Armageddon consciousness
In Robin Wall Kimmer’s book Braiding Sweetgrass, she describes an Indigenous creation story in which a woman falls from the sky into the ocean. The iconic woman works with all the animals to build land and Earth. Kimmer’s comment about this story is that it creates a different relationship to the Earth than a culture in which an image of the primordial beginnings is about lust, damnation, and the exodus from the garden.
That is the problem with the beginning. Now, let’s look at the end. What kind of society are we creating if the story we hold is of complete Earth annihilation in order to bring back God? A story where the chosen believers survive the wreckage while all the non-believers are wiped out. What kind of hopes, dreams, and actions does this story create in the world we live in today?
The Military-Industrial Complex, one that Eisenhower himself warned the people about, is a toxic mix of might, right, and end-times fixation. Right now, with the war in Iran, the Military Leaders are unabashedly spouting that this is the Judgement Day, and they are excited to be bringing about world catastrophe. This is the holy war to end all wars and probably humanity. This pep talk is not going over so well with the troops.
It is reminiscent of when the US and Russia were in the Cuban Missile Crisis. We came sooooo close to starting a world war with nuclear bombs that it is amazing we are still alive. The top advisors of the military were very gun-ho for world annihilation, claiming that it was time for Armageddon, and tried to push the situation and the bomb button.
It was a few key people that averted that devastation. One was a Russian Officer on a submarine that convinced his captain not to launch their nuclear missiles when they lost contact with Russia. The other was John F. Kennedy and his brother. Kennedy paid for going against the Military Advisors. If they couldn’t have their holy war, then at least they could blow his brains out.
This crusade against the Muslims has been going on since… oh, like the Middle Ages. It’s pathetic that we can’t just leave these people alone. Ironically like Jesus was a Jew, Mohammad was a Christian. It’s all the same idea with different books and rules. It would be great if we could stop fighting about who’s right and just be glad that people are praying – hopefully for life and a future.
Now, here it is the Islamic holy month of fasting and we start bombing them. Couldn’t we at least wait till tomorrow when their fast is over?
My real point is wondering if we can let go of Armageddon. Can we reject or remake that story line? When I was hanging out with my religious family I asked about Armageddon. They spoke about how it would clean up everything (aka most people die) and everyone (left) would be happy. Right there I knew it was a fantasy – I mean clean up? Happy? Has the world ever had a clean time where people weren’t fighting? And everyone is happy? I mean, we have plenty of food, washing machines, cars, and health care, yet we still we aren’t happy. It’s a fantasy.
According to historian Yuval Noah Harari in his bestseller Sapiens- A Brief History of Mankind. Most people before modern times died violent deaths, and actually, with all our wars and misery, we are in the most peaceful time in history, even with our bourgeoning world population.
Then I asked my devout relatives, Ok what about after that? What happens after Armageddon? This stumped them. There was no after that. Jesus would float around making everyone happy forever, and that was it.
Well, the thing about time is that until the sun blows up, there is more time - a heck of a lot of time if we don’t start a nuclear war. Even with global warming, people will change, and time will go on. Because time is infinite, change is the nature of reality. There is no stopping point for perfection. At some point, we must forgo wishing for the Jesus clean-up crew and be content to have a life and civilization that our grandkids can frolic and fight in. If we can let go of the idea that there will be an ideal time when everyone believes the same thing and everything is perfect, we will be able to see our lives and our future more clearly.
This video exemplifies how big IT all is. Why are we fighting? So petty.