State of Affairs

I must warn you, this is one long and boring blog. But if u're reading this, you've probably come to epect that from me. :-)

Recently I've come to realise that the people who know me best have this misconception that I don't believe in God. I don't blame them. I hardly ever say that God is the answer to a question, or God is the cause of an event, because of all the social baggage that comes with saying that. We live in an age of cynical critics of religion, and for people my age and younger, subscribing to religion is equated with either ignorance or desperation. And it's not even as tho I'm just scared to admit to my belief in God. To the contrary, the way I've always seen it is that if I were to replace my philosophical or scientific explanations for phenomena with the word God, I would still be right, but people would just assume I don't know the answer. Like for instance:

Something that I've recently become fascinated by is the topic of global warming. I can't believe my eyes when I wake up on a moderately cool December morning, look outside and see the grass, streets, sidewalks, rooftops and the rest of the landscape NOT covered with snow! How incredible it is that in the short span of my life to date, southern Canada has undergone a not-so-sudden change in climate. Our 4 distinct climates is reducing to 3 gradual changes in temperature, and all of this has been happening over the last 5 years or so. And this isn't even a fluke like that time Florida got like 20 inches of snow. Last year we had that one dumping in January, and a bit of snow to make it a partially white Christmas, the year before there was a bit more snow then that, and so on... Why did I tie global warming into all this talk about God? To illustrate a point.

If someone were to ask me how I think global warming will come to pass, if i were so inclined, i would simply say, "God will find a way," and leave it at that. And this answer would be right, more right then my friends might realise, because the statement is open to interpretation.

If i were 'speaking Christian' then my statement would mean, "God, who speaks to all of our hearts would alert us of this epidemic and spread the word to all his children so that we could bond together to countervail the effects of global warming." If i were 'speaking daoist' my statement would mean, "Heaven and earth support each other through man, and as such the effect that global warming will have on the earth will depend on how greatly man yields towards the principle of heaven and brings the two into balance. Or something like that. And I could probably offer a similar explanation in other major religions or belief systems, but really, who the hell would understand or care about my explanation if I put on my religious cap, recited quotations from some ancient doctrines, and offered an ambiguous explanation of a current problem?

My answer to the question is precisely the same, just in different words. Rather then using the christian "good or evil" the daoist "yin and yang" the buddhist idea of manifestation (from 1 thing to another), i would say global warming will come to pass in man's ability to conquer or be conquered - a stronger, hipper way of saying the same thing. Hopefully, more people will have a problem with global warming before it goes into full effect, and so society will come to value preservation of the environment for generations to come over such modern day values as barbecues, central air conditioning and driving SUVs with 24" rims and an engine that could power a small tank. On the other hand, when the heat is too much for us to bear, we'll probably just get out of the kitchen. Our social and economic climate will probably cause us to migrate to parts of the world that were formally too cold to live in, but due to global warming have come to be quite haitable. In other words, we'll all move further and further from the equators towards the polar ice caps. Our economy will thrive on the new types of crops and agricultural products that will start to grow. Ironically, the polar caps will be melting and will eventually drown us all in a sea of resentment. Those of us that are still alive that is. As our population grows by the billions, our habitable landscape will be shrinking by the millions (of square feet) and the effects of overpopulation and natural selection will bring forth a drastic case of 'survival of the fittest.' But maybe that's getting to be too apocolyptic. In any case, will man conquer or be conquered? Well, it took 1.5 days without electricity for Southern Ontario and the eastern seaboard to realise that we have a problem with over-consumption. And even today, a luminescent glow hangs over the Scarborough Town Centre and every other major mall or shopping district on the continent, all night, so that a few teenage couples can see each other while they make out in their cars, and to protect the Gap from getting robbed at night. Why would global warming be any different?