Critical Thinking About Creation

The Rev. Canon Peter G. Kreitler
University of Southern California Lecture
Dr. Dale Kiefer’s Course
February 27, 2007

A wise professor once advised his attentive class that we do not learn from experience, contrary to the popular theory, but rather from reflecting upon experience. We experience much in a world that gets faster and more complex as the years fly by, but are we turning our knowledge and experience into wisdom?

I participate in a drill every birthday: that is I reflect upon my experiences of the past year, and this birthday coming up is a big one because it marks my being passé in our culture; put out to pasture if you will; relegated to social security and Medicare at age 65. Society labels me over the hill – retiring to make room for the next generation.

However, there is one elder who keeps my belief in discipleship strong: a disciple is essentially a learner. My mentor turned 95 last week and he studies every day. He still is a learner though he has to employ someone who will read to him now because he is essentially blind.

Dr. John Seeley, author, professor, and wisdom keeper has always encouraged me to take every issue to the next highest good, and as I reflect upon my 6 and ½ decades on this planet, I realize the highest good for me is to try and preserve this fragile home for my children and grandchildren.

Perhaps the highest good I can offer any of you during this brief 1 ½ hour visit to your class is to reflect upon my experiences and to see if there are any truths to be found that may be helpful to you as you reflect upon your lives.

Every human story is important, because everyone’s life is a teacher- including yours. Today is simply my turn to share my story and to see if we can take home any learning’s that will embolden us to make a difference.

My story begins in Connecticut in the summer of 1942. I was raised in New Jersey after the Second World War, and my early recollections of summers on Cape Cod formed an environmental ethic that I did not fully acknowledge and honor until 1990 - 20 years after the first earth day, April 22, 1970 when I resigned from parish work to devote the rest of my life to environmental education.

This summer will be my 65th summer at the same location on Cape Cod and serves as my environmental benchmark or baseline. (Important concept to understand) Since I was a boy I have witnessed the disappearance of 4 types of shellfish in front of my home, bluefish contaminated with PCB’s, and one summer medical waste on the beaches of Cape Cod. Evaluating my baseline regularly and this type of repetitive reflection is vital to being able to make a difference in the health of the environment. You have to know where you have been to figure out where you are going.

During a birthday reflection exercise many years ago, I surmised that my four months living with villagers in rural Punjab India in 1963 was perhaps the greatest period of personal growth in my life.

Unable to communicate in Punjabi, I engaged the villagers in athletics, all alone except for the elderly missionary and his staff I made friends with young people through sign language and a few words. Eating food that was unfamiliar, I contracted dysentery and food poisoning, with a touch of malaria, and came home, only to learn I had flunked out of Brown and had no where to go. Indeed an interesting summer for a 21 year old.
Whew! Dumped from the Ivy League, I spent the next semester stocking department stores in NY and NJ with Arrow Shirts. That experience in the rough and tumble world of garment retail may have been pivotal in my understanding the human condition.

I was as much out of water in Manhattan New York’s clothing industry as I was in rural India, yet learned to love and appreciate the people and culture for who they were; though they were half a world apart.
Or, maybe the experience for most lessons learned was getting fired from my summer job at the Lighthouse Inn in Dennis Massachusetts. It is hard to get fired waiting on tables, but I even managed to do that because of a couple late nights with Polly, or was it Penny.

Upon reflection I have learned that often the curveballs in life – the unexpected and unplanned for events, are the best teachers. What separates a ball player from being in the minors to making it to the majors is the ability to hit a curve ball. This is a good metaphor for life.
Flunked and Fired were definitely parts of my maturation process and probably more valuable than the successes along the way.

After graduating from Brown University, finally, I obtained a master in Divinity at the Virginia Theological seminary situated outside of Washington DC in 1969. Ordained an Episcopal priest five days after the first earth day on April 27th 1970, I spent 20 years as a parish priest and educator of children both in Kansas City Missouri and here in Pacific Palisades, CA.

In 1990 I resigned parish ministry to devote the rest of my life to environmental work because I felt it was the most important theological and practical issue of any time in history. Optimistic and committed I took a 6 month sabbatical and lived in the rainforests of Central America, a monastery in Colorado, and a sustainable Catholic retreat center in New Jersey led by very progressive Roman Catholic sisters.

Always in the process of reading, searching and questioning, I realize this is at the root of growth and we must always be in the process of becoming someone else. As the famous Theologian Paul Tillich reminds us: Being is Becoming. That is who we are as full human beings is one always in the process of improving and growing. Dr. John Seeley at 95 certainly reflects that.

Once out from the nurturing wing of the church that at times can be stifling as well, I created a 501 c3 non profit educational corporation called Earth Service in 1991, the Great LA Clean Up with my good friend and tree sitter John Quigley in 1992, and a one half hour television show called Earth Talk Today in 1997.
My co-host Alexandra Paul, former Bay Watch actress and star of Who Killed the Electric Car, and I have interviewed 215 experts on some phase of the environment. From activists to scientists, tree huggers to animal lovers, we have listened to many diverse voices; for a full complement of guests you can go to www.earthtalktoday.tv, is www.earthtalktoday.tv is becoming a comprehensive environmental website where you can access a daily environmental news service, listen to videos, see a new Earth Talk today show weekly, and listen to my thoughts about all sorts of environmental subjects.

And yes, Dr. Kiefer has been one of our favorite guests and will be featured along with this talk in a couple of weeks on the website.

Thinking about what such a diverse group of activists, scientists and environmental leaders have said about planet earth over the past 7 years of Earth Talk Today is extremely sobering and has prompted me in my remaining time on this earth to renew my efforts to educate others to an environmental ethic. However, beginning on my 65th birthday, and I am warning others now, I am going to allow myself to be unreasonable, unrelenting, and obnoxious; all on behalf of tomorrow’s generation; you and your offspring to the seventh generation; if it may be.

But first; let’s take a break and listen to a friend of Earth Talk Today. (Cut to Dr. Kiefer’s show) Thank you Dr. Kiefer. Don’t you agree with Alexandra and me, your professor is a good example of a scientist who presents thoughtfully researched information: a believable story if you will, that should inspire many to action on behalf of your fragile island home.

Now back to our story: The first criteria for each of us in the development of a broad environmental ethic is to be a good active listener. As noted, Alexandra and I have listened to many points of view, and now it is our turn to lecture, write, speak, and increasingly get annoyed this generation of decision makers for turning essentially turning their collective backs on your, and future generations.
Essentially the simple act of listening to others over the space of 17 years as an environmental interviewer and educator has turned me into an annoying activist. That is good! Walking the talk, speaking truth to power, and crying out is needed by millions of concerned students who want to affect the powerful, elite ruling class of today.

Today, 2007 we know that it is more crucial than ever that we listen to the earth story and the story of those speaking on behalf of the voiceless in creation; for both are speaking volumes to a culture caught up in consumption, image, and denial. The sounds from Mother Nature such as polar bears crying out and glaciers calving into rising seas, coupled with environmentally conscious and aware leaders, indicate that the inevitable collapse can only be delayed; not stopped. Science is warning that we are past the point of no return, exiting the tipping point, and our hope is in slowing the process already underway.

The earth’s story which unfolds daily, coupled with our own stories, this can and should be a place of departure for learning, but only if we become active listeners – the mark of a true disciple is one who listens. No wonder we were given two ears and one mouth.

Granted your story is not as long as mine, but each year prepares us for the next, and we have an opportunity to take each experience, reflect upon it, and focus on the next highest good for our lives. Each segment of a varied and complex life, which for me includes work, play, a family that consists of a spouse, three children and three grandchildren, has prepared me for my next phase which is to be an unreasonable advocate, an apologist on behalf of my family’s future.

Dr. Kiefer is an apologist for the oceans. Randy Hayes an apologist for the rainforests. I am apologist for the development of a spiritual and practical based environmental ethic, in part by helping breathe life back into a dying planet. Now it is your turn to find a place to make a stand.

Or, in the words of David Brower, the founder of the Sierra Club, we must give CPR to our planet – that is conservation, preservation and restoration must be at the core of everyone’s life. Personal change is required of each of us, and then we will be prepared to challenge systems, corporation, and yes even individuals who are killing the planet with their decisions. To be a change agent requires courage, and the older I get, I feel myself becoming more relentless; and for good reason. Time is running out.

The urgency of this was brought home all the more poignantly last year when I was diagnosed with stage four mantle cell lymphoma cancer that was basically throughout my body; I went through many rounds of chemo therapy and realize each day is a gift even more strongly than before. As of today I am cancer free. One more reason not to waste time beating around the bush.

What many voices are calling for are millions of individual “doctors for the planet” (in quotes) with a knowledge of c p r - conservation, preservation and restoration; because the planet is now in the emergency room.

Where will we individually make a difference at every phase of our lives, is the question we are asked to reflect upon. Where to begin? We might begin with something as simple as changing our eating habits, or as complex as learning how to think critically about the earth’s number one challenge – climate change.
A good place to begin is to develop the ability to discern truth from falsehood; an essential ingredient in sustaining our life on this planet. Each of us must discern for ourselves the truth from so much denial, falsehood and unrealistic expectations. Good science is available, but we have to discern industry financed justification for corporate greed in the guise of science from those papers, books, and professors that find truth in the data. Discerning truth from fiction is one of the signs of wisdom accruing as we get older.
Information comes at us, at an ever increasing pace and we need to be able to separate propaganda from wisdom. One of the great learning’s in life is that to develop the power of discernment is to give oneself a viable platform from which to contribute to the common good. Disinformation about the real state of affairs is commonplace. So!

Discernment is a powerful antidote to manipulation by repetition of erroneous facts. Or, as my dad used to say. Peter – think!

The greatest gift I ever received was my training in how to think, not what to think – learning how was instilled in me by professors and teachers along my path. Critical thinking is at the heart of any discipline. If your professors require repetition, regurgitation, and thinking like them quit. Evolution of the human mind comes from critical thinking.

Dr. Kiefer makes you think, and if he doesn’t resign from his class and find a professor who does make you think.

You may not always agree with him, nor should you, but he may not agree with you and challenge you on your ethical, moral, religious or worldview positions.

Now is the time to critically think about the state of your world above everything else. Science can open windows, and personal reflection will keep them open. Are there sacred cows contributing to the collapse, of course; perhaps capitalism, rewarding having children, justifying global military expenditures – sacred cows all, but we are having bred out of us our ability to critically think about these issues. Constructive criticism leads to challenging the status quo, which results in change and hopefully a more enlightened populace.

For me, as a person of faith, who values all expressions of honest religious behavior and faith, we are at a crossroads and the church must lead the way by joining with scientists, environmentalists, and corporate and political leaders who are thinkers, not robots and lemmings willing to lead us off the cliff. Religion when done right cares about all in creation; when it is exclusive, vitriolic, judgmental and self serving it should be abandoned, or at the least be reconstituted like frozen orange juice.

Yet, for me as a priest of the church I recognize I am certainly not at the center of the universe, yet our anthropocentric ways are destroying the gift of the Garden of Eden that we can not resurrect when it dies. We think we are made in the image of God, or at least some do – I would challenge that today because our behavior is an affront to God, or the creative spirit of the universe. Perhaps a butterfly or a dolphin might be described as made in the image of Yahweh, God or Allah, but not me.

At the very least however, as humans, we must apply our critical thought to what it means to be told we were made in the Creator’s image. That itself is a valuable exercise. Examination at this level leads to the accumulation of wisdom blocks. Wisdom, my mentor reminds me, usually does not appear until around age 75, so what we do in the process of getting there is to build with little blocks of wisdom.

Wisdom through the ages has told us that one way to be in the image of the creator is to recognize our primary job is to be stewards, or rather good gardeners of the garden. Lawyer, doctor, priest, computer programmer, entertainer or athlete, all secondary professions – secondary to taking care of our only home. When we examine our own behavior are we actually living up to the job? If not, what do we do with this incredible challenge before us?

Place to start: Open up our hands: Hold a textbook in one hand, perhaps science or sociology (my college major which I called the insight into the obvious), and then place the book of nature in the other, and we are equipped to meet the growing challenges of today. Without one or the other and we will find life less and less worth living. Nature is the teacher of the human race, and everyone’s story will either be informed for the good by nature, or destined to be hopeless as nature slips through our fingers. For some, though not all, a third book is included and that is scripture – either the Torah, Native Culture wisdom, the New Testament, the Upanishads, Koran or Bhagavad-Gita; or portions of all of the above. The collective wisdom, using once again critical thinking to eliminate the contradictions, discrepancies and duplications, will guide many to a richer and more complete understanding of the human condition. Scripture teaches that the divine is represented in the totality of creation, not one species, including and especially humankind.

There is one part of critical thinking we often fail to use that can help us make sense of difficult times. Historical criticism is essential in understanding the written word because all writings are influenced by the times. Every textbook you use, every non fiction diatribe or descriptive book, each page of scripture must be taken in the context and times it was written. As creation evolves so does humankinds understanding of it and writings about it.

We would be foolish to practice medicine based on 18th century wisdom, though some folk medicine or natural remedies from by-gone era’s is restorative, but the evolution of medicine is no different that the evolution of critical thinking and responding to the challenges of today with best practices.

Biblical, environmental, political, and cultural scholarship evolves as creation evolves, and we are wise to listen to current thinking about religion, science, and the human story.

It has been my understanding that some Christian writers and preachers want us to accept creationism or intelligent design as the answer; yet I see God’s creation, or nature’s evolution, as a process still underway. God did not create the universe in 4004 BC and in six days; any critical thinker knows that is ridiculous. The Garden of Eden is a metaphor for the whole of the earth, Adam and Eve are representative of the beginnings of the human family, the evolution of the earth and its creatures began billions of years ago.

Evolution was the creator’s way, and in the minds many, if indeed there was a creator, of building an interlocking design that finally worked to sustain life. We have inherited this and are asked to preserve it. We do not have to argue how it began, we just have to learn how to keep it from ending.

Maintaining the position that somehow God will intervene and save us from ourselves contributes to the erosion of this fragile island home left to us in perpetuity. Yet, through the selling of personal salvation, rather than the salvation of the whole, we hear some tell us that most are not going to make it when the rapture comes and the good guys go up and the bad guys go down. That is plain foolish, controlling and irresponsible theology.

We have an earth with a multitude of species and all belong. We may not yet be evolved enough to understand why the snail darter, spotted owl, or mosquito is here, but they along with everything else has coexisted with creation for eons of time. This inter woven fabric, created with an evolutionary component built in, is still a work in progress, but coming apart at the seams in many sectors. Too often clerical leadership creates a hierarchal ladder model where some are told they belong while others are left out. This is playing God, and who are we to judge anyway? That has never been our job.

Jared Diamond’s book “Collapse” is not fiction, nor an alarmist declaration, but science and reason speaking truth to all of us today. Or in theological terms, the garden entrusted to us in perpetuity, the creation that sustains all life is slipping through our fingers and collapsing ever more rapidly. In my little book the Earth’s Killer C’s written in 1995, I address that which is causing creation to collapse. Cows, cars, chlorine, chlorofluorocarbons, conception, consumption, clear cutting, cancer, cigarettes, communism, chopsticks, conferences, conventions, committees, capitalism, corporations, and the church.

This process of global degradation of all ecosystems has really accelerated since the industrial revolution and the doubling of the earth population from 1950 to 2000, yet it is interesting to note the cultural, religious, business and governmental responses through the years. At times attempts to address the reality such as during the year 1970 when the first Earth Day signaled the beginnings of clean air and water legislation; as well as the endangered species act. But by and large, we have seen leaders in all sectors sit on their hands, and their hands and their hands.

1970 was a milestone year because one senator Gaylord Nelson from Minnesota and two college students Ed Furia and Denis Hayes; galvanized a sleeping student population into a potent force for change. And then 1992 was The Union of Concerned Scientists Warning to Humanity, and now in 2007 The Intergovernmental Panel report on global warming. Who was listening then, who is listening now? Listening, active listening and critical thinking go together like a horse and carriage. (Just reflecting my generation)

Somehow communities of faith had skipped over the operative words in Genesis from the Old Testament, focusing for years on distractions rather than the challenge from the writers of the early scriptures, the church has been woefully neglectful of its primary duty - Avodah and shomer – keep and serve creation; until very recently. But, many line communities of faith were not alone – the business universe could not embrace ecological agendas unless it was in their best interest. For example: at the earth summit in Rio in 1992 only 35 companies from the United States attended, yet 700 from around the world - so the importance of the balance of the business development and the environmental consequences was not yet accepted.

It was not until quite recently that CEO’s began to catch on to this proven theory. The balance of economics and ecology has led Ray Anderson of Interface, Yvonne Choinard of Patagonia, just to name two to succeed while doing less harm to the planet – they are demonstrating that industry can be socially responsible, and we need to shift overnight, not over the next century for every business from the local pharmacist to Wal-Mart must think about their business through an environmental screen, as we think about our personal lives through a green lens.

The human family is at monumental cross roads. We will either entertain ourselves to extinction or educate ourselves to enlightenment. The choice is ours. We either do something radical today or we will be able to do nothing at all tomorrow; to quote Jacques Cousteau at the Earth Summit in 1992.

So here are a few word pictures to help us re-think the power of one person to make a difference. Each picture you frame is part of building a personal strategy to contribute to the health of our collective home we call earth.

1. Puzzle – all pieces belong, and the loss of one diminishes the whole and the divine light is a little dimmer
2. Ladder vs. Circle – we have built culture on a ladder modality, must redo with the circle as the symbol. Cooperation versus competition
3. See Saw – balance of nature key – oikos – economics and ecology – out of balance it does not work
4. Tuning Fork – conception and consumption; limits to growth and short term to long term thinking
5. Fork – human choices – we can ipod, you tube, and skype to oblivion by not even considering what we do with our fork – eat lower on the food chain
6. $ - where we allocate our personal, national and global resources is now crucial
7. Mirror - back to our beginnings – prophets did not gaze into a crystal ball and predict the future; they held a mirror to the people and said look what you are doing to yourselves

The final word picture is that of a camera tripod. For the earth to remain on top of this tripod all 3 legs need to be strong and in balance. The three legs are economics, ecology, and enlightenment. The first two we know about already, but enlightenment is perhaps the key ingredient in taking all our learning’s in class, from nature, from books etc. and widening the context within which all of this makes sense. An enlightened person is one whose heart softens for more and more of creation. In other words, a compete recognition that all belong and are here for a reason. Keeping the fabric intact will require enlightened leaders in every sector throughout the globe. Enlightenment is the only human response to a collapsing and fragile creation.

Thank you.