Edward Hays ~ Author, Artist & Storyteller
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Childhood First Great Commandment

1/21/2015

 

Childhood First Great Commandment

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 Dear old and new friends,

     Religious scholar Dr. William Dinges has written, “Humans are deeply implicated in the massive ecological destruction we are seeing…we can’t continue to think and act as if we are ecologically segregated from the rest of creation.” I agree with him, and the issue is how do we respond to climate change, global warming or the pollution of the air, water and the earth? Typically we blame this crisis on pollution created by big industry, giant power plants and “other” car owners. But in our participatory interconnected universe there are no neutral observers; we are either co-creators or co-destroyers! Today it is important to remember that first great commandment of childhood, “You made the mess…you clean it up.” 

     The moon landing in 1969 radically changed our perception of our Planet Earth. When photographed from space we saw the Earth as a bluish-green globe devoid of border lines separating countries and peoples. It appeared as a living entity floating in space instead of an inert object of matter. Since 1984 quantum theologians have proposed we consider the world as God’s body! Now along with the Corpus Christi—the Body of Christ—we had to reverence the Corpus Dei—the Body of God, a sacramental reality to handle with holy care. 

     Ecology, once a scientific concern, must be seen today as a spiritual issue that requires we begin to live a new ethics of our morality. Quantum physics today proclaims what mystics in all religions have said when it teachers that at the microscopic level all creation, all life, is dynamically connected. The major sin of our time say quantum theologians is speciesism—the human assumption that we are the ultimate life form under God and are entitled to lord it over the rest of creation.  

     As individuals we feel powerless to heal our pollution-sick planet. The global size of the problem causes us to mown, “How can I, a lone individual, reverse the rapidly increasing shrinkage of the polar ice caps or clean up the pollution of our rivers? Even while feeling impotent, we have a moral, ethical and spiritual responsibility to be personally involved in correcting climate change and the pollution of the air, water and earth. To begin this holy work we need make an act of faith: we are not impotent. Because each personal action to rescue our planet, while appearing small and ineffective, is connected with countless millions of other such actions as part of a global web of ecological salvation. 

     You can begin this new vocation by acknowledging that each act of recycling is spiritual and sacramental. Each time you perform the simple act of turning off an unnecessary electric light, say “Amen” (aware we use this word to conclude prayers and sacred actions) to remind you that saving electricity is a spiritual prayer-action. Each time you pick up a piece a trash from the street or recycle a newspaper or plastic item, say “Amen.” By such holy actions of saving God’s Body we are saving our own for we and all the Earth are intimately united as one. 

     Be politically involved in the salvation of the Earth by voting for candidates who promise to promote strict ecological legislation. An example is the present proposed Keystone Pipeline XL project that is a potential ecological threat to our nation’s farm lands. A present crisis is the very process of fracking by which the oil is being extracted in the tar sands industry of Canada. It in itself is a massive polluter of air and land that cannot be supported by those who are seriously ecologically committed. Most important is praying daily for your beautiful and poisonously-polluted Earth, which really is praying for yourself!

Primal Calendar and Challenger

6/26/2013

 

Primal Calendar and Challenger

PictureFirst Quarter Moon (Photograph by Dr. Joe Daglen)
Dear old friends and new,

    The dates of Passover and Easter are determined by it as is the new year for Earth’s millions, it’s a deity, the mysterious mover of ocean tides, the muse of poets and lovers, the alleged cause of lunacy, the Great Lost and Found Department, it’s crescent shape with a star the symbol of Islam, the second day of the week bears its name and it is the focal point at every birthday party!

    This extremely important “it” is of course the Moon. It’s now shrunken some from the largest appearing full Moon of the year just a few nights ago. You are fortunate if you live where you can observe the various phases of Earth’s natural satellite. Since that awesome “first night” Earthlings have pondered its powers, told legends and spoke of it in holy scrolls whose Sanskrit and ancient Greek name “menas” means month. The great Greek philosopher Aristotle argued that the influence of the full moon caused insanity, as the brain was mostly water. His disciples are legion who rejecting scientific evidence still hold that the full moon causes mental ills, homicides, car accidents and suicides. So how did Earth acquire this influential largest natural satellite in the Solar System?

    The present theory is that 4.5 billion years ago when Earth was in its infancy a wandering giant asteroid the size of Mars crashed headlong into Earth! Instead of splitting Earth apart, it caused enormous chunks of earth to blast outward into space and fuse together to create the Moon. Its heavy pocked marked face of craters testifies to ages past bombardments by large asteroids. Tonight go out and look up and see the Moon as a migrant from Earth, since Apollo lunar rocks reveal the Moon and Earth share the same composition.

    The next time you lose anything, instead of praying to St. Anthony, the patron saint of lost things, ask the Man in the Moon! Legend holds that everything lost on Earth goes to the Moon—wasted time, broken vows, unfulfilled wishes and even car keys. At the next birthday party see as holy the round moon-shaped birthday cake. In ancient Greek tradition, it honors Artemis the Moon goddess and the cake’s small candles are symbols of those aflame in her honor in temples. You are guaranteed the favor of the Goddess by blowing out all of them in one breath.

    We see only one side or face of the Moon because of its synchronous rotation with Earth, which inspired the Mississippi River philosopher Mark Twain to say, “Everyone is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anyone!”

    Challenge: Is that true of you?


    Edward Hays


    Picture
    Haysian haphazard thoughts on the
    invisible and visible mysteries of life.

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