In 1968 Philosopher and scholar Seyyed Hossein Nasr addressed first in a series of lectures at the University of Chicago which was then collected and published into a book “Man And Nature: The Spiritual Crisis in Modern Men”. When asked to write about World Earth Day I thought I would discuss briefly what Professor Nasr spoke about, Graham Hancock and the Hermetic Eda and our beautiful little planet and to do so with truth. But to do so adequately I have to accompany it with a story.
So I am driving home to see my mum, I’ve been sick and tired for a little while and nothing is as monotonous as the N1. I always hate the drive because of the tedium but mostly because of the roadkill. There is always roadkill due to the heavy traffic those arterial roads see and also because of how bountiful and beautiful South Africa is. A lot of animals cross the roads. From dogs and cats, to cows, buck, birds. To honour the dead, we always stop and move the bodies - if it isn’t a complete mess. While we are driving my mum spots a Jackal Buzzard lying on the road. Both of us sigh, she pulls over and I jump out to move him out the way. But as I get close to him I see his head move, I realise as I dart through traffic, that this beautiful bird was alive. I took off my coat and as carefully as I could picked him up and got off the highway. We immediately took off to the vet who wasn’t far away. I wasn’t sure if the bird was alive or dead but I held him in my arms as we rushed.
As we drove in the car I tried to open the bird's eyes and see if he was alive, his pupils moved away from the light and in my worry, I couldn’t tell. So I closed my eyes and I whispered words that could comfort my soul and in turn, I hope, could comfort his.
In Man and Nature Seyyed Hossein Nasr addresses the state of the Western world at the time and what he thought was the driving force behind the relationship between human beings and nature. He superbly describes our need to dominate, control and subjugate our environment, as well as the loss of sacred alchemy to a more clinical science and while I only summarise what this brilliant man says so well - what Professor Nasr starts to establish is that at the turn of the 19th century, humanity as a whole began to enter a modern world and in that world: industry, economics and success overruled naturalism, emotional consciousness and community. This is what would become the building blocks for where we are right now. That by seeking dominion over Earth we lost our connection to it. Where once stood a mountain revered, now stood mountains dominated. A small difference, but one once made, once empowered, Industry and Progress coupled with the power of the Western man and the cosiness of our lack of traditions, could only get stronger and stronger. And it did. With technology changing the face of the planet and the way in which we saw the planet. The way in which we SEE the planet. But most importantly, what we can see for the planet. And it isn’t good.
Professor Nasr proposes that in losing our spiritualism, our sacred practices, we started to lose our attention as stewards of the planet and oh how we have done so. The soot and tears of our neglect scar our generations as we the individual recognise the injustice of the problems facing our earth but we the vox populi just refuse to accept that there is anything horrifically wrong. As if like a child or a scared bird, if we just close our eyes to it, it will just Go Away. I know it’s bitter and I know so many conservationists are bitter ranting people, but it’s really hard not to be. We have burnt and maimed the Amazon beyond recognition but we shop, stream and order on Amazon? Is that not the most outrageous paradox?
No.
It isn’t.
Because as humans it’s just one of so MANY. We’ve mined into the Arctic to gain combat advantage over one another: which will increase the alarming rate the Arctic is decaying, ironically at the same time as people are preparing to shoot each other, scared conservatives who do not want to see a dying world will REFUSE climate change while hiding under the table from that months Super Storm or Hurricane Gertrude all the while blaming something else. Someone else. Angry white men will shout at other angrier white men on TV and everyone will carry on stop believing the news. Because that’s easier and as humans, we love convenience. The war will make more scared people more scared. Gas prices will continue to increase. Food prices will inflate. More people will flee their countries in the hopes of the open arms and safety of others yet in other countries there will be other people who are scared of immigrants which will make THEM scared creating more scared people. More stress and more pressure will be applied and millennially another straw will be added to the proverbial camels back, while we shudder hoping it’s not that final straw.
Now I won’t preach on religion, to each their own, but I urge each person I meet to find a path that helps them find their way. Find the most important words to say. Say them.
As we raced in the car to the vet, holding this bird, I prayed. Not for the first time, or for the last. Not to Jesus or Shiva or Allah. I don’t have to say, my Gods are deeply personal and intimate to me and I treasure my connection to the sacred divine. As we waited I prayed more, in my way, saying my most important words. Again and again. Finding strength.
Because we face the most pivotal time of our lives. I propose we will soon face a time of judgement like the world has ever seen, be it biblical nor of our history of judgement. Graham Hancock reads the Hermes Trismegistus which is a prophecy by the Egyptian god Thoth or Greek Hermes. In which he accounts to companion Acclepius, a vision of Egypt, which we will use as a comparison for the greater world.
“Do you not know, Asclepius, that Egypt is an image of heaven, or, to speak more exactly, in Egypt all the operations of the powers which rule and work in heaven are present in the earth below?
In fact, it should be said that the whole Cosmos dwells in this our land as in its sanctuary. And yet, since it is fitting that wise men should have knowledge of all events
before they come to pass, you must not be left in ignorance of what I will now tell you: there will come a time when it will have been in vain that Egyptians have honoured the God head with heartfelt piety and service; and all our holy worship will be fruitless and ineffectual. The gods will return from earth to heaven.
O Egypt, Egypt, of thy religion nothing will remain but an empty tale, which thine own children in time to come will not believe; nothing will be left but graven words, and only the stones will tell of thy piety. And on that day men will be weary of life, and they will cease to think the universe worthy of reverent wonder and of worship. They will no longer love this world around us, this incomparable work of God, this glorious structure which he has built, this sum of good made up of many diverse forms, this instrument whereby the will of God operates in that which be has made, ungrudgingly favouring man’s welfare, this combination and accumulation of all the manifold things that call forth the veneration, praise, and love of the beholder.
Darkness will be preferred to light, and death will be thought more profitable than life; no one will raise his eyes to heaven; the pious will be deemed insane, and the impious wise; the madman will be thought a brave man, and the wicked will be esteemed as good. As for the soul, and the belief that it is immortal by nature, or may hope to attain immortality, as I have taught you, all this they will mock and will even persuade themselves that it is false. No word of reverence or piety, no utterance worthy of heaven will be heard or believed.
And so, the gods will depart from mankind, a grievous thing!, and only evil angels will remain, who will mingle with men, and drive the poor wretches into all manner of reckless crime, into wars, and robberies, and frauds, and all things hostile to the nature of the soul. Then the earth will tremble and the sea will bear no ships; heaven will not support the stars in their orbits, all voices of the gods will be forced into silence; the fruits of the earth will rot; the soil will turn barren, and the very air will sicken with sullen stagnation. All things will be disordered and awry; all good will disappear.
But when all this has befallen, Asclepius, then God the creator of all things, will look on that which has come to pass, and will stop the disorder by the counterforce of his will, which is the good. He will call back to the right path those who have gone astray; he will cleanse the world of evil, washing it away with floods, burning it out with fiercest fire, and expelling it by war and pestilence. And thus he will bring back his world to its former aspect, so that the Cosmos will once more be deemed worthy of worship and wondering reverence, and God, the maker and maintainer of the mighty fabric, will be adored by the men of that day with continuous songs of praise and blessing.
Such is the new birth of the Cosmos; it is a making again of all things good, a holy and awe-inspiring restoration of all nature; and it is wrought inside the process of time by the eternal will of the creator.”
TL;DR This was a prophecy which draws on wisdom which is more than 4500 years old - you can see Roman and later Neo-Christian similar themes of end/days tales in particular the Book of Genesis
While all of us struggle to find our place in this world, today on Earth Day, know your place is exactly where you are. That right now, as you read this, you are capable of bright and brilliant things.
That Jackal Buzzard from the beginning? He recovered at the vet and was released fine. Birds will keep their eyes closed if scared and pretend that whatever’s scaring them is not there. He just lay still until someone could come to the rescue. If someone could come to the rescue.
We are not birds. We are emotional, powerful, critical thinking individual cells of a greater, incredible organism. We are never powerless. We exude power. We topple nations and dictators in the name of freedom. Now we need to do the same but in the name of healing. In the name of peace. In the name of the Earth.
From the moment that we are born till the second we die we take from this planet. We breathe her air, drink her water, eat her food and as such it becomes our responsibility to those that come after and to the Earth herself that we take care of every aspect. Celebrate this planet. Take care of it. Fight for it because it’s worth fighting for.
Don’t keep your eyes closed any longer. Celebrate today as Earth Day but celebrate everyday as Earth Day. Every beautiful sunset. Every majestic day. This is your planet. Be proud.
I know I am.
Comments