The Great Hypocrisy
As I have set out to reestablish the purpose behind my blog behind the principles of Love, Life and Spirit, through Music; I have presented my reasoning behind my recent choice to lead a better life through earthly consumption. In Part 1 I explained that the love for my family is what sparked such a change. In Parts 2 & 3 I discuss life, through the perspective of America’s bastardization of food, in plant and animal life, respectively. Naturally, my concluding piece will render the spirituality of my new-found canon.
A few weeks ago my wife and I were sitting in the pew on a Sunday morning listening to the sermon from Dean Reed. Typically this would fall right in line with the lessons offered throughout the Eucharist, but on this day it was different. Due to an emergency, Dean Reed had to fill in for another member of the clergy at the last minute and was relying on a makeshift message. Apologizing as he began, for being unprepared and somewhat scattered, he spoke of a theme that came across shockingly relevant to my conviction.
Dean Reed addressed the current state of the American culture and how easy it is for people to get swept up in the conveniences of the world, relating this unfortunate societal shift to the daily life of the Christ-follower. He noted that the church has tried for too long to make the standard christian routine more suitable to the many lifestyles that make up the church; and that sometimes things that are deemed ‘convenient’ are not conducive to a healthy perspective on life. Setting out to do things ‘by the book’, and thus, with greater impact on your life, is not always the easiest route, but it is what is necessary to achieve the best life possible.
Surely, I thought, he was speaking directly to me. The connection between my spirituality and my food practices had just been made. Suddenly I could justify my unpopular opinions with my faith, and conversely, my faith would grow stronger and flourish by taking action, taking the road less traveled, and admonishing the conveniences that have all but destroyed our earth’s physical sanctity.
While on one hand I was beaming with optimism for realizing such a powerful relationship between my faith and food; I would quickly see the other side of the coin, and the uneasy questions started trickling into my mind like moths to a flame; which would turn into a conflagration that I have yet to extinguish. It was then that I realized that much of what I have described in this series often comes across as contradictory to the ideals that I have subscribed to for so long, for reasons I am still trying to uncover.
I was born with Aggie-maroon blood running through my veins, and was raised in the southern baptist church. Traditionally, these are two factors that generally lead to an ultra-conservative point of view; which I had for many years as I reached the age of cognitive reasoning in establishing which ‘side of the fence’ I should find myself.
I would eventually attend the university I had loved for so many years, but under the auspices of a great uncertainty with the direction of my life. I had no clue what I wanted to do, or what I believed in [other than my religion], or the emerging issues that I would be passionate about. I find this is the problem with our current education system; we do not ask our children to develop such a fire burning within, but that’s for a different time and place…
Don’t get me wrong, I am extremely proud to call myself an Aggie, for various reasons, but I reflect on this right-wing standard of living and almost immediately am stricken with heartache and confusion. Here’s why:
The conservative mindset doesn’t exactly yield itself to a set of principles that leads one to lean on the ideals set forth by such controversial and ‘liberal’ music figures such as Willie Nelson or Neil Young. By that I mean, everything I have put forward in my last two blog entries has seemed to exist under a highly guarded veil anchored by the political figures that are cemented in the conservative right. Also known as… the people that most southern baptists and Aggies are voting for and supporting. Mark this at the top of my list under things I do not even remotely understand.
In the Christian way of life, we use a term that is derived from a biblical passage in the book of Matthew, chapter 6, verse 11; more commonly referenced as a scripture known as the Lord’s Prayer. ‘Give us, this day, our daily bread’. This is a term which has been relied on heavily in the evangelical vernacular for hundreds of years. As it is written in the holy book, some form of this phrase is generally used to pray over meals before consumption. To that end, the term is often used in contemporary christian life as a descriptive title over a collection of daily lessons from the teachings of the Bible.
So lets look at the phrase in deeper meaning. ‘Our daily bread’ is not only a literal representation of the food that is required for the day, but also analogous to the sustenance required in all earthly forms for the existence of life.
By now you might see what I am getting at; the confluence of the church’s conservative nature to hold its values in close proximity does not align with that of the ‘liberal’ motive behind saving the very planet that our Creator has given us to sustain life. Why must I feel that my speaking my mind on the matter results in a label of being too ‘radical’ or ‘taboo’? Conversely, I am constantly asking myself how organized religion isn’t more engaged in fighting these evil soil-bound practices. THE PLANET THAT OUR GOD HAS GIVEN US IS BEING DESTROYED, WHERE IS THE CHURCH?
Time and time, again and again, Christians are asked to give thanks to the Lord for the blessings he bestows upon us. Why, then, are we a people that denies these blessings in their most ancient form? When is the last time you saw a religious edifice that extends the symbolic gesture of praise and thanks with a steeple, or bell tower, high into the heavens; only to accept the blessing of sunlight with solar panels adorning the roof-line below? Don’t often see that, do you? When is the last time you witnessed a church congregation cultivating a small plot of land that provides teaching opportunities to help educate its youngsters on the earth and the blessings that He has given us in the soil under our feet? Don’t see that as much either, huh?
As you think about this earth, and the fact that it is the only known living planet, in an entire universe, that is so perfectly placed to breed life; it is amazing to witness what is, for so many, a valued set of beliefs, turn away from the idea that it is a gift from the very God that is worshiped; and instead consent to the sacrilege that is destroying it.
Throughout this period in which I am constantly discovering and forming my own values, I have realized that I am more open-minded about spirituality than I have been in the past, as I believe is intended by the higher being. I am a God-fearing man; I’m not a stranger in the eyes of the Maker. That being said, I do not discriminate against a different religion with a familiar set of beliefs. It matters not what version of a story you subscribe to, so long as we share a common will that stands on a solid moral foundation.
When we first started out working for Pono, my colleagues and I came to the understanding that we would always set out to maintain the common ethos which we had all endorsed initially in our individual support for the company; an allegiance to the term as it is translated from the Hawaiian culture. This is something we have struggled with over the course of the last two years working for Neil Young’s brand, because of the idea that, if not kept in balance, we are taking advantage of a spiritually-dependent culture’s highest form of purity and power. We vowed to do things by ‘being pono’ [lowercase ‘p’] while helping to accomplish success for Pono [uppercase ‘P’]; by acting upon situations and decisions in a manner that is deemed morally in the right, no exceptions, under the persuasion that music exists as a universal language for all living organisms.
As mentioned in previous posts, the word is more closely transcribed into the English language as ‘righteous’, but we have come to discover that the term’s meaning goes well beyond that… something that the western world might not truly grasp. The spirituality of the native Hawaiian culture reaches depths beyond what some can comprehend. I’m not even sure that I will ever fully grasp its weight on one’s soul. The same is true with the belief systems of so many other native cultures. A common theme being that nature is the gift from a higher power in which we must value the most, something that I believe certain sects of Christianity tend to overlook or take for granted.
When I married my wife, and decisions about our family’s religious foothold were made, we ended up finding ourselves in the Episcopal church, which is familiar to her. At first I was completely estranged from what I had been raised to expect as a ‘normal routine’ on Sunday morning. Like any transition, this feeling would fade and I now feel at home in the church.
One of the things that I enjoy about the Catholic tradition is the credence of the saints’ teachings, which parallels very closely to other ancient religions and native beliefs that subscribe to multiple gods. The study of Saint Francis, or Francis of Assisi, teaches us that the world was created by God and suffers only from the folly of man; that we should protect the world as a human race while also respecting it as creatures ourselves. He is often deemed as the saint that watched over the animals as they are God’s creations.
The irony in this is that, before realizing the folly of our own eating habits, my wife and I, as animal lovers, had first discerned that our dogs’ diets were skewed by ingredients that were not natural to the canine’s primal instinct. Thus, we started buying them food made up of natural hormones and ingredients, and very quickly saw a noticeable difference in their physical behaviors.
I have always been moved by nature. I had always found the literary movement known as Transcendentalism strikes a chord with my soul as deeply as any religious teaching. The principle of said movement revolves around the notion that man communicates with God, and vice versa, through nature. One cannot be understood without the other. A triad in understanding life. This precedent was set by authors like Walt Whitman and Henry David Thoreau, whom found religion even in the beauty of the working ant on Walden Pond in his experiment on simple living. It is an idea that I had also found in contemporary pieces such as John Eldredge’s ‘Wild At Heart’.
To me, nature is religion. The outdoors a church. The choir, singing birds, with accompaniment from babbling brooks. I have to believe that, if more people felt this way, then a more conscious effort of earth’s conservation would exist. America would hold itself accountable for its part in accelerating the process that leads to the death of this earth, the oldest living organism. Monsanto would be supplanted and rendered powerless. CAFOs would no longer exist. An effort to fight hunger through a means of educating the masses in natural growth would arise. Plunder would make way for praise, and the earth, in its rejuvenated state, would respect us in return, rewarding our efforts with flourished life.
As mentioned in Part 2, the introduction of poisons into our soil is changing the landscape through the more rapidly evolving life forms. Weeds are growing despite the herbicides we use to fight them. Insects have adapted to survive even though we spread layers of pesticides to combat them. These are all evolutionary changes to various species that are fighting to survive. The indirect affects of these practices are still relative unknowns as they relate to the human species. The human timeline will soon intersect, gradually reaching a point where the majority of the living population will have been born and raised under the storm cloud named Monsanto; eating foods from birth and into death that are unnatural, according to the human race’s own evolution.
Research suggests, and many researchers maintain, that the toll this epidemic has taken on the human body is already evident; rising numbers in cancer cases, children with autism, et cetera. What will the tipping point look like then, when we finally reach the dregs of the wide net cast by these genetically modified organisms? What will death look like for us? An average life span of 30 years? Perhaps even, a longer span of life hampered by rampant diseases that become common throughout the entire world’s population because we’ve raised countless generations on lab-created diets.
“Evolution…” you might be thinking, “I thought this was a diatribe in spirituality?”
No, these ideas are not typically uttered in the same vein to argue a point, but I do believe that evolution plays an important role as well. Without getting too invested in it, I simply believe that mankind is a manifestation, and by great design, of God’s creation of all living things, realizing fully well that the human race would be a result of said creation.
This is why I don’t find that vegetarianism is the key to making a change. There is no denying that the animals we consume are a major issue for me, as is raised in Part 3. I cannot wait for the day that the phrase we use as a descriptor to abusive human interaction, in being ‘treated like an animal’, is eradicated from our vocabulary. If you ask me, we should be so lucky to be treated like God has intended us to treat his creatures; and the animal kingdom is full of more desirable displays of compassion than that of the self-righteous man. We are part of that animal kingdom, lest we forget. Hence, my stance that vegetarianism is not the answer. We were evolved from the omnivore, and rely on meat as a source of protein just as so many other species do. Granted, it is not required to maintain our earthly form.
Don’t get me wrong, I am completely understanding of those that choose this path. It is for both the noble and the strong-willed. I know two men that abide by this, and respect each of them greatly for it. One of them is an incredible physical specimen, participating in triathlons regularly. The other, an example of a brilliant mind; of whom’s acumen and theory I will longingly seek out in my own traverses through life. Both stand on the highest principles I have witnessed.
So too stands another colleague of mine on this higher standard of fundamental truth. He is based in France and lives a minimalist life by choice, unadorned with the material wants that many so quickly refer to as ‘needs.’ It is he that I see as a shining example of the way things ought to be. He treats the earth under his feet like a temple, and his animals as God intended; and thus ingests the same, an embodiment of his own principles. When an animal is mature, he calls for a butcher whose practice keeps the sanctity of the process close, amounting to a closer experience with natural order. This sacrificial merit is sought by keeping the creature’s spirit in mind until the end, using a low-stress approach for the animal. This is nature. Nature as God intended. Thus, my colleague gives thanks over the meat for the sacrifices made.
There is a certain process in which things can be done in order to maintain a proper diet. It all leads back to one’s relationship with nature and the natural spirit. Praying over our meals should not be done with idle malaise as we clamor for the dish in front of us.
In summation, God is dead in America’s agriculture.
While in most cases, it is not of the farmer’s own volition. These corporate strongholds, that are protected by our government, have bastardized the rich heritage of our farmlands, and taken ownership of our soil. Mother Nature no longer belongs to God, she is instead a possession of big business.
On the other hand, there is a great need for us to understand the role that spirituality has in the way we treat the world around us. The food we eat, the energies we waste; all gifts of natural origin that we fail to recognize as such. If my devotion to the sovereignty of this earth is labeled as inflammatory, or slighted as being leftist lunacy, then so be it. No matter which side of the political fence you are on, no matter what system of virtues and beliefs you call your own, the unequivocal truth remains; this is the only earth we have, a gift from the powers above and an inheritance from the past. It is not ours to destroy, and in doing so, our fellow man. Our children depend on us to teach them these truths and make the necessary changes to provide the best life forward. For the earth, and EVERY earthly being.
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