July 19, 2009 – I haven’t talked about the spiritual aspects of our relationship with the earth, which would give the impression that I regard these aspects as unimportant. Since this is not at all the case, it’s time to raise the subject. I’ll try to adhere to a spiritual approach, rather than a religious one. It would always be my hope that one’s religious beliefs throw a compassionate light on our living with and on the earth.
The earth has long been regarded as a maternal being, the matter/ mother from which we arise and who gives us birth. It would seem to be a very logical advance in reasoning to say that, just as we treat our own mothers with respect, we should treat our earth mother with respect. We treat our mothers with love and caring. In like manner must we treat the earth. We come full circle when it dawns on us that when we care for the earth, she cares for us in return. Just like our mothers.
If this is true, then the opposite must also be true. Individuals who have a fraught and contentious relationship with their mothers are more likely to treat them with disrespect and without love. While I fully realize that, where human beings are concerned, bad mothers are a distinct possibility, deserving of such treatment, it should be understood that, in the case of our earth mother, she is always loving, never harsh. She gives all, and is fully at our mercy. If this is not deserving of our love and respect, nothing is.
So: how do we help the CEO’s of oil companies to love their earth mother? Here is how I would do it.
First of all, it must be done one person at a time. Take him to a place that has no oil. A beautiful place. Tell him he may not bring his cell phone or Blackberry. Introduce him to the people who live in this place, so that he can learn about them. Camp outside. Introduce him to the wild inhabitants. Learn about him, and the way he looks at life. Tell him about yourself, and the way you look at life. Ask him about his spiritual beliefs. Tell him about yours. Introduce him to global warming facts. Do not argue with him. After a week, leave the beautiful place and attend a
roundtable discussion about global warming which you have arranged with some of the member scientists of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Stay for two days. Then go to Australia and talk with citizens who have been affected by the decade-long drought there. While you are there, stay with them. On the fourth day, sit down to a roundtable discussion with them. Begin by having the CEO tell of his experience in the beautiful place the two of you visited. Then discuss with Australians how global warming has affected them. The next day go home. Allow the CEO to go to work for a day to take care of any critical matters. For the next week, he will stay at home, reading about global warming. Check in on him periodically to discuss anything he may want to discuss. At the end of the week, convene an informal meeting at his home. Invite your own guests, allow him to select his. He will be the only speaker, and he will tell the attendee’s what he has learned during the previous three weeks. Then tell him that a meeting has been called at his company for a week from the day of the informal meeting, where he will announce how his company’s policies will change in order to care for the earth. Finally, tell him he will be making another three-week sojourn next year.
That’s my idea. How would you do it?
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