To see a world in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour.
—William Blake
Long before there was even a single grain of sand.
Long before a wild flower ever bloomed.
Long before hands were shaped in all their exquisite humanness.
Long before time was measured in hours, years, or decades.
Long before creation itself, the ancient Greek mythologies tell us, there was only wild open emptiness.
Chaos was all that was.
Chaos, for the ancient Greeks, was different from what we might expect. Chaos, for the ancient Greeks, was a Goddess. Chaos was the beginning and the source of all. Chaos was both the emptiness before the big bang and the spark of cataclysmic explosion that was the big bang. Chaos was the first of the primeval Greek Gods to emerge at the beginning of the universe. Later, Christians would reinterpret the word “Chaos” to mean disorder or confusion. But they were wrong. Chaos, as used by the Greeks, was derived from the Proto-Indo-European root ghen, meaning “gape, be wide open.” Chaos meant an open space, a place of possibility and potential. Chaos literally meant a gap, where something could come alive.
But chaos wasn’t alone for long. It was Chaos herself that gave birth to Gaia, the Goddess Earth. To the Greeks, Gaia, the earth, wasn’t hard stone, cold dirt, and unanimated matter. Gaia was a fertile womb, a life-giving breast, a throbbing heartbeat, the living sustainer of all things. Gaia, the earth, was alive. Gaia was the great living mother of all.
In1586 the idea of “Mother Earth” first took root in the Renaissance-enlivened Western World. 1586 was the first time the term “Mother Earth” was recorded in the Oxford English Dictionary. A great, but now all-but-forgotten poet, author, patron-of-the-arts, and Renaissance woman by the name of Mary Sidney Herbert reportedly first coined the phrase in English. Mary Sidney Herbert was a contemporary of Queen Elizabeth I and William Shakespeare (in fact, Shakespeare dedicated the First Folio of his plays to Mary’s son Philip). Mary Herbert, the Duchess of Pembroke, was extraordinarily well educated, fluent in French, Italian, Latin and Greek. Her writing was read widely, and influenced a future generation of poets, including George Herbert and John Donne. It appears that it was Mary Sidney Herbert’s mastery of the Greek language that brought the Greek Gaia, Mother Earth, to the English-speaking world.(1)
But it wasn’t until the 1970’s that the Greek concept of a living Gaia, a living earth, returned to center stage. In 1979, Dr. James Lovelock, a controversial scientist and environmentalist published his seminal work: Gaia: A New Look At Life On Earth. The earth, Lovelock proposed, is an “intelligent and self-sustaining organism of which humanity is a component.”(2) “The Earth,” James Lovelock proposed, “behaves as if it were a super-organism, made up from all the living things and . . . their material environment.”(3) The earth, in other words, rather than being composed of living things, was itself a living being.
“The Gaia [Hypothesis] first began developing as pictures of earth returned . . . from spacecraft . . . For the first time it was possible to look back at a global collective self from outside that self.” (4) Seeing those complete images of planet earth was revelatory.
Dr. James Lovelock writes: “We now see that the air, the ocean and the soil are much more than a mere environment for life; they are a part of life itself. Thus the air is to life just as is the fur to a cat or the nest for a bird. Not living but something made by living things to protect against an otherwise hostile world.”
Lovelock continues: “The evidence gathered in support of Gaia is now considerable, but as is often the way of science, this is less important than is its use as a kind of looking glass for seeing the world differently, and which makes us ask new questions about the nature of life. If . . . ‘all creatures great and small,’ from bacteria to whales, [are] part of Gaia, then we are all of us potentially important to her wellbeing. When we eliminate one of these from Earth, we may have destroyed a part of ourselves, for we also are a part of Gaia.”
Lovelock concludes, saying: “There are as many possibilities for comfort as there are for dismay in contemplating the consequences of our membership in this great commonwealth of living things. It may be that one role we play is as the senses and nervous system for Gaia. Through our eyes she has for the first time seen her very fair face and in our minds become aware of herself.”
But what will Gaia—what will we—do with our awareness?
Some sixty-six years ago, when the Greatest Generation came of age in the Depression and World War II, Franklin Delano Roosevelt called for this nation to mobilize against the destructive evil of Despotism, Nazism and Fascism. At that same time, Franklin Delano Roosevelt also cried out against another evil, saying: "A nation that destroys its soils destroys itself. Forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people." Some sixty-six years ago, the Greatest Generation fought the war against one malignant form of human evil. But the human evil that was destroying Gaia went unchecked. But now, this generation, our generation, has the opportunity to step forward and report for duty.
As we heard a few weeks ago in our worship service honoring the World War II generation, it was only the wide scale decision to work together, sacrifice together, go without together, alter lifestyles and habits together, that allowed the United States and its Allies to mobilize its resources and triumph against human evil.
Today, the environmental threat we face is as deadly as the human threat the Greatest Generation faced. The future is again at stake. And it will only be a wide scale decision to work together, sacrifice together, go without together, and alter lifestyles and habits together that will allow us to mobilize and end the war that is being waged against us, against Gaia.
As Gaylord Nelson, the former governor of Wisconsin and the founder of Earth Day said: "The ultimate test of [humanity’s] conscience may be [our] willingness to sacrifice something today for future generations whose words of thanks will not be heard."
But the idea of sacrifice, so much a part of this country sixty and seventy years ago, seems almost quant in our consumer driven society, seems almost illogical in our capitalistic driven economy. In the late 1970s, President Jimmy Carter called the energy crisis the moral equivalent of World War III, saying: “We must mobilize not only our resources but our spirits as well. We can meet this crisis with determination, patriotism and common purpose -- as we have met so many crises in the two centuries of our history -- we can come out of it a stronger, prouder people than before.” Jimmy Carter was mocked and ridiculed for this call, and the subsequent Reagan administration reversed most of the efforts that Carter had urged.
So I ask? Where are the leaders who will force—yes force—us to adjust to changing times?
In my head I know I need to drastically change how and what I consume, and alter the footprint I leave behind. But, if I am honest, I am fairly unwilling to “go without” in order to do so. I want the “inconvenient truth” to be….well…convenient. Who will demand and inspire us to make massive sacrifices?
What are we willing to sacrifice to save the world; to what extent are we willing to sacrifice to save the world? Will we turn down our heat and turn off our lights? Will we stop running our water? Will be stop multiple trips in multiple cars, trucks, and SUVs that are not energy efficient? Will we end our rabid consumption, personified by the indulgence and waste of the holiday season we are entering? Will we develop alternative sources of energy? Will we leave behind our life of luxury and embrace a life of responsible austerity?
In 1989, L. Hunter Lovins and Amory B. Lovins wrote: "We face a future confronted only . . . by insurmountable opportunities. The many crises facing us should be seen . . . not as threats, but as chances to remake the future so it serves all beings."
I playfully titled this sermon: “Would Buddha Drive an SUV?”
But really, what Buddha would do doesn’t matter. What Jesus would do doesn’t matter? What Mohammed, or Mother Mary, or Mother Theresa would do doesn’t matter.
What matters is what we will do. What matters is what we will do without. What matters is if we will step forward, as our parents and grandparents once did, and become the next Great Generation. I find myself knowing I should, and find myself unwilling to do so, except in token ways.
Sixty-six years ago, Franklin Delano Roosevelt spoke words to a generation facing the Great Depression and a Great World War. But he was also speaking to us, today, as a prophet: “A nation, like a person, has a mind—a mind that must be kept informed and alert, that must know itself. There is a mysterious cycle in human events. To some generations much is given. Of other generations much is expected. This generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny.”
My friends, we have come full circle in the cycle. We, like the ancient Greek Myths, have entered a time of chaos. The years ahead can be a time of environmental chaos, worldwide disorder and confusion. Or, the years ahead can be Chaos in the best tradition of the ancient Greeks, a time of wide openness, a time of possibility and potential. Let us never forget that, for the ancient Greeks, Chaos literally meant a gap, a precious moment where something could come alive.
This present chaos can give birth, once again, to Gaia, to Mother Earth, to the living, breathing, life-sustaining, unified system and Mystery of all life.
As poet William Blake wrote so many years ago: This is our moment:
To see a world in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower,
(to) Hold infinity in the palm of our hand
And eternity in an hour.
May it be so. Blessed Be. Amen.
