An Ecological Disaster: Polluting the Waters of Life

Posted by Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee on June 18, 2010

Recently we have been witnessing the worst ecological disaster in North America with the oil gushing from the depths of the Gulf. We have heard the anger of politicians, the fear of fishermen and others for their livelihood, and the futility of BP to stem this ecological disaster and stop the oil from polluting the shoreline and the sea. But have we been able to look beyond this tragic play of events to recognize the symbolic story that is being told? Can we learn what life is telling us before it is too late?

What is the deeper meaning of this disaster as the flow of oil meets the flow of water—as our ecological system is destroyed by our need or greed for oil? Symbolic consciousness is not just a tool to listen to our dreams. The signs that speak to us are in the outer as well as the inner world. Symbols tell us the deeper meaning of the images and events that unfold around us. Do we dare at this moment to look beneath the surface to what life is telling us, or do we just regard this event as another glitch in our material culture. The government’s response is to halt further deep sea drilling. And while BP tries to fix the leak and restore its image, it continues to invest heavily in the tar sands development in Alberta Canada, “the largest and most environmentally destructive endeavor of all time,” which has already devastated an area the size of England and Wales. But this appears safer than the sea, maybe because the devastation can be more contained, or is hidden in the far north.

But there is another story being told if we dare to look and listen —if we are awake to the symbolic meaning of life. One “resource,” oil,  is destroying another even more vital “resource,” water.

Water is the source of life. Something in our culture has turned against itself, and the technology that has caused this cannot save us.  The oil is still pouring. There is no quick and easy solution to the oil slicks washing up on the shore.

One of the ways to work with symbols is to hold these images in our consciousness and be present with them. In this way we allow life to speak to us in this ancient language, which has always been the language of life itself. This is the ancient wisdom of listening to life.

Traditional cultures knew this wisdom, just as they knew the wisdom of nature, plants and the seasons. They knew how to watch the weather and their sailors knew how to listen to the winds. They also knew how to read the book of life just as they knew how to listen to their dreams.

We have lost this essential wisdom, and now life is screaming at us,  crying to us, imploring us. Will we wait for the well to be capped and talk about financial recompense while the lawyers bring their lawsuits?  Will we once again “have the experience but miss the meaning?” Or before the clocks strikes 12 can we regain the wisdom of our ancestors and hold the real meaning of this experience and finally listen to life itself?

The difficulty is that there will be no easy answer, no quick fix.  The images that are speaking to us are too potent and too powerful. They are about the primal values of life itself. But if we dare to hold these images in our consciousness maybe we can make a step toward recognizing that life is a living being that can speak to us. Maybe we can return to a relationship to life that honors it as a sacred whole whose voice can be heard. Maybe we will not have to wait until the next disaster or the next before waking up to our real responsibility to life and the planet.

Of course it is a big step between watching the disaster on the news and recognizing that it is happening to each of us, just as through this crisis life is speaking to each of us. But when we see what our technology, our lifestyles, our values, have caused does it not touch the heart and soul of each of us? We are all responsible. And we need to return to the core of our humanity, to the sacred connection to life that is within each of us. We need to be attentive and listen.

This quality of awareness belongs to the ancient wisdom of the earth that was always known to our ancestors. And when the earth is crying out to us with such a potent image as it is now, is it not our duty to listen? Only when we hear what it is saying, not just in our minds but also in our souls, will we know how to respond.

If we are to reclaim a real relationship to life and to our planet,  we must listen to the real story that is being told. It is not just a story of a deep well disaster happening in the Gulf. It is about how our present civilization is causing the waters of life to be polluted and how at present we cannot stop it. And this disaster is taking place all around us and also in our own souls. Only if we listen to life will we know how to respond.

This blog post was originally published on huffingtonpost.com on June 8,  2010.

Comments (2)

• I so appreciate the challenge and the wisdom in these words, for there is no easy fix. As children, we want and demand that — somebody, anybody, fix this mess! As adults, we are invited to ‘sit with’, to enter a deeply place of sacred listening, to work with the tension of profound metaphor, to tolerate levels of discomfort, and to work in unprecedented ways with Life.
  While outrage is an appropriate response, as is grief, feeling these emotions is not the place to stop. I know in my bones that I came for just these times. Now, I ask myself, what am I to do in response to this and other ‘calls to arms’ I hear all around me? And the answer seems to come from a very quiet, deep part of my psyche. I can feel its truth because it is always aligned with beauty, with something potent and creative, and there is a surge of life within me accompanying the knowledge that rings with full-blooded truth. This is where I go, to my own depths, when I am faced with disaster and destruction… deeper into the well of Life. Thank you, Llewellyn.

  — Andrea Mathieson on June 29, 2010

• responding to Andres Mathieson
  I’m selecting out 2 quotes from Lewellyn
  ‘s blog
  L mentions the wisdom of traditional cultures, the critically questions of the day which require action, paying attention to the reality unfolding in front of us…

  This question, the question of how to generate an activism that comes from the depth is not simplistic as the two states are inherently opposed.
    What is it that the ‘successful’ ancient cultures knew that we don’t seem to know?  May me say it in slightly different words – and then ask one big question?  Sooo, in brief what traditional cultures often did was live a contemplative life… and by spirituality we mean this contemplation which is supported via our meditative work, and our methods of organization and activism, and so being mixed with meaning leading to unfoldment.
    The problem, how to combine activism and giving attention to an inner sense, is the very definition of contemplative unfoldment.
  In simple I see 3 key ideas reflected in Inayat Khan’s terminology “the Message’  and so the tradition of the messenger… the prophet.  who, these days is not so much like the old days when much of the prophetic work was accomplished by a key figure.. a Prophet, a Messenger to an age..  now it is up to us to combine this inner reflection of’ the message’ this numinous and an activism.
  1-  The source of “ the message” which unfolds the world aright is free to everyone, without training but training helps Training the ear, so to speak, should never be confused with the ability to hear… as any musician knows.  So, this ‘Message’ is the divine voice who speaks in nature as nature…. As John Muir said, just go to the mountains!! —- something has changed in the last couple of hundred years.. now we are each and everyone charged with the duty to speak with Nature-aflame, just as Moses did.
  2-  The ability to notice reality (which Lewellyn mentions in his blog) is the ability to conceive of one’s own story from the cosmic perspective and so your community, your planet, your beloved as ( a) being mixed with meaning. Even being able to conceive of your story is an interesting complex poetic challenge
  3-  There are two approaches at organization, and so to activism.  One is short term, immediate answers.  Eg. a light bulb isn’t burning therefore: check the switch, check plug, check the bulb, check the fuse..  fix it and go on with your day.  #2 is more poetic, more generative, more process than product (just seeing several hundred jog Picasso’s work you realize he wasn’t producing products but his activism was his very process) more interesting and challenging to who and what one thinks of themselves. So the second method is to step back from the immediate details while closely inspecting them (is also the process of science alla I. Kant)  and consider one’s more core constructs.. The “Message” gives these not only meaning (meaningfulness) but meaning creates being.. 
  4-  And on top of all that can you do this in a community of others doing the same??      Ahhh   now there is the real question

  In the old days I think the Gnostics used to pound upon the door of the beloved crying “let me in”  and now the Beloved is pounding on the door crying “let me out!”

  — Asha Kent on October 13, 2010

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