<\/p>\n
The ongoing
\ntragedy in Japan offers a great deal for us to think about, from how we can
\nhelp to how such catastrophes can happen in a world where Spirit matters to
\nwhat it says about human beings’ ability to plan wisely.<\/p>\n
I will begin with HuffingtonPost (New news) Peter Dybing, First Office of<\/b> Covenant of the Goddess<\/b><\/a>, has <\/b>started a site<\/b><\/a> where Pagans can assist <\/b>Doctors Without Borders<\/b><\/a> in helping the Japanese. (Thanks Argante!)<\/b><\/p>\n How can such <\/p>\n Modern science While they have Often we are But there is no But this is only Across the world Hardship and There are other It offers a deep <\/span>This earthquake moved large islands and When we were <\/span>With the coming of agriculture we staked With the coming of industry we Wisdom rather Japan has taught
\nthe most important short run issue: how we can help. <\/span>It is easy to think we can do nothing given the magnitude of
\nthe disaster, and the possibility it may grow far worse with nuclear problems
\nadded to seismological ones. <\/span>This
\nis not true.<\/p>\n
\nhas a site where we can learn about how to help<\/a>. <\/span>I will be making my donations today and hope my readers will
\nas well. <\/span>Even $10 can help. <\/p>\n
\nthings happen in a good world? <\/span>For
\nI know this world is good as much as I know anything at all.<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\nincreasingly shows us that volcanoes, ice ages, massive storms, huge fires, and
\nyes, earthquakes, all contribute in important ways to making this world as
\nbeautiful and fertile as it is. <\/span>I
\nwould argue that a living world of duality, and of matter, has these
\ncharacteristics. <\/span><\/p>\n
\nled to great beauty they are also most unpleasant phenomena when we find
\nourselves in the midst of the creative destruction that leads to them. <\/span>If we are lucky. <\/span><\/p>\n
\nsimply killed. <\/span>Perhaps worse, we
\nsurvive and those close to us are killed.<\/p>\n
\nmalevolence here. <\/span>The world is
\ngoing about its business, and we sometimes find ourselves or others in unlucky positions
\nas it does,. <\/span>It is no more “evil”
\nor to be blamed than is a driver on a highway whose windshield is hit by a
\nsmall bird chancing to fly low at just the wrong time.<\/p>\n
\nthe first step in trying to gain a better spiritual understanding of this
\nhorrible event. <\/span>For it is
\nhorrible, and nothing I am writing denies the horror.<\/p>\n
\nmost people have found themselves actively sympathizing with, even identifying
\nwith, the Japanese people who are presently suffering so badly. <\/span>The American form of sociopathy we see
\nin the worship of Ayn Rand’s teachings is challenged at a level it cannot
\naddress: the heart. <\/span>We realize we
\nare all in this life together, and in the face of what the world can throw our
\nway no planning, no intelligence, no wisdom can provide us complete
\nsafety. <\/span>And when disaster strikes,
\nwe are best off if we have others on which to rely. <\/span><\/p>\n
\ndisaster reminds us we are not alone, whether as victims relying on the
\nkindness of strangers, or people whose hearts are opened by the suffering of
\nstrangers. <\/p>\n
\nlessons we can take from this disaster.<\/p>\n
\ncorrective to human pride. <\/span>Yes,
\nhuman creativity and energy have transformed the world, sometimes in very good
\nways. <\/span>But when this energy is
\ndominated by pride and a feeling of power. Such arrogance is brought particularly low when events
\ndemonstrate that even our greatest constructions are so much dust in the wind<\/a>. (Here is an <\/span>incredible Google image<\/a> of before and after images – you simply move the line separating the pictures back and forth to see what happened.) <\/span><\/p>\n
\nchanged the size of the earth itself. The latest research<\/a> has raised the quake’s rating to an almost unimaginable 9.0. Only four other quakes in recorded history have been of this size. Its focal zone of greatest impact was around 300 miles by 100 miles, and the destructive shifting lasted for more than five minutes. Wisdom never forgets that our greatest creations are vulnerable to being wiped out in a flash. <\/p>\n
\nhunters and gatherers, these kinds of disasters made comparatively little
\nimpact. <\/span>Our buildings were small
\nand portable, and we had few fixed investments vulnerable to a changing
\nworld. Tsunamis and the like were disasters for relatively few people.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nour lives on fixed plots, fixed buildings, fixed infrastructure, and so became
\nmore vulnerable to natural changes. It is perhaps ironic that we have possibly just discovered the ruins of Atlantis in a city apparently destroyed by a tsunami<\/a>, located pretty close to where Plato said it had been.<\/p>\n
\nhave gradually decreased our vulnerability to many of the changes that could
\nbring disaster to farming communities, but at the cost of becoming increasingly
\nvulnerable to other changes.
\n<\/span>There is a curious dialectic here: as our power to safeguard ourselves
\ngrows, we become more vulnerable to the really big disruptions. <\/span>California could lose most of its
\nagriculture overnight if a big quake wipes out levees, floods part of the
\ncentral valley, and destroys its irrigation network. <\/span>That will dramatically impact not only California, but the
\navailability of vegetables nation wide.<\/p>\n
\nthan pride is what human beings need if we are to use our creativity to truly
\nmake this world a even better place for people to live, and in Pagan terms this
\nwisdom takes the form of learning to live in harmony as much as we are able with
\nour earthly home and its cycles. <\/span><\/p>\n
\nus that human planning can in fact accomplish a great deal, for the destruction
\nwould be orders of magnitude worse if it had not been accompanied by stringent
\nbuilding standards. Despite the quake’s awesome strength, structural damage was light compared to what would have happened in less wisely regulated places. <\/span>In this respect
\nthe Japanese have been smart, and benefited greatly from their wisdom. Even
\nthough it reduced the profits to be made from rapid construction.<\/p>\n