What’s my relationship with it? Water, war & more

The water in my apartment will be shut off all week due to construction in the neighborhood. I’ve been stocking up all morning in preparation - jugs of water, a big basin full for washing; took care of laundry last night, dishes will wait until tomorrow.. 

In one reality this is just a simple, temporary inconvenience that’ll be here and gone within a week. In another version of reality - a version keyed into our poor management of natural resources and cases of water scarcity throughout the world - this is a preparatory experience foreshadowing what may come with continued climate change.

“Ugh, I don’t like thinking like that. It’s very dooms day-y. Get me a bunker, the apocalypse is coming!” I dialogue and tease myself.   

In spite of my internal pushback to not think that way (which is most likely a combination of internalized New Age thinking - “stay in the light!” Internalized climate change deniers - “what conspiracy theories!” And just privileged resistance - “this won’t happen here.”) I wade into these thoughts and see where they take me: 

I have a flash of news coverage I saw over the weekend about the war in Yemen. Talk about resource depletion.. Malnourished babies, a cholera outbreak with limited medical supplies, the life-and-death risk of getting supplies that do exist. One of the worst humanitarian crises of our present moment with no clear end in sight.

I’m not a peace and conflict scholar with any sort of specialization in the Middle East, so I can’t offer in depth detail about the war with confidence (my colleagues and friends who are can help me fill in the gaps). What I can offer is a baseline understanding that if there’s a war in the Middle East then its connected to oil. It’s connected to the ownership, management and sale of oil in some way, shape or form. 

Which means that the war is connected to the relationship that those in power have with the land’s oil. The relationship. How leaders relate to the natural resources.

It’s a relationship that’s exploitative. The natural resources (in this case oil) are seen as being here for the taking because the world is ours to extract from; the world’s here for us to use and abuse and not think twice about it. Even if it means violence, conflict and war. 

This worldview - that the Earth is here for the taking - is embodied everywhere! It’s what Duane Elgin calls the “dead Universe” perspective - a paradigm of thinking that believes we live in a Universe full of dead matter, therefore it makes sense to exploit the shit out of it. I mean, it’s dead after all! That only makes sense..

Until it doesn’t make sense. Until we come into contact with personal and scientific knowledge that we’re actually part of a Universe that’s alive and responsive to our actions. A Universe that we’re in direct relationship with, which means that the way we treat its various parts has echoing effects. Or, as the sustainable development field puts it, that our world is made up of interconnected systems (ecological, political, social, economic) that all affect each other. No actions or policies exist in a vacuum; everything impacts each other.

Of course if we treat the Earth like it’s dead then we’ll breed further death. Of course something like the war in Yemen, which epitomizes the dead Universe worldview, breeds starvation, disease and trauma. It’s a worldview that’s so deeply embedded in our global society it’s a mindfuck to think how it could ever possibly change.

I slowly start to emerge from this train of thought wishing I had some elegant words for myself or this post that could offer perspective. But that’s asking too much of myself. These are complex problems that require radical change in fundamental things - like the way we relate to ourselves, each other, the Earth and this mysterious Universe. The worldviews we use to make sense of our realities.

Maybe, if anything, it’s a reminder to myself to practice taking note of how I relate to the natural resources that make up my life. That the temporary pause in readily-available water this week is an opportunity for me to reflect on my appreciation for Water. To turn every subconscious grumble into an “ah-hah” moment of how lucky I am to have access to her the way I do. Change my relationship; practice embodying a new worldview? Sure, I’ll take it - sounds like a good take-away.

Grateful, Mama Water. For how you quench my thirst and for this morning reflection.

“Personal transformation can and does have global effects. As we go, so goes the world, for the world is us. The revolution that will save the world is ultimately a personal one.”

~Marianne Williamson

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This post is part of a series of personal reflections on how to make sense of the world, the future and this time of Great Transition. It’s part of my process designing a workshop that will use Duane Elgin’s poignant and poetic report “Humanity’s Great Transition: A Middle Path to a Sustainable and Surpassing Future” to live into this inquiry.

The workshop is scheduled for February 10, 2019 in Brooklyn, NY. Visit here to learn more.

Hi, I’m Liz Moyer Benferhat. Writer, facilitator, coach, and development practitioner dedicated to the subtle interplay between how inner transformation feeds the outer transformation we need in the world. Welcome 🌿