Magical Re-Enchantment: Part 5

Discovering the Pale Blue Dot

Note: Part five of this series is excerpted, with adaptations, from chapter 7 in my book, Game of Gods: The Temple of Man in the Age of Re-Enchantment.

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Magical Re-Enchantment: Part 1

Magical Re-Enchantment: Part 2

Magical Re-Enchantment: Part 3

Magical Re-Enchantment: Part 4

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“In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.” — Carl Sagan.

General interest in ecology emerged after Rachael Carson’s 1962 book, The Silent Spring, catapulted environmental concerns onto the public stage.¹ But it was eight years later when the energy of youth and emotion, combined, projected green as a mechanism to reshape society. Other developments, too, reinforced and expanded a new version of Man’s relationship to nature. A meta-myth was soaking into the marrow of Western civilization.

There is no denying the influence of the modern environmental movement. Political life and national economies are enmeshed in its narrative. Agencies of global governance have been organized in response. Business and trade and commerce are profoundly affected by decisions emanating from environmental assumptions. Forests of regulations and oceans of policies have feverishly been written, dismantling and creating and re-destroying industries. Our educational institutions are saturated with a green ethos. Revolutionary and radical ideas are part of the mix, and have been since its contemporary inception; schemes for social engineering – from population control to global taxation proposals – have been touted as necessary measures to meet the challenges of a supposedly degrading planet.²

To be fair, some good has resulted. Harmful industrial practices from the past have been nullified or rectified, better agricultural techniques have emerged, mining operations take land reclamation into consideration, and energy production is more efficient.³ On a personal level we are more cognitive of our waste.

But there is much more to the narrative than blue, recycling boxes.

A social and spiritual message is preached, higher purpose and meaning are assigned, and we marvel at the ancient-future wheel of life: holism, continuity, oneness.

We are enamored with the sacred Earth.