one another - and they need to be brought into the conversation of change if we are to enact the deep, meaningful shifts that are required of us. Bringing these questions into our personal reflections and conversations with others isn’t always easy. It can stir discomfort and pain, particularly if we are facing these things for the first time. Reaching for the root requires us to embrace paradox and nuance, difficult things to hold as they require us to soften up on our own narratives and beliefs.
And yet, if we feel the call to dive deeper into why things are the way they are, we need to start looking at what lies beneath the surface. We need to address the ground conditions–the state of our inner soil–rather than rushing to exert force. Just like the soil of Earth, if we want a healthy foundation from which to grow, we must nurture the soil itself. Pesticides are a temporary fix at best, a destructive force at worst (and certainly in the long run).
A Pause for Reflection
Take a moment to consider what it would feel like to soften the energy of force within yourself. You might close your eyes for this, tuning into your heart as you let yourself ease into this moment. Can you take a pause, however brief, to ease up on trying to fix or change things? If this is new to you or feels uncomfortable, stay here. Stay with this practice of presence, seeing if you can slowly sink into things just as they are.
If finding peace through mindful presence comes naturally to you in this moment, you might dive a bit deeper through compassionate inquiry. You might start to feel into the root causes that lead us to act in ways that do not serve the wellbeing of our global community (microorganisms, plants, animals, and non-living elements included). Do we humans act in ways that are less than nourishing because we feel happy and whole, or do we act in these ways because we feel something of the contrary? What are the conditions that lead us to forget the sacred nature of ourselves, others, and the world around us?
If strong emotions arise, you might be tuning into personal or collective suffering. Tend to this suffering with compassion and tenderness, trusting that love is a light that might show us the way. If this is too much for you at any point, just come back to presence - back to the breath and back to the earth beneath you. You are here and you are held. Let this moment be enough.