All We Have To Decide

When I was in New Zealand, I treated myself to a black t-shirt from the Weta Workshop in Wellington. It has an image of Gandalf on the front, with the following words printed around him: "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us."

Gandalf says these words to Frodo, who is bemoaning the fact that the Ring has come to him, and darkness is gathering. "I wish it need not have happened in my time." In the book, this happens very early on, in the crucial second chapter of Fellowship of the Ring, 'The Shadow of the Past'. 

I wonder whether it was hearing these words from his old friend and mentor which gave Frodo the courage to set off on the quest to destroy the Ring. "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us." From somewhere deep inside him, Frodo finds the courage to begin, although at first he does not realise that he will end up taking the Ring all the way to the Cracks of Doom in Mordor.

As in fantasy fiction, so in real life. As in Middle-earth, "our time is beginning to look black. The Enemy is fast becoming very strong." All across the world, there are wars, violence, hunger, and poverty. In our society, homophobia, sexism, racism, insidious privilege, and other aspects of intolerance and hatred are growing like rank weeds. Our planet is being despoiled and many species (both flora and fauna) are facing extinction. 

So, "all we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us." It sounds so simple, but it is absolutely not. No one person can cure the ills of the world. But each one of us can choose to Stand on the Side of Love, as the Unitarian Universalists say, and speak and act against the evils we see and experience. We may not be able to make a huge difference - we are not all Greta Thunbergs or Martin Luther King Jrs,  - but every little helps.

A Challenge for Us All

The Black American Marxist and feminist political activist, philosopher, academic and author, Angela Davis, once wrote, "You have to act as if it were possible to radically transform the world. and you have to do it all the time."

This fits in well with the Unitarian saying, "deeds, not creeds", but it is easier said than done. Most of us are very good at being indignant about injustices in the world (and there are far too many) but less good about actually doing something about them. We sigh and tut and say, "That shouldn't happen" or "Isn't that a shame?" But how often do we take that sense of injustice, of indignation, and transform it into radical action?

Words, in this sense, are empty. They have huge persuasive power, but if they do not lead to concrete actions to correct the injustices we see, they are no use. In the Letter of James, the early Christian apostle wrote, "Be doers of the word, and not merely hearers... For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like." (1:22-24) He further wrote, "Doers who act - they will be blessed in their doing." (1:25)

Later on in his Letter, he also wrote, "What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you can say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, 'Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,; and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has not works, is dead." (2:14-17)

Of course, very few of us *can* "radically transform the world". Yet we can behave as though it were possible, and do what we can where we are, with the skills and tools we have. And we have to keep on doing it, whatever it is, because "every little helps". 

Which is perhaps what Angela Davis meant: "You have to act as if it were possible to radically transform the world. and you have to do it all the time."

In Search of Paradise

According to the Hebrew Bible, Adam and Eve were expelled from Paradise very early in human history. And people have been searching for the elusive ideal of "paradise" ever since. So it was interesting to read Bernard of Clairvaux's view of this. He was a 12th century Cistercian abbot who later became a saint. And he wrote, "You do not enter the garden of paradise with your feet, but with your heart."

There is a fascinating article about the concept of Paradise by Hugh S. Pyper, in The Oxford Companion to Christian Thought. In it, he explains the various theories about Paradise - it is the "garden of the Lord", or a reference to a Golden Age, or the Elysian Fields or the Isles of the Blest, or a physical garden somewhere in the Middle East. Then, at the end of the article, he brings it right up to date, writing, "But the quest for the earthly paradise hs never quite died.... Even for those Christians who would not read the geography of Genesis literally, paradise has lately gained new significance as a reminder of the natural order which has been threatened by human despoliation of the earth. It also holds out a vision of a world restored to ecological balance and transcending social, sexual, and racial difference."

Which fits in well with Bernard of Clairvaux's idea. Perhaps paradise is only attainable when we stop treating the Earth as a resource to be used, and start to think of it as a precious place to be respected, cleaned up and cared for. Because in the 250 or so years since the Industrial Revolution began, "Western man has acted as master and lord of his environment, paying no heed to the effects of his actions on the environment. In the name of progress, water, land, air, and the wildlife they support have been despoiled and depleted, perhaps beyond reclaim." (Jonathan Helfand)

It is tragic that, in spite of all the publicity about the climate crisis, most of us in the West are still a society of consumers, with our heads buried firmly in the sand. Natural resources such as gas and oil are running out and the biodiversity on which our planet depends for its health is at risk from the activities of humankind. And it is not only "other people" who are to blame. We are all to blame. I've been watching the new David Attenborough programme Wild Isles in recent weeks, about the natural life in the British Isles. And he has made it crystal clear that species of animals, birds, fish, plants and insects are dying out, here, now, because of the activities of humankind in this country.

In the Anniversary Service at this year's Unitarian GA meetings, Rev Winnie Gordon asked, "When will we wake up and truly be aware of the problems and how we are complicit in them?" And stated, "Our faith calls us to responsibility for the fate of this planet. Calls us to account for each other in our working, playing, nurturing and growing, our educating and profiting - in this world, now, and for all generations to come. Acticism transcends creed, dogmas, doctrine, and social constructs (if done right), and mends (makes whole) the divisions and separateness. That our individualistic beliefs create." Her words wer a powerful call to action for all of us, by all of us.

I believe that if we are to save our beloved blue and green planet, we will need to make extensive changes to how we live our lives, far beyond putting stuff out for recycling. Each of us has a responsibility, both to the planet and to future generations, to both make greener choices as individuals and to show up for justice, so that we may find ways to collectively make a difference.