Apocalyptic Pagan

[tinhuviel]

I've had tons of thoughts and feelings bumping around in my head for a very long while, and have been incapable of sufficiently putting any of them into words. I think that a lot of what this has to do with is the destruction of the forest by men across the road. I see how easy it is for humans to eradicate something that it took over half a century for the Will of Nature to manifest, and I ache within....yet, I also find myself rejoicing.

Why?

It's dawned on me that I share something very profound with Fundamentalists Christians: I share a desire for the Apocalypse. When I see the irresponsible destruction of our environment, it pains me on a level that's difficult to express in language, but it makes me look forward to the day that the environment can no longer sustain humanity and subsequently begins to shake us off like the unwanted baggage we've turned ourselves into.

Sure, the animals and plants will suffer and many will become exinct, but many more of them will survive and adapt to a new world than will humanity. When you're still in tune with nature, you're more apt to evolve with it. When you remove yourself from nature, it's almost guaranteed that your survival rate will be quite low.

As I write this on my computer and send it out into the aether of the Internet, I know in my heart that I, too, am part of the problem with humanity. I'm no more a part of nature than the destructors across the road. There's a big chance that, when the Apocalypse comes, I shall suffer and perish along with the majority of my fellow humans. I dare not be smug enough to believe that I'll inherit the Earth in any way, shape, or form. I don't fear this Endtimes scenario, though. I'd gladly die if it meant the end of the human reign of terror on this planet.

My fellow Pagans and Wiccans, along with all the other New Age hooyahs out there, enrage me when they start preaching this "save the planet" bullfunky. We aren't destroying the planet. We definitely changing the face of our Mother home, but to think that we puny humans could destroy the planet is not only egocentric, but also idiotic. What we are doing is destroying the planet's capacity to sustain humanity. Once we've achieved this satisfactorily, humans and many animals will become extinct and Mother Earth will give birth to more children who may embrace wisdom over materialism this time around.

The planet will endure and we will not. It's very simple and I must admit I'm looking forward to what I perceive to be the inevitibility of it. Many Fundies have 0 respect for the environment, proclaiming that none of this physical existence matters since it's all about joining King Jesus in Heaven. They seem to revel in destruction for it brings us one step closer to The End. I cheer them along for different reasons, the main one being that I have an overwhelming respect and love for the environment and look forward to it renewing itself after we're gone.

I'm not sure if my attitude about the Apocalypse makes me a bad person. If it does, so be it. If I had my way, I wouldn't even be a person. Until that glorious day, when the world ends (at least for humans), I will continue to enjoy movies like The Day After Tomorrow, 28 Days Later, 12 Monkeys, Dawn of the Dead, and The Day After. These are my fairytales and they give me hope for a better tomorrow.

Bring it on.

Comments

[gatheringrivers]

I've often thought "Shoot 'em all and let (diety of choice) sort them out", but not usually in terms of mass destruction of things or animals

I guess that means I can sorta relate, even if I'm not thinking far enough. :)

*hugs*

[tinhuviel.livejournal.com]

I'd prefer that the environment and animals not go down with us, but it's a fact that our species will take others down as we go. Such is our nature, or at least how I perceive it.

Sad, eh?

[dostoevsky-girl.livejournal.com]

hmm. it's an interesting idea. i agree with you on the "save the planet" being a silly message. i've always felt (like you) that the planet is significantly stronger than anything we humans have currently invented to fuck it up. the planet will be here, regardless.

on the other hand, i have an unfortunate (and mostly theoretical) affection for humanity as a whole. oh, sure, i dislike a lot of the individual humans i meet, but as an avid consumer of various kinds of art, from literature to painting, photography, and film, i am frequently amazed by what humanity can come up with.

of course i'm biased, being a human and all (as far as i know... *wink*)

[tinhuviel.livejournal.com]

If there were more artists and fewer assholes, I'd be more prone to join you in your affection; alas, I've yet to see this is the case. Le sigh.

[helenangel.livejournal.com]

but to think that we puny humans could destroy the planet is not only egocentric, but also idiotic

Whenever I feel guilt that I'm destroying the planet, I remind myself of that very thought. One little girl who forgets to recycle a can of tomatoes isn't going to destroy millions of years of geological and biological evolution. =)

[falkenna.livejournal.com]

At about your age, I felt the same. (That's not meant to imply anything patronizing, just a statement of fact that I felt it once, don't often feel it now.) My usual view is closer to Dostoevsky Girl's -- I'm caught up in the romantic tragedy, first of the chasm between the aching beauty of which humanity is capable, contrasted with what the vast majority of them are; and second, that even the vast majority are just struggling, poor creatures, wandering blindly and cluelessly through life without the ability to comprehend the harm they cause. Both deep love and hatred of humanity is, I'm told, strikingly embedded in my natal horoscope.

The environmentalists mean well, and many of them do understand, and are just using shorthand for "destroying the planet's ability to sustain current lifeforms including human".

I still sometimes feel as you do, and just this morning was idly speculating on whether a minority of cancer cells ever feel guilt and anguish over what their aggregate does to the host body.