#gaiahypothesis

I saw this title on the always-wonderful University of California, Berkeley’s The Greater Good Science Center site and was intrigued (https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/can_the_indigenous_worldview_build_a_better_future?_ga=2.232959710.1321401351.1669667825-1489903705.1660343467), having a profound interest in Native American perspectives, ancient and contemporary. Restoring the Kinship Worldview combines both to champion the ideology of kincentrism to restore place-based knowledge and return to an Earth-based consciousness in this Anthropocene era. Whatever version of a “god” one wants to believe in, through this ideological lens they all get rebranded as Nature. Sadly, “western” culture has nearly separated life from every corner of Nature, and thus we have created our own hell (p. 128). We collectively need to re-embrace a Nature-as-god, Earth-as-fragile-home mindset, if not as religion. Freud called this an “oceanic feeling”; to Maslow it was “peak experience”, and, to Sagan it was the romantic association of us being “made from stardust”. Beautiful, romantic, poetic. 

Wahinkpe Topa (Four Arrows) speaks of a pet theory he has, where: 

“ . . . starting with Hinduism, all of the organized religions have a foundation that relates to original Indigenous worldview. I propose that the enlightened founders, all the way up through Jesus Christ, saw the devolution of human civilization and created ideas for returning to our original loving nature. My theory is that religions are an effort to rectify the horrors of hierarchy and the loss of egalitarianism and Nature-based thinking. Indigenous worldview is thus prevention oriented, knowing about the potential but not experiencing life based on greed and division. Over time, the teachings of the religious founders were modified by the political and social mores of the times to create orthodoxy that weakened the original intent. Post-contact efforts became conventional for maintaining the religion itself. 

If generosity is learned by observing the natural world and our place in it, as I believe it is, Indigenous worldview is a necessity for returning to life based on generosity, it seems” (pp. 162-3). 

While my opinion couldn’t mean any less, I agree with him, even if I choose to ignore the “spiritual” or sentient nature of Nature. Lovelock and Margulis’s Gaia Hypothesis/Paradigm works well for me. The Indigenous worldview aligns with so much of “paganism”, Buddhism, Wiccan, druidic, and Transcendentalist perspectives too. This is an incredibly OLD way of looking at the world and understanding our humble place within in, and one I embrace wholeheartedly, but I’m nowhere near perfect yet. This is not a peace-on-earth perspective, though sometimes the readings feel that way. On the one hand, it is our <i>relationship</i> with and to Nature that needs to drastically metamorphose, and on the other it is our relationship to one another that needs to be dynamically reorganized. This all needs to be done quickly too. Time is not on our side here. Humankind needs to endure some growing pains in this transformation, but ultimately it will lead to greater reward for all life on Earth, finding balance and equilibrium, and nurturing a symbiotic relationship to Gaia. 

If you haven’t yet seen the doc film The Year the Earth Changed on Apple TV, hosted by Sir David Attenborough, please do so. The COVID-19 pandemic was a monstrous occurrence (still ongoing) that’s severity could have easily been avoided if morons (beholden solely to their financial portfolios over human lives) weren’t in charge of half the world. One of the only good things the pandemic did was convincingly illustrate how when humankind slows down its consumption, traffic, pollution, and waste, the Earth and its biosystems can vigorously heal. This film is a teaching moment for tectonic change and shows that when humanity is encouraged to act differently, truly incredible things can happen, growing pains included. 

Change is happening of course, but it is both equally small and yet equally significant, from nuclear fusion to quantum computing, from reversible-rust batteries to the growing use of solar panels and wind turbines, from “green concrete” to the proliferation of backyard gardens, discussions about “the future of work”, and the surging e-bike movement across the globe. Momentum, investment, and mind-shifts are required from everyone on the planet. We need to accomplish more with less. We need to consume less, waste less, breed less, and crave less. Replacing the mining of oil with the mining of lithium with the mining of cobalt won’t help. Listening to the voices of the global Indigenous community can lead us into a better future, but we must turn our ears and open our minds to what they have to say. This book is a fantastic starting point, and the sources they cite will help empower every reader to pursue the Indigenous worldview more purposefully. I’ll include my list below to make it easier on folks, but there are plenty more mentioned in the text (I’ve already read several of them, such as Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World by Tyson Yunkaporta). Here’s to a better, more peaceful, inclusive, and humanistic-driven future. 

Spirits of Blood, Spirits of Breath: The Twinned Cosmos of Indigenous America by Barbara Alice Mann (2016)

Neurobiology and the Development of Human Morality: Evolution, Culture, and Wisdom by Darcia Narvaez (2014)

Mother Earth Spirituality: Native American Paths to Healing Ourselves and Our World by Ed McGaa (2011)

Unlearning the Language of Conquest: Scholars Expose Anti-Indianism in America by Four Arrows (Don Trent Jacobs) (2010)

Columbus and Other Cannibals: The Wetiko Disease of Exploitation, Imperialism, and Terrorism by Jack Forbes (2008) 

Concentric Ecology: Indigenous Perceptions of the Human-Nature Relationship by Enrique Salmon (2000)

The Spell of the Sensuous by David Abram (1997)

Yurugu: An African-Centered Critique of European Cultural Thought and Behavior by Marimba Ani (1994)

It was touch and go there, as to whether I’d actually rename the blog with this particular post’s title. But further reflection suggests I continue with the arboreal theme, despite the somewhat drastic change in subject matter.

In the dizzying flurry that has been the last couple days, preceded by a couple months of rewarding reading, thought and reflection, and an ever increasing meditation habit, it has become clear that the answer to what was a barely visible, long-term waning attention to the ideas and practices (as much as they ever actually were a part of my daily life, or well-defined enough to pursue) of naturalistic paganism, was to identify the aspects of it which appealed, and strip away all else, which, despite having jettisoned the myth and superstition of Wicca, still felt false, ceremonial, overwrought.

It’s entirely possible that my life as it currently is (not nestled happily in a cottage in the middle of the forest, living off the land),  has left me too disconnected from Nature to seek solace from her or attend to her needs as regularly as I should. At the same time, paying tribute to trees when so much of our world, human-occupied, is in chaos/flames, seems... disingenuous.

Which is the long way of saying I have taken my time in coming to the decision to begin practising Secular Buddhism, in place of any further efforts towards Naturalistic Paganism.

You, dear readers, if you’re still reading, are being treated to this revelation/decision because the nature of Tumblr accounts has designated this particular out-of-date blog as my ‘main’, which makes deleting it is problematic. 

A complete renovation, is thus the only solution.

Renovation is a good word for all aspects of my life at the moment, and social media is not a realm that should be spared from a similar reevaluation and brisk tidy.

This generation calls it minimalism, essentialism, the simple life. In Secular Buddhist terms, I would refer to it as a renunciation, letting go. 

While  a number (oh, yes, many, plural!) of atrophied side/sub blogs have now been downloaded and deleted, there are a precious few I’d like to maintain, and that requires that I not delete this main blog and start afresh, as tempting as it is.

Instead, this writer will transition from a secular examination of the importance of nature, to a secular examination of Buddhist practice. I feel like the fact that I remain non-religious deserves emphasis. This is in the hope that such a declaration will indicate that I am not a hypocrite flitting from one belief structure to the next, but rather a knowledge seeker looking for an ethical code that will seamlessly encourage my ongoing growth as a human being. 

Other naturalistic pagans may simply decry me as having ‘done it wrong’, but I find in my time investigating first naturalistic paganism, than secular buddhism, that the latter provides a better guide for all aspects of life. Including, ecology and respect for all life.

Dharma Gaia : a harvest of essays in Buddhism and ecology is actually a book I haven’t read, but rather stumbled upon during related searches and found myself gaping at the title, allowing for this blog-refurbishment epiphany. I will be signing it out from my local university library (not in the public library’s collection) ASAP. Here’s hoping there’s some method of accessing it in your community as well. Perhaps I should leave that hope until after I’ve read it, to legitimately recommend it, but I’m already salivating at the serendipitous confluence of ideas presented in the title, I can’t really conceive of it as a disappointing read.

More than a random book title, however, is the idea present in many introductory texts on Secular Buddhism of Dependent Origination or Dependent Arising:

“The understanding that nothing has an independent, fixed existence but arises and ceases within an ever changing matrix of conditions.”

http://secularbuddhism.org/2013/05/06/the-four-noble-truths/

“Everything is interconnected. Everything affects everything else...No beings or phenomena exist independently of other beings and phenomena.”

https://www.thoughtco.com/dependent-origination-meaning-449723

For those of you who have been paying attention, this phrasing lends itself to a comparison with another proposed principle, separate from Buddhist thought, called the Gaia Hypothesis.

“The Gaia hypothesis also known as the Gaia theory or the Gaia principle, proposes that living organisms interact with their inorganic surroundings on Earth to form a synergistic and self-regulating, complex system that helps to maintain and perpetuate the conditions for life on the planet.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia_hypothesis

http://www.gaiatheory.org/overview/

Suffice it to say that Secular Buddhist principles have not, to my knowledge, experienced as intensive an examination or harsh a criticism as the Gaia Hypothesis. Which is to say, while I have a hard time accepting the Gaia principle wholeheartedly in the face of such eloquent resistance, I can appreciate that science is still working to understand all the ways in which the various occupants of this world are interconnected and how they (we) affect each other. From this standpoint, I can recognize the truth in the Buddhist principle of Dependent Origination. 

Moreover, I take away from the parallel concepts of Gaia and Dependent principles that ecosystems are not only crucial building blocks to sustaining life on Earth, but also important lessons that one can gain wisdom from wherever your eyes choose to rest in the natural world. 

The lessons to be gained from ecosystems, from the interconnectedness of all life on earth?  

1) All life systems being connected, affect each other, and thus prove the ever-changing nature of the world; this in turn supports the idea that clinging to a fixed state, a moment passed, a material object, is fruitless and causes needless suffering,which upon the realization of such, can be alleviated

2) Part of alleviating suffering is living a skillful, worthy existence, cultivating the right path, by, among other things, not killing, by respecting life.

When you’re part of the world of beings whose actions affect each other, it is not simply morally praiseworthy to practice compassion to your fellow beings, it becomes a senseless act to do them harm.

Buddhist entreaty to practice Harmlessness echoes my earlier encounter with the Wiccan ‘do no harm’. My veganism follows in these footsteps, yet predates my encounters with either system of thought.

Knowing in your bones that something is wrong, despite not having grown up with a religious dogma stating how you will be punished by a divine tough if you step out of line doesn’t so much sanction amoral action (I was fortunate to be raised by loving parents who instilled a sense of good in me, which allowed the compassionate ethos of veganism to flower years after I left home) as it does occasionally leave one adrift in attempting to make sense to others and yourself why you abstain from certain actions.

It’s not that I really feel the deep-seated need to explain myself to other people anymore (that phase ended in my twenties, thank goodness), but I think we can all use a little support in enhancing personal growth, strengthening moral fibre, clarifying ethical dilemmas. Having a set of logically sound principles, backed by a consideration for the natural world and free of religious pomp, provides me with the best way forward, improving my life in an eco-friendly, compassionate manner.  

And it doesn’t hurt that the Buddha purportedly found enlightenment while sitting under a tree.

One last delicious happenstance, without even looking for it? I found initial speculation on the intersection and contrast of the works of Ayn Rand, and Secular Buddhism while madly following rabbit holes of Secular Buddhism on the world wide web (don’t worry, most of my two months of reading has been published works by a variety of authors, so as to ensure I had other reliable sources to back whatever the ‘internet’ might have to say on the matter). 

https://lifeasahuman.com/2011/mind-spirit/spirituality-and-religion/buddhism-and-ayn-rand/

Why does this matter? Ayn Rand, among other incredible works, most notably Atlas Shrugged (the title itself is a pithy metaphor for renunciation if I ever heard one) is also the author of Anthem, a novella wherein the main female character ends the story with the name of Gaia (alt. spelling Gaea). And thus we come full circle in regards to the reinvention of this blog - as it was this intersection of Earth/Nature imagery and Rand’s philosophy that inspired the URL for this blog. Am I reaching to see kismet where there is only coincidence? Possibly. But it’s a poignant conclusion to today’s lesson of interconnectivity.

More Secular Buddhist discourse coming soon. I’m still very much a beginner with a lot of reading and thinking to do, so I’m certain to be speculating and reiterating in bulk for the next while. I recommend sticking around a while to determine whether the nature elements still arise in this blog with the frequency you were previously enjoying. If, however, this blog no longer meets your needs, no hard feelings.

Metta (loving-kindness)

Aaaa! I'm glad you're liking it and going through it, even though the internalized homophobia is a no-go for you <3