A 1 mm sliver of New Zealand Rimu wood backlit by an LED lightbulb.

an expanded creative writing assignment originally penned ~ March 1^st, 2018. 

April 27th EDIT:

This is a great listen. Joseph Pace is a Canuck.  This is an interview with one of the principals from the flick.  The film; The Game Changers , is scheduled to be released in movie theatres next month. It may also come to Netflix as there are tons of great food docs there. The Game Changers official trailer is a new, yet to be released doc on the world’s most dangerous myth — that meat is necessary for protein, strength and optimal health.

The current predilection for materialism, as separate from spirituality, dismissing out of hand the connection to All That There IS, seems a most appropriate fit for the subject matter of this essay stimulus. There’s nothing incorrect about a fixation on materialism.  Isn’t that what we are doing with words when we type to form sentences, thence paragraphs, yet all from thoughts or ideas which some say are things?  We do that also painting pictures with brush and canvas on easel; throwing clay on a potter’s wheel to make a vessel capable of holding a substance, or cutting down a precious tree to make some useful piece of furniture, such as a table. Our stories are indelibly linked through hidden connections to the matter of spirit. That’s no oxymoron either.

The actual irony as expressed by Alan Watts, is that I, the writer, am indeed a materialist in that I care deeply about matter.

It’s as if the move from the countryside to larger and larger urban areas of concentration, have worsened this disconnect to the natural world.  If that’s not upside down or inside out, I will need a shrink to show me where I have been led astray. We can now view the horrors of hurricanes, wildfires, volcanoes and earthquakes in real time on our screens, lodged in the comfort of our homes with surround sound all viewed in ultra high definition.  Frequently, the greatest emphasis is on property damage. We are separated from the actual experience when we partake in this manner.  Our knee-jerk reaction becomes one of feeling empathy for those souls who’ve become missing, injured or dead. Innocent civilian lives lost in wars of aggression for greed, are referred to as collateral damage. All of this quickly dissipates, when the next image of a recognized movie celebrity or tweet from the current POTUS monopolizes the screen.

A hover or flower fly, appears similar to a honey bee, yet can carry massive amounts of pollen.

21^st C humans have misplaced the essential meaning of the word sacred.  Yes, I’m well aware from my days with comparative religion 101, that the etymology of sacred means to consecrate or be made holy. The practical usage could be to understand that which is eternal, or that which never dies. The idea of transforming an idea, a material into something long-lived, or which can reinvigorate all future life, is useful during these existential times we populate. ALL is sacred; the animate, as well as that which humanity has termed inanimate!

It’s not as if those alive now could become the first civilization using advanced technology to go extinct. For those of us who study the new archaeology, this seems to have happened before and on more than one occasion. We can pull the sweater right side out and stand upright again on Earth, but only when we remember our connection to everything and everyone, not just family and friends.  Our forests here in Nova Scotia could be considered sacred for all the critters using trees for the shelter they provide, as home, not the legal ownership of a few, those benefitting from a quick cash settlement with a transport load of immature green logs, destined for some distant biomass or chip plant. Clearcutting has become a euphemism for deforestation.

The situation with E~air~th’s biosystems is looking particularly more dire with each passing year.  The climatologists who have devoted their lives and professional careers to this are unable to input the new streaming data into their algorithms fast enough while the new feedback loops take over behind the scenes. The neo-liberal economic mantra, this mania for growth, irrespective of the costs, is killing us all.

A negative space photographic assignment. No food up here on the painted wood siding 2 M above the ground, bud.

We, who remain alive, stand erect at the crossroad, not just for our human species, but, for all other species still extant here on mother Gaia.  If we can fix this, the solution must be in our nature. Is this not where we come from, as it abides within us? The problem is a great spiritual disconnect, which is qualitatively different to a pair of designer jeans, that has become twisted inside out, blowing upside down on a clothesline.

Father Thomas Berry,  PhD was a Catholic priest of the Passionist order, a cultural historian and an ecotheologian. Thomas, has been a heartfelt mentor for me for most of the past two decades.  His most memorable quotation is from The Great Story — the Bullfrog Films documentary of 2008: “The Universe, in particular, the planet Earth,  is a communion of subjects, not a collection of objects. If we don’t learn that, nothing’s gonna work.” “chuckle”.

The choice is simple: evolve or die.

A black spruce has left a ‘tailing’, but, not before it did a spectacular double 90° bend and only for our collective delectation. The magical mystery of nature at her serendipitous best.

I AM John Gabriel Ötvös aka jayöh.