How Then Shall We Live ?

I’ve been catching up with a couple of people I haven’t come across before … writer and ex environmental activist Paul Kingsnorth, and mythologist and storyteller Martin Shaw.

Paul Kingsnorth has a very powerful and to me convincing take on the climate emergency- or rather how we are responding to the climate crisis. Essentially the responses are mostly not out of reverence for nature or the planet. They are a human centric response that is recognising the gravity of the situation, but aiming to deal with it in a way that enables us to continue our consumption driven way of living.

It’s a technological way of seeing things. We will, we must, progress in our expertise in devising new ways to enable the human race to enjoy life.

The argument goes – yes, It might mean defacing the countryside with solar farms, but it is all about saving the planet.

The question is – saving the planet for whom ? For the planet ? Or simply as the biggest project in selfishness ever ?

What is inconceivable to most of the human race is to work to consume less., travel less, use less power etc etc.

What is unthinkable is to plan for negative growth. At least for the richest communities.

But unless we do plan for negative growth we’re kidding ourselves if we think we can save the planet – at least, the planet as we know it.

As Paul Kingsnorth rightly says, everything is spiritual. What we need is not technological solutions, but spiritual solutions. (If solutions is the right word, which is probably isn’t)

Why would we expect that establishing outposts on Mars is going to work any better than the mess we have made of our home ?

How then shall we live ?

We need, as a race, to realise that we are not the centre of everything. But there’s a massive problem here, because for the most part, we live in a post God world where the only conversations we have are with ourselves. We’re not willing to engage in a serious conversation with the planet, or with our maker.

In people like Paul Kingsnorth and Martin Shaw, we have interesting signs of a serious grappling with this fundamental issue that everything is spiritual and until we accept that, we’re going nowhere.

Or rather, we’re going, just going.