Mother Knows Best: of volcanoes and global warming

Global warming is a growing concern among industrialized nations.  What about indigenous people, do they worry about such man-made effects?  Perhaps indigenous people are more attune to Gaia.  As we become aware of human impact upon the earth there is a place to consider that the earth may be capable of reversing such impact in dramatic ways.

The volcanic eruption in Iceland was pouring out an estimated 750 tons of ash every second.  An estimated 26,000 flights in and out of Europe were grounded.  that represents a significant amount of carbon that was not dumped into the atmosphere.  Previous volcanic eruptions have cooled the earth.   Our destructive human influence reversed, albeit slightly, by this single natural event.

As Jungians we honor the natural movement toward integration and wholeness.  We suppose that the transcendence of opposites, the integration of shadow elements, the embrace of anima/animus to be a grand opus. Given the opportunity, a person not only heals psychologically, they will thrive and unfold themselves as individuals.

There is a certain hubris in supposing that human beings, a small portion of the biomass, should be able to impose an insurmountable stress.  Tonight Nightline featured a report about Mother Nature reminds us of just how vulnerable we really are.   Perhaps we can open to a larger vision of the destructive influences of global warming.  Just as stress upon an individual often foster psychological growth and integration, the same may be true of Mother Earth.  Mother Earth has been through warming periods and ice ages many times.  She endures.  While we may be unique among species in our ability to orchestrate our own annihilation, that does not imply that we are destroying the earth.

Just suppose Mother Earth let off a massive amount of dust into air  in order to cool her skin.  If we were living in closer relationship with the earth we could see such things as signs.  Between the indigenous person and the modern person spans a long distance.  But when a tsunami’s hit the Pacific several years ago certain indigenous people took refuge on high ground.  They knew the language that mother earth speaks.

When the dust and ash from the volcano will we listen to Gaia whispering?

To balance the alarm about global warming let’s consider the vast, unintelligible features of Gaia, our primordial mother.  Without dismissing the reality of global warming it is possible to consider that Mother Earth can adapt.  Mother knows best and we’d do well to listen when she speaks.

Len Cruz, MD