Summer Solstice Edition 2021, "Apocalypse?" (Chris Searles, editor)
Apocalypse? (Awakening, Disaster, Rebalancing, Choices)
After working on this issue for the last several weeks, i’ve come to a new kind of conclusion about the current human dilemma. Perhaps the biggest problems we face today in light of how most people think of Apocalypse, is not environmental collapse, self-centered fatalism or divided politics. Instead, i suggest our biggest problem seems to be our insistence on not choosing to utilize our collective imagination to build an optimal future for ourselves and our loved ones. I suspect most people don’t realize we have this option.
This issue of AllCreation, “Apocalypse?”, explores from various perspectives the many meanings of this terrifying word. Is it disaster? Is it happening now? Or is just a process, a society-wide revelation, a chance to grow? It is, of course, all of these things and more depending on who, when and what you’re talking about. My personal take is that the global environmental collapse we’re causing today is a disaster we can choose to reverse. In my piece, Biospheric Philosophy, i quickly lay out the basis for living in a Life-Support System paradigm, according to current science and a couple indigenous thinkers. Such thinking is revolutionary in today’s materialist culture.
”Apocalypse was meant to be understood in a broader context as a reckoning of the practices and destructive habits of the dominant culture with the original intentions of the Divine, within the context of how we relate to Earth.”
What’s in this issue
Essentially we have eight keynotes. Yes, eight. The original intention was to have one, then four, then we received some extraordinarily great content. So, we will feature all eight, brand new, keynote quality pieces here plus three additional features.
Editor Chris Searles (me) article, Apocalypse or Apokalypsis? A quick exposition on how bad things really are today, a summary about the three revelations collected in this issue, and an invitation to think in a new way about how to respond.
Rev. Matt Syrdal interview, The meanings of Apocalypse. I recommend starting here. Rev. Syrdal is so good on this topic, he quickly connects the entire history of this word to the deep truths of today and offers some ideas on reimagining the future in ways that are life-enhancing.
Educator Vance Blackfox interview, The Native American Apocalypse. Citizen of the Cherokee Nation and Lutheran Mdiv, Vance educates us about today’s Native American identity and perspective on apocalypse. Vance approaches this from the most loving, forgiving, and “let’s get on with it, people!” place of any person i’ve ever met. It’s hard for me to imagine being so helpful.
Rev. Louis Tillman interview, The Black American Apocalypse. Rev. Tillman is in the middle of today’s Black American apocalypse, literally working about 20 hours a day for the last several months to manage Covid’s impacts in his community. He’s directly helping people with tragedy, trauma, injustice, unequal conditions, health disadvantages, loss, injury, alienation, and environmental solutions on a daily basis. I asked Louis to educate us about Black America’s identity today and his views on how Black Americans currently experience apocalypse.
Eco-thelogian Mary DeJong interview, Awakening an Earth-based Christianity. Mary is utilizing her profoundly positive gifts to illuminate connections among ancient Celtic Christianity, current Christian culture, and “converting our Western minds into indigenous minds.” Sure to inspire. Mary shares her views on indigeneity, journey consciousness, and building an optimal future.
Rev. Tom Vandestadt article, The Beast, on the book of Daniel’s apocalypse prophecy. Tom provides a masterful summary of how we got to the current era. “Europeans imposed themselves on other people around the world, came to believe humans were the dominant species on earth and that “white” Europeans were the dominant race.” He places what happens next at our feet. It is our choice.
Rev. Dan De Leon book review of Evolutionary Dancer. Dan brilliantly summarizes the tension of this evolutionary moment for traditional Christians with author Carol Kilby’s journey from traditional Christianity to a spirituality, which incorporates “the best of what human belief systems contribute to meeting this moment of ecological degradation.”
Editor Chris Searles article, Biospheric Philosophy calls for a new paradigm for how we live based on the recognition that Biosphere Earth is the only human life-support system and the simple idea that its wellbeing is our greatest shared value.
Rev. Jared Michaels brief, A Buddhist Take on Apocalypse, shares an eloquent brief on the Buddhist concepts of living in the age of decline, waking up to who we truly are and where the next Buddha will come from.
Humanist Afroz Ali article, An Islamic Perspective on the Australians Fires, a reprint of Ali’s 2019 article, The Koala’s Appeal to Humanity: The Australian fires from the perspective of the Islamic tradition. This piece connects a 10th century fable to how Muslims value the other living members of Creation today.
Rev. Patti English, photo gallery, Seeing Life. Our initial idea here was to create a gallery that showed “The Opposite of Apocalypse,” something uplifting to remind us who else we want to save, other than humans. However, Rev. Patti’s photos remind us of who and what we see yet don’t appreciate, every day, and so this collection better fits our theme of revelation; apokalypsis. Hope you enjoy.
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What have we learned?
These pieces provide multiple “uncoverings”:
That we wake up to the essential importance of wilderness for our survival
That we connect to the sacredness in all living things
That White America wake up to Oppressed Peoples’ identities, needs, and gifts
That Christianity is evolving into incorporating Life-, Earth-, and cosmos-based spirituality
That we become indigenous to the Earth
That we flatten the hierarchies of (typically White-male or wealth-dominated) monarchical tyranny
That we recognize who and what we are and make choices to advance the human identity and condition by reversing inhumanity and environmental destruction.
A few more resources on this topic
“Apocalypse” is primarily a Christian concept and word. I had trouble locating material on Jewish and Hindu apocalyptic thought specifically connected to biodiversity and our biosphere. So, i’ll just share a few, related links for those who want a quick thumbnail overview.
“A Pastor, a Rabbi, and an Imam on Apocalypse,” shares a very light-hearted orientation to how these religions differ on the subject.
This page contains an enormous collection of academic presentations on early Jewish and Christian apocalypticism from Yale Divinity School, The Dead Sea Scrolls Institute, St. Mary’s, London, and more.
This brief video recounts how, from the Hindu perspective, “apocalypse” is part of a very very very long, cyclical process.
Buddhism, also cyclical in foundation, has a very nuanced and different perspective on “the end of the world,” so sharing this Wikipedia page.
“Revelation in 5 minutes” this pastor calls out the idea that “God’s perfect environment” exists only in Genesis 1 and Revelation 22, which matches Rev. Matt Syrdal’s quote at the top this page, from his interview.
Re-balancing & Living in the balance
Personally, I think we should each endeavor to live in connection with the Earth all of the time. I think we need to engage in reality, life-support system reality, our only bio-physical reality, and seize this moment of awakening to the terrifying future currently coming home to roost, as a means for advancement of humanity in multiple domains. We can respond to the cataclysmic projections we face today by envisioning and investing in an optimal future for human beings and all life; by making choices to regrow the Creation, peel back and eliminate our destructions.
Thank you for reading. This collection is sure to enlighten and transform your sense of relationship to self, human history, our non-human relatives and our shared future.
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Cover photo by Rev. Patti English, “Woodpecker.” Chris Searles is executive editor and co-founder of AllCreation.org. See more of his writings here.
