My writings - and those of others.
A shameful history
All countries like to celebrate their achievements. So do people on social media these days, who seem to assume that their meals, children’s graduations, hair styles and the like merit interest and praise from the rest of us. I am surprised that some people I know do this so often. We’re much less apt to cite our failures - as individuals or as nations. That would reveal how vulnerable we really are behind these facades of achievement.
But is time to come to terms with reality. As Canadians we thought that people who had been here fourteen thousand years earlier needed to be taught how to live, how to dress, what language to speak and how to worship their creator. We took young children from their parents and placed them in residential schools where we abused them physically and sexually, transmitted our diseases. starved them and buried them in unmarked graves. We left a legacy to the generations that followed them. many who are still among us.
In answer to all the “Buts” and “What Abouts” of Canadian history, the best response is to pause and look at the current realities - as both individuals and institutions where we have connections. What have we to learn from a suffering people? What do they have to teach us now?
The recommendation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission are here. It’s time for temperature taking and further action. Suffering takes time to heal. But denying the changes that need to happen doesn’t even allow healing to start. Not all actions are our personal responsibility - but both as individuals and institutions, some clearly are.
Honoring the Four Directions
On this National Indigenous Peoples Day in Canada, there is no better way to spend it than to watch this video:
It is especially worth seeing while remembering Ginny Doctor, the Executive Producer who also appears in the film. She died recently. May she rest in peace. To know and understand the Doctrine of Discovery and its impact on all our lives is necessary and she could not have left us a better legacy for reflection and action.
A prayer for people of all faiths - or no faith:
Come Great Spirit, as we gather in your name.
We face East:
To your symbol colour Red, the hue of revelation;
To your animal symbol the Eagle, strong and nurturing;
To your lessons calling us to the balance of your Spirit in Harmony with brothers and sisters;
To invoke your wisdom and grace, the goodness of the ages, We pray: COME HOLY SPIRIT, COME.
We turn to face South:
To your symbol colour Gold for the morning star.
To your symbol Brother Sun that enlightens our intellect and brings light on our path to live responsibly;
To your lessons calling us to balance of Mind in the Spirit of humility;
To invoke your spirit of illumination and far sighted vision;
Help us to love you and one another with our whole heart, our whole mind, and our whole soul, We pray: COME HOLY SPIRIT, COME.
We turn to face West:
To your symbol colour Black, still and quiet.
To your animal symbol the Thunderbird;
To your symbol the Thunder mighty and purposeful;
To your lessons calling us to balance our emotions in the spirit of Gentleness and Honesty;
To invoke your spirit of introspection, seeing within; Give us your strength and the courage to endure, We pray: COME HOLY SPIRIT, COME.
We turn to face North:
To your symbol colour white of clarity and brightness.
To your animal symbol the swan which brings us in touch with Mother Earth and growing things;
To your lessons calling us to balance of our Body in the spirit of a good sense of humor;
To invoke your spirit of innocence, trust and love; Help us to open our eyes to the sacredness of every living thing, We pray: COME HOLY SPIRIT, COME.
(Note: There are several interpretations of the colours of the medicine wheel. A Cree adaptation is used here.)
The Ecological Age
This quotation from Thomas Berry’s The Dream of the Earth is of the utmost importance:
“Presently we are entering another historical period. one that might be designated as the ecological age. I use the term ecological in its primary meaning as the relationship of an organism to its environment, but also as an indication of the interdependence of all the living and nonliving systems of Earth. This vision of a planet integral with itself throughout its spatial extent and its evolutionary sequence is of primary importance if we are to have the psychic importance to undergo the psychic and social transformations that are being demanded of us. These transformations require the assistance of the entire planet, not merely the forces available to the human. It is not simply adaptation to a reduced supply of fuels or to some modification of our systems of social or economic controls. Nor is it some slight change in our education system. What is happening is something of a far greater magnitude. It is a radical change in our mode of consciousness. Our challenge is to create a new language, even a new sense of what it is to be human. It is to transcend. not only national limitations, but even our species isolation, to enter into the larger community of living species. This brings about a completely new sense of reality and value.
Soil and its importance
A few years ago our balcony railing structures were replaced. This meant that balcony contents had to be removed, including planters that I had brought full of soil from a previous residence. Several bags of soil went into the garbage. because the containers had to be empty to carry to a storage locker. This year, when I tried to replace potting soil, I had to go to several places before I could find the right size bags to carry. Home gardens have become increasingly important as we move beyond the pandemic.
We hear a lot about air pollution and water pollution. I didn’t think seriously about soil pollution and soil loss until I read a couple of recent articles. Organic gardening is a term we have heard about - but regenerative agriculture is less familiar.
As someone who grew up in Western Ontario, my family took Sunday drives into some of the most beautiful family farm lands in Canada. As a pre-teen I even got to visit and work on a farm and drive a tractor in a field. We’re all too aware of industrial farming and the dangers of pesticides - but agriculture as a source of CO2 isn’t something we reckon with. Some are starting to do so, by recognizing that agriculture contributes 25%. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says: “Leveraging the mitigation potential in the Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use sector is extremely important in meeting emission reduction targets.”
Rodale Institute says. We have proven that organic agriculture and, specifically, regenerative organic agriculture can sequester carbon from the atmosphere and reverse climate change.
There are several ways this can happen:
Decrease or eliminate plowing and tilling. These compact the soil and release too much CO2
Plant diverse crops, as opposed to huge single crop plantings
Rotate and cover crops. Protect and cover crops rather than letting them leech nutrients.
Kiss the Ground, a restorative agriculture not-for profit says: “If regenerative means: ‘renewal, restoration, and growth of cells, organisms, and ecosystems,’ or ‘renewal or restoration of a body, bodily part, or biological system (as in a forest) after injury or as a normal process,’ then regenerative agriculture is agriculture that is doing just that.”
We are not here to exploit the soil. We are here to learn that health of the soil is essential to our own health - and the health of the planet.
Importance
i’ve been re-reading Thomas Berry in the light of some current events in Canada - the reminder of the deaths in residential schools - well known and documented in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report - but not absorbed, so that recent findings are treated as news. Then there is the recent senseless killing of a family because of ethnic hatred of a disturbed young man. Last is an article by a Roman Catholic rightly decrying the theology of his church claiming that as an institution it can do no wrong - only individuals within it can.
Berry speaks of the moral dilemmas of our age which so-called civilized peoples and religions cannot deal with - suicide, homicide and genocide. He adds to them terms that we never hear from any of the religions by name - biocide and geocide. As creatures of the Anthropocene, we think we can do what we like. We fail to see the consequences.