Our All-consuming Fire
Awareness in life, including our individual awareness of the reality in which we all share, is crucial for our survival and progression as a species.
Imagine yourself driving home and looking forward to the solace of your own little slice of respite, that peace that’s crucial to your sanity; but as you round the corner, an incinerating and smoky spectacle draws your attention to your very own home. Instinctively, your life flashes by you in an instant while you think about how inside that home there remains everything you’ve worked for along with many special life memories. In that moment, if you knew that there was at least one action that you could take that could save some or even all, what would you do?
It seems that there are many a fire burning throughout our shared reality: International and Party politics; societal and individual rights; conflicting religious and institutional values. Figuratively and quite literally, the world is essentially on fire.
One movie that I remember making an impact on my younger self was the ’92 film Medicine Man, starring Sean Connery and Lorraine Bracco. It’s a passionate tale of two doctors both caught in the trap of altruism, and one has lost himself in his quest to save the day for those with fatal prognoses: He is searching for the cure for cancer. However, before I continue, it’s important to understand that for those of us who are the thinking types, we tend to see everything in a pretentiously thematic perspective — -we think our “deeper” meaning is the better interpretation. We tend to be those obnoxious silhouettes in the theater whispering and gesturing back and forth, but the funny thing is that if you can observe or become aware of another layer of meaning by looking more closely, then you’ll almost always find something else there — because it’s there for you to find, AND you’ll find another perspective, which will always enrich your life with understanding and a greater capacity for truth.
As someone who likes to intellectually digest nearly everything (and use the internet as the greatest library there is), I can find at least two big themes from Medicine Man that involve the meaningful wealth of biodiversity in our rain forests as well as the reality of our culture driven by corporate greed. Aside from any “tree hugging” tendency that any of us may have, it’s a valid argument that the rain forest’s biodiversity could contain many if not all the naturally occurring compounds that could lead to cures, much like what the film characters find when guided by the tribe’s actual medicine man. What’s fascinating is that, in our reality, natural remedies from cultures across the world are evidence enough that nature holds so many answers and solutions to our ailments.
The other pretty loud warning from Medicine Man is that corporate greed has absolutely no interest in the well-being of the earth’s habitats and peoples, much like the characters find when the bulldozers plow down the trees that encroach upon a native people’s village. Just follow the money — right to the exploitation of a resource itself. And, although art usually imitates life, in this case, art in the form of a film has prophetically called out the future for us. Much like the film’s incidental wildfire originating from a controlled burn — all in efforts to clear land for cattle and livestock, so, too, is our very own, very real Amazon rain forest land burning in large part because somebody wants to make a lot of money while the majority of the local peoples also want to make whatever they can — just to survive. Plus, they would love to have some of the stuff we’ve got.
Anyone who’s flipped through a high school Earth Science textbook understands that a wildfire can be a naturally occurring thing. Even the fires that have burned in Asia, Alaska, Europe, Africa, and all over could arguably be related to our global weather patterns of drought and warmer temperatures. More arguable still is whether or not humanity’s widespread interactions with the ecosystem have impacted it in such a way as to cause lasting catastrophe (the so called and highly debated “Global Warming”). But before you begin throwing rocks at me (like so many have done to Ms. Greta Thunberg who recently addressed the UN regarding climate change), this fire is different. These fires are different. Yes, maybe they’re stoked by cyclical forces i.e. drought, higher temperatures, and seasonally high winds, but it’s pretty clear based on an overwhelming amount of eyewitness accounts, reports, visual media, and collected scientific data that WE as a species are responsible for the fires in the Amazon.
Personally, I’m that sort of person who needs to find and experience the good in nearly everything, or I lose the desire to function as a human being; so, I work really (really) hard at trying to maintain a positive outlook and mindset. But all this rain forest fire stuff, well, it’s pretty serious. Serious enough for some of us to feel like we need to stand in the road with a sign declaring “The End is Near” (while the torrent of others rages around us in search of more ways to spend money). It’s one of those existential things that we over-thinkers think means a whole lot about where we are going as a humanity in every way, both literally and symbolically. The fires mean something. The fires ARE something, and in some three-dimensional way, they are a part of our collective reality (and because we share the same livable space on a rock hurtling through space). While the fires forever sweep away unreplaceable habitat and biodiversity, our apathy and consumption continue to burn up what’s left of our garden.
Regardless of whether or not you think the Amazon rain forest is the one and only set of lungs the earth has (because even this idea is now being argued over political lines), the answers to these questions, at least for me, are very disconcerting.
Seriously. Ask yourself somethings of the sort: “What are ALL of the reasons that the Amazon is burning? Why should I care?” And for many, a life inundated with amenities reverts to the reasoning: “I mean, what good is a forest that’s so far away from me, anyway? And, if it’s burning, isn’t it safe that it’s far away and can’t impact me, my life, and my family? After all, I see plenty of trees around me here, and the earth is a big place. I can’t be worried about it. There’s nothing I can do about it, so why waste my time? I’ve got work and family and bills and money to make and spend.” This sounds a bit dramatic, but I’ve read enough journal entries that others have written that prove these to be real thoughts among many us.
So easily do we become hypnotized by the “stuff” in our lives and forget how we are a part of something much bigger than ourselves. We forget how we benefit from those we share our world with as well as the environment that nurtures us in every way, and instead of correcting our course that’s headed for that inevitable iceberg, we ignorantly stay the course thinking that we’re invincible, we’re unaffected by anything threatening that might need to be avoided. We remain in denial. Why? Because it’s more comfortable. It’s what we’re used to. It’s Easy. And it doesn’t hurt to not think about it, so why bother worrying about things like the burning rain forest if it doesn’t affect you now and there’s nothing you can do about it?
Humanity is capable of the most amazing feats along with the darkest of atrocities. Ok, so maybe aspects of the media argue that the heart of the Amazon isn’t burning — it’s only along the fringes, but we’ve all seen what happens to a piece of paper that catches fire. In the end, it’s consumed from edge to edge. It’s not just that the Amazon burns regularly and that these fires aren’t normal; it’s that they continue to increase, and our species continues to choose and desire to have BIGGER and MORE over a balance and a respect for life itself.
So, this becomes our grand ethical dilemma, and it’s one of many that pave the path to our collective destiny, which is yet to be determined. Do we care, or do we decide to adorn and entertain ourselves on the deck of the proverbial Titanic?
If you’ve ever watched any national public TV programming or even educational channels, I’m sure that at one point you became familiar with a British narrator easy to identify. Raspy but articulate and fascinating to follow, David Attenborough has for decades now taught us how to appreciate beauty in the natural world. And this beauty isn’t just found in the exotic appearance of a creature or the awe-inspiring view of a wholly natural landscape; much of the intrinsic beauty Attenborough draws our attention to is the appreciation for a naturally occurring ecological system that somehow follows a pattern and a balanced, natural order to things. Together with his childlike excitement, his educated perspective persuades us all to see the world for what it really is: Beautiful in its natural state of balanced ebb and flow and how we as human beings are not only very much tied to its ecosystems but also have so much to learn from it, as well. It’s one hell of a noble pursuit for Attenborough and others to bring awareness to our beautiful world in a society so enwrapped by its own materialistic apathy.
This is the alarm bell, my friends. I myself work very hard not to function from a daily apocalyptic mindset (one that is fed to us through media from every political and religious direction), but in this case, even the absurd argument that the trees will eventually grow back doesn’t work anymore. As for the rain forests being cleared, countless, even unknown species will vanish, including species of animal, plant, and everything in between that are not only keeping our earth’s ecosystems alive, but which also hold many of the keys to our future itself.
Like pretty much everything these days, this dilemma, too, is one pivotal and definitive moment for humanity. Will we collectively, consciously, and massively take notice of this all-consuming fire and what it means to us? For us? Will enough of us come to terms with what it means to grow together as a species?
Recall the burning house analogy from the beginning. Many experts say that this burning house, our global ecosystem, has passed a point of no return just like a house that’s become engulfed in flames. But even if that is true, even if once we’ve put out the fire and all we have is a charred foundation, I believe it’s humanity’s innate trait to use its collective creativity and ingenuity to pick up the pieces. The question is this: Should we wait until that point?
Next time your mind contemplates thoughts that process a collective reality (a future where there are a whole bunch of us having to share a whole lot) more closely, notice how your perceptions change. Think about how you feel when you’re eating a delicious cake and someone points out that it fell on the floor outside the restrooms. Or, what about that thirst-quenching beverage with a drowned insect floating around in it. Or, what about when you finally listen to the lyrics of a catchy tune that you no longer like because of the story it tells? For me, it seems like corporate, mass-produced red meat doesn’t taste like it used to. I can’t help it. It’s just what happens when the mind sees another more inclusive perspective. Obviously, this isn’t a pitch to go vegetarian, but it IS about seeing more of the bigger picture, and that picture includes ALL of us AND ALL the life that supports us, too.
Our desires for more will cost us everything, but only if we refuse to make ourselves aware of our collective TRUTH. And it’s out there. All it needs is you to find it, see it, and bring it to common grounds.
