Thought for the day - Homo sapiens responsibility for Gaia

"As we move into a geological era of the planet earth some have called the anthropocene, a geological era in which homo sapiens will determine the evolution of Gaia's development, we need to raise our consciousnesses so we can not only make wise choices, but change our patterns of living on earth to be respectful of the interdependent dynamics that maintain and promote good health and well being for all species."

David Markham, 07/15/14, UU A Way Of Life

Co-creating with God the future of the planet

Dellarobia, Cub, Hester, Bear, and Bear's friend, Norm are still up on the mountain taking in the marvel of the butterfly roost in the trees intended for logging.    

     Bear exhaled a hiss of doubt. "What if they don't fly off?"
     "I don't know." Cub still held onto Dellarobia by the shoulders. "Y'all just need to see the Lord's hand in this and trust in His bidding. Like she said."

At the end of this chapter, Chapter 2, there is quite a moving passage:

     Hester's eyes dropped from her son's face to Dellarobia's, and what could possibly happen next, she had no idea. For years she'd couched on a corner of this farm without really treading into Turnbow family territory, and now here she stood, dead in its center. She felt vaguely like a hostage in her husband's grip, as if police megaphones might come out and the bullets would fly. Looking down at her feet made her dizzy, because butterfly shadows rolling like pebbles along the floor of a fast stream. The illusion of current knocked her off balance. She raised her eyes to the sky instead, and that made the others look up too, irresistibly led, even Bear. Together they saw light streaming through glowing wings. Like embers, she thought, a flood of fire, the warmth they had craved so long. She felt her breathing rupture again into laughter or sobbing in her chest, sharp, vocal exhalations she couldn't contain. The sounds coming out of her veered toward craziness.
     The two older men stepped back as if she'd slapped them.
     "Lord almighty, the girl is receiving grace," said Hester, and Dellarobia could not contradict her.p. 56-57

It seems not only Dellarobia, but they all are receiving grace as they wonder and marvel at the phenomenon of Mother Nature and must confront the choices involved in competing with other species for the scarce resources that all these species need for survival on this planet.

Humans, because of their consciousness and power of free will, have a greater responsibility for caring for the environment of the planet than other creatures. God has given us humans, the god like power to create or destroy. Cub tells his father, Bear, that they should trust in God's bidding, and not egotistically just destroy the habitat of another species for their own personal gain, money.

As we move into a geological era of the planet earth some have called the anthropocene, a geological era in which homo sapiens will determine the evolution of Gaia's development, we need to raise our consciousnesses so we can not only make wise choices, but change our patterns of living on earth to be respectful of the interdependent dynamics that maintain and promote good health and well being for all species.

The "grace" that has befallen Dellarobia and the others is the dawning awareness of a huge responsibility and partnership with God for the well being of God's creation. In their little corner of the world, on their mountain, will they be up to the task? Are we, in our own little corners of the world, up to the task?

Thought for the day - Is there a better way to do justice?

However, as we have learned increasingly over the last 25 years, there is a better way to do justice and the term that has been applied to this way is "restorative justice." 

David Markham, UU A Way Of Life, 07/14/14

Retributive or restorative justice?

The King's justice, retributive justice, not only often misses the mark, it becomes criminal in and of itself because of the injustices it perpetrates against offenders, victims, and the community it professes to serve. The criminal justice system is very self serving and serves primarily the requirements and expectations of the primary stakeholders in the system itself, the judge, district attorney, defense attorneys and politicians who have a stake in the results the system produces. Because of these special interests the motivation and intention is to win in what has been set up as an adversarial contest, not to determine the truth or repair broken and injured relationships.

However, as we have learned increasingly over the last 25 years, there is a better way to do justice and the term that has been applied to this way is "restorative justice." The purpose of restorative justice practices is to determine what the harm that was done, and how best to repair the harm. The primary stakeholders in the restorative justice system are the victim, the offender, and the community. Crime is defined, not as a disturbance to the King's peace and civil rule, but rather as a violation of reciprocity of relationships through the harm that was done. The perpetration of this harm generates obligations to the offender, victim, and the community to put things right, to repair the harm.

Howard Zehr in his book, "The Little Book Of Restorative Justice", points out four key factors in the difference between a retributive and a restorative criminal justice system. First, the retributive criminal justice system defines crime as a violation of the law and an offense against the state while in the restorative justice system crime is defined as a violation of people and relationships. Second, in the retributive criminal justice system the purpose is to determine guilt and to punish while in the restorative justice system the purpose is to determine the nature and extent of the harm and to ascertain the obligations for repairing the harm and restoring right relationship. Third, in the retributive criminal justice system justice is defined as placing blame, determining guilt, and imposing pain (vengeance) while in the restorative justice system, justice is defined as involving the victim, the offender, and the community to determine harm and developing a plan to put things right by repairing the harm. Fourth, the central focus of the retributive criminal justice system is assuring that offenders are punished, and the focus of the restorative justice system is to address victim and community needs by holding offenders accountable for repairing the harm they have caused.

The second principle of Unitarian Univeralism is to affirm and promote justice, equity and compassion in human relations. It gives no clues or instructions on how to do this. "The devil is in the details" as the slogan goes. It sounds good in theory, but what does it look like when the rubber hits the road as they say. As I have gotten more involved in a prison ministry mentoring men in jail, and working in prisons and jails, it has become very apparent to me that our criminal justice system is criminal and creates many unintended negative consequences. Recidivism rates, in general, because it changes if we consider subgroups instead of the general population, is 65%. In other words, two thirds of the people we incarcerate in our society will return to prison after their release. Is it because they are bad people, or because our system is broken and doesn't work? I know of no other business or service organization that could survive and succeed with a two thirds failure rate. However, too few Americans question the failing system which we support with our tax dollars.

Jesus and many of his apostles were incarcerated and executed in the early days of the Christian church. Jesus seems to have understood the injustice in the retributive criminal justice system. He cleverly convinced the pharisees not to execute the adulterous women even though she was guilty under the law. Jesus was very much into healing and restoring broken relationships and His concern was always for the person not for the State or the ruling class of the day. Jesus counter-intuitively said we should love our enemies not blame, assign guilt, and punish them. We humans have been very slow in learning the lesson that Jesus was trying to teach us over 2,000 years ago. His life and moral vision and spirituality were solidly based on justice, equity, and compassion, and while cultural Christians profess to believe in Him and His teachings, you can't tell it by the criminal justice system they have created and support in the United States of America.

Thought for the day - Saint or sinner or a little of both?

"And so is Dellarobia a sinner or a saint or like most of us, perhaps, a little of both?"

David Markham, UU A Way Of Life, 07/13/14

Saint of sinner? The Lord works in strange ways

Dellarobia has gone up on the mountain for a tryst with her lover in a hunting shack when she first saw the Monarch butterflies, King Billies, as her mother-in-law Hester and Dellarobia's seven year old son, Preston, came to call them. When Cub announced to Dellarobia that his father, Bear, was planning to log the mountain for money to pay his taxes and balloon equipment loan, Dellarobia convinced Cub and he and his father should go up on the mountain to inventory the trees before signing the contract. Cub resisted saying it wasn't necessary, but Dellarobia finally shamed him into doing it so that he and his father had a clear understanding of what it was they were selling. Once Bear and Cub went up the mountain and saw the butterflies and returned to get Hester and Dellarobia and went up to see them again they were mystified. here is how Kingsolver describes the scene:

     "Mother, Dad, listen here. This is a miracle. She had a vision of this."
     Bear scowled, "The hell."
     "No, Dad, she did. She foretold it. After the shearing we were up talking in the barn, and she vowed and declared we had to come up here. That's why I kept telling you we should. She said there was something big up here in our backyard."
     Dellarobia felt the dread of her secrets. She recalled only her impatience, speaking to Cub in anger that night, telling him anything could be up here. Terrorists or blue trees."
     Hester peered into her face as if trying to read in bad light. "Why would he say that? That you foretold it."

A paragraph later Kingsolver writes:

     "Here's your vision. I see a meddling wife." Bear shook his head in weary disgust, a gesture that defined him, like the dog tags he still wore after everyone else had given up on his war. A large and mighty man among the triffling, that was Bear's drill. "You all need to get down off you high horses," he said."We're going to spray these things and go ahead. I've got some DDD saved back in the basement."

The DDD was illegal, of course, having been banned after Rachel' Carson's book, "Silent Spring," convinced congress they had to do something to protect the environment from such a toxic insecticide.

As they argue with Bear about the judiciousness of killing the butterflies with DDD, Cub finally says to Bear:

     "Listen, Dad. There's a reason for everything."
     "That's true, Bear," Hester said. "This could be the Lord's business."
     Cub seemed to flinch, turning to Dellarobia. "That's what she said. We should come and have a look, because it was the Lord's business."

And the plot thickens as they say. Dellarobia lets her husband and mother and father-in- law think that she has a vision inspired by the Lord about the butterflies. Little did anyone guess that she had actually seen them on her way to commit adultery. What some might judge the work of the devil has been flipped into the work of the Lord and instead of a sinner, Dellarobia, is perceived as something akin to a modern day saint having visions of the wholeness of the planet and the need to protect a species endangered by climate change.

The Lord does work in mysterious ways. Who would have thought that the Lord might have used what humans think of as sexual sin to protect the victims of environmental sin. Perhaps the god of Mother Nature is not the same god as the god of the old testament. Jesus let the adulterous woman go from the guilty verdict of those who would have executed her for her crime while those who destroy the fabric of Mother Nature knowingly and willing may be guilty of far greater crimes than ones of simple carnal lust. The harm that is done to Mother Nature and its negative consequences for the people who are victimized is far, far greater, than any harm done by indulging one's personal and private lust.

And so is Dellarobia a sinner or a saint or like most of us, perhaps, a little of both?

Free book on first principle for reflection and study

There is a limited number of handmade copies of "16 reflections on the first principle of Unitarian Universalism" available.

Many of these reflections appeared on the UU A Way of Life blog during the month of June 2014.

This special edition includes introductions to each reflection, and questions for consideration and discussion following each reflection.

This little book can be used for personal study and reflection or with a group. If you would like a hard copy, send me your name and address to davidgmarkham@gmail.com. If you would like a PDF file of the same little book, I can send it to you by return email as an attachment.