Swimmers Wanted

First, the cars. They’ve got to go. Replace them with rickshaws, bicycles, flying saucers, or magic carpets – but for heaven’s sake get rid of the cars. Then we can start talking, and after that maybe we’ll get somewhere.

When one is presented with the grandiose task of saving the world, as we all have been since the beginning of time, it becomes rather important to have a firm grasp on the terra firma we inhabit. Because despite our personal beliefs and morals, we are all living polygamous lives, attached as much to the planet and each other as to any spouse or family member. And as a part of this human constellation I am constantly and continuously appalled by the beauty and grace of this doting earth, our collective and enduring life-partner.
There is something undoubtedly spiritual, and now thinking about it, undoubtedly Christian about this relationship between man and his surroundings. Earth as the savior of the human race, willing to suffer for our sins of folly as we dump, poison, maim, and rape her alive, reveling in our shallow and falsified sense of supremacy and control.
We are not an inherently evil people – the concept of evil itself has little use for the rational thinking, who, upon meditation will realize that its definition is so subjective as to effectively erase it from the fabric of reality. Yet individually we possess the power to stifle good, and collectively we can stifle it almost entirely if we please, leaving the world dirty, dark, and barren, scattered with the remains of a society and a species that long ago had a glimpse at something spectacular but moved along too quickly to realize it.
This is where the Christian mythology breaks down. If we miss our opportunity, as Judas missed his, to allow good to flourish, the result will not be salvation and eternal forgiveness, it will be extinction. The serpent will cease to be a necessary spur for the development of an otherworld paradise and will simply remain a serpent, most likely slithering around on earth long after our grand stupidity condemned us to an early grave. This realization is cause for both desperation and rejoice.
When we think and talk about the greatest accomplishments of human history, we mention agriculture, the steam engine, space travel. We fail to realize that our single greatest talent, responsible for all things we’ve ever accomplished, is our ability to self-realize; that is, to actively recognize the fact that we are human beings living in an environment that includes more than our own simple existence. It from this impetus that we realize the need for food, shelter, and water, from this impetus that we realize our physical limitations and take steps to protect them, from this impetus that we create massive structures and otherworldly technology. And it is from this simple impetus that we can realize our own collectively irresponsible behavior and take steps to reverse it, saving Judas from the Pharisees, as it were. That alone is reason for supreme hope.
So I will start by swimming against the current in an effort not to break away but to drag the whole school with me, interconnected as we all are. If a few turn around and start swimming, a few more must follow, and a few more, a few more, until the whole gamut sprints into the arms of that most faithful spouse I know, the one who provides for us in times of need and times of plenty, in times of sickness and health, and the one who, in death, will ultimately and unconditionally receive us.