Is the Human Mind Responsible for Earth Changes?

The British Royal Navy recently photographed the seabed at the earthquake site that caused the Indonesian tsunami. There is a new trench underwater six miles wide. It is incredible that a continental shelf can fall away like that and make such a massive trench. After the tragic tsunami, there has been a lot written about global warming and earth changes, cataclysms and so forth. I think earth changes are a real threat, but I wonder if we can blame global warming. Those shots of icebergs collapsing in the sea are very dramatic but the truth is the icebergs have broken off the ice shelf and fallen in the sea since the beginning of time and research shows the poles are getting colder not hotter. I don’t think global warming is our main problem (see text below).

Having said that, I am one hundred percent for the Kyoto accord that seeks to reduce global emissions. And I am a full-on, dippy New Age vegetarian, energy saving, re-cycling freak. For many years I didn’t have a car but I do have one now but I compromise by putting it away for four or five months over the winter. So I do a little bit in the direction of warming.

The legendary techno-thriller writer Michael Crichton has just publish a novel called,State of Fear, in which he says global warming is all in the human mind as an idea because our emotions and feelings are stressed and over-heated. I made that same point in my book Whispering Winds of Change some years ago. Perhaps it’s all in our feelings. It’s the war and rules and taxes, and the traffic jams, and the need to endlessly perform at high speed that makes us hot and bothered. If there is global warming maybe we are creating it.

It is fascinating to contemplate if there is a correlation between what humanity thinks and feels collectively and how the earth reacts. In other words, are we separate from nature or part of it? Did we create the tsunami from some deep inner rift that is part of our collective mind? The concept of Gaia sees the planet as a self-correcting, spiritual, living being; one that is aware of not only of us but itself. What if the collective disquiet of humanity and our callous disregard for animals and nature pushes the Gaia spirit of the earth to rebel against us? Maybe mother earth has had enough of our BS.

I am wondering if the “end run” is a plan for the planet to get rid of almost all of the humans. Nature, water and the animals, would soon recover without us. I have never been keen on the theory of a global cataclysm like a pole-shift say that wipes everyone out. I have always wanted to believe we can work out our ecological and social problems, but what if we can’t?

Water will soon become our biggest problem. We’ve been sold the idea that materialism is holy and good and that possessions and status will make us happy. But that idea has proven a bit bogus and the toxins of production and materialism, and the medicines going into the water are eventually going to kill the fish, and without fish, humanity will go hungry, or we will eat the fish and drink the water and get sick.

My plan was child-like in its simplicity. I decided to make peace with nature and not consume animals or pollute anymore than I possibly had to. I also realized that investing in clean, spring water, delivered to the house is sensible, as tap water is a great hazard to health. But the thing that I did that really was a big flip in consciousness was that I walked away from materialism. Four years ago, I gave away a thirty-room mansion and an ecologically disastrous, high-ticket lifestyle, for a one-bedroom apartment and a very simple, anonymous, low-budget life. The weird thing is I never looked back and neither did I once hanker for the money or the glitz. I realized that as long as I had enough to tick along with, that was all I ever wanted from life. There is a great pleasure in staying in control of little things and adopting a more humble, more balanced approach.

It is going to be very interesting to see what earth changes happen next, as I am sure the tsunami is not the last of Gaia’s protest. I pray to the feminine spirit everyday of my life and if she now needs the planet back she’s got my vote. I expect we will see a pattern of ecological disasters emerge over the next few years and then we will know more. But if there isn’t some sort of major cataclysmic event or at least lots of smaller ones, the planet won’t survive. I find that sad; I don’t think humans are worth losing the whole planet over. I am more than willing to leave and let two raccoons take my place. We have had our day perhaps soon it will become their day.

Maybe our collective unconscious is the Gaia earth spirit and we’ll now commit a global hari-kari in order that nature survives and so other, smaller, groups of humans can evolve thousands of years from now. It is awesome to think about-scary and beautiful at the same time.