Weather and Human Nature...Not So Different Really
Mon Mar 31, 2008 12:35 pm
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"Change is certain. Peace is followed by disturbances; departure of evil men by their return. Such recurrences should not constitute occasions for sadness but realities for awareness, so that one may be happy in the interim."
-- I Ching |
As you may have read elsewhere my career has been in the meteorology field, and over the years I have come to realize just how many correlations there are between weather and human nature. It's been a while since I talked about this, so...
Recently I talked about a blog post (by a fellow UU) which basically advanced the notion that war is inevitable...that it's a basic human need. I subsequently responded that I thought this was erroneous, and that it may be simply a way to absolve us from doing the sufficient deep thinking and acting on the matter to make it somewhat less "basic."
To be fair, however, I must agree that some degree of instability is itself a basic part of our human nature, along with a perceived urge to respond to it in some manner. Instability is a given, from unequal justice to unequal economic status, etc., etc., and we're constantly faced with how we're going to deal and cope with it (both individually and collectively). So, in a sense, that blogger was correct...that instability is indeed a part of human nature, although I would argue that the story doesn't stop there--that how we choose to respond to this inevitable instability and conflict is (at least to some extent) up to us.
A co-worker at the weather office recently related to me a conversation with a friend in which the question arose about "why is the weather so unstable these days? Is it a sign of something?" My co-worker and I both agreed that instability is really the norm in weather...always has been, and always will be: It's really just a constant effort by the atmosphere to respond to inequalities of pressure, temperature, moisture, etc...a never-ending dance of both necessity and futility. Sometimes the equalization effort is relatively tame, but at other times it can be quite violent. Sure, there are periods of relative stability, but they never last very long. Flow and change are about the most basic characteristic we can know about the universe. In weather (and elsewhere), nature utterly abhors stability so much that it quickly injects new instability into the mix--and the dynamic "process of responding" to the new equalities starts all over again. Nature is built around the inevitability of flow and change, and if there's any "norm" to be found within it, we can discover it in the constant efforts within nature to try respond to it. In the weather, it can be seen in the constant interplay between high and low pressure; between cold and warm air; between convergence and divergence; confluence and diffluence; between the urge for order (cosmos) and the inevitability of chaos,
We human beings have the same cosmic DNA within us as well: We're constantly trying to respond to (and cope with) an ever-changing environment (both human and otherwise). We possess the same tendencies -- of "self-assertiveness" (ego, or diffluence) and "integrativeness" (relationship, or confluence)-- that are found in the weather patterns. Our lives are a constant dance between the two...our yins and yangs...trying to respond and cope with inequalities and instabilities between the two. And, just when we think we've gotten it about right--in relative instability (like in the dogmas of our religions)--along comes something to upset the balance once again. Our lives are an interplay between cosmos and chaos. We structure what we think is ultimately true about the universe, only to be thrown one new curve after another by nature. After all, no matter how hard we may try to "capture" Truth in a bottle, and "possess" real power, flow and change always seem to have the upper hand. Try as we may, the effort to eliminate instability for once and for all time will end in futility. The best we can do is adopt a response to the universe that includes that realization, that appreciation for flow and change as a basic.
I've stated a number of times how I believe that this thing we call "democracy" comes about as close as anything we humans have yet devised to embrace both the cosmos and the chaos, both the individual and the community, both our diversity and our commonality. Other ways of living may appear more stable, but alas nature has other ideas. By innoculating ourselves with some degree of instability, with accommodations for change and flow...for diversity of thought (respectful clash of opinions) and flexibility to deal with unforeseen situations and to resolve conflicts before they devour us, we are able to cope in ways that a rigid, authoritarian society cannot. It's not a perfect system, but it's perhaps the most perfect system that's likely to be available to us, as we prepare ourselves to deal as best we can with yet more changes and yet more instability.
And...so it is with liberal religion, a mode of faith in which cosmos and chaos, unity and diversity--stability and change-- are expected--even embraced as normal and perfectly natural. Accommodations for both personal uniqueness and ultimate connectedness--both free agency and cooperation, both our yins and yangs, our self-assertive and integrative tendencies--are hardwired into the very DNA of our liberal approach to religion.
Can we stop all war...all human conflict? Of course not, but we can--with great effort, intelligence and sacrifice--mitigate its causes and we can expose it for what it is, and we can put a saddle upon its back and ride it until it falls from exhaustion. Still, nature will bring us yet more instability (of one form or another). The rains and storms will come again. They always do. A mature faith, however--one in which change and flow are incorporated into its very core--will be ready for them...ready to accommodate and cope with them yet again.
We UU's will never enjoy the kind of "stability" of the more tightly-structured, more dogma-driven, more authoritarian faiths, but (at our best) what we do have has a kind of authenticity that resonates throughout nature, and (when done well) is the kind of "ongoing reform-oriented" religious movement which can effectively respond to many of those instabilities and inequalities of human society--without any naive expectation of ever being fully victorious over them. We'll be "wrestling our dragons" as long as we live, at which time the charge will only be passed along to new generations of reform-oriented, free-thinking religious liberals -- who will wrestle with new generations of dragons. And so it goes...
At least that's my general take on it: I'd love to hear yours as well!
Ron
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