The End of the World: the Sound of Silence

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I am not among those fanatics and losers who are always screaming and ranting about the "end of the world." This phrase, in fact, is not found a single time in the entire original Bible! It is just bad, "science-fiction theology." I cannot believe that a sane, compassionate God inhabits the splendors and glories of nature simply to annihilate them!

So, I, and most other reasonable people, including most progressive Christians, have found hundreds of good, solid reasons to trash this nutty, dangerous, and bad idea. It is but a leftover from the Dark Ages, when people cancelled daily plans because of their certainty of "Armageddon.":)

The phrase, "end of the world," is not found a single time in the entire Book of Revelation, the "text-book" supposedly describing the "end-times," and the "end of the world." (Btw, the word "anti-Christ" also does not appear a single time in the entire book!) So, the Biblical foundation for the "end" is as flimsy and non-existent as is its foundation in the path of reason.

The idea that the earth is going to be destroyed, and the human race murdered, by a psychotic god who admits that the whole project was a "failure," is a bit of popular superstition. People love to be scared, as the popularity of horror-movies and-novels has always attested-- as long as they feel safe personally. They love the dramatic excitement of the earthquakes, storms, insanity on the streets, and other noisy horrors conjured by this myth.

But this is insanity, by any standards. God has kindly, wisely designed our planetary arrangements and biosystems to continue indefinitely. We can all be grateful for that. We can count on the sun's rising tomorrow, and on foods continuing to grow in our verdant fields. But are these "guarantees" forever? Maybe not!

Which leads to this morning's meditation: The donkey arose at 2:47 this morning to hear a horribly disturbing sound: It was the sound of silence.

Where there should have been the rambunctious sound of thousands of crickets and tree-frogs, only a few, very distant, crickets could be heard. This reminded that, in a ghastly way, the sound of the "end of the world" is the sound of silence. It is not ravaging storms and bomb-explosions, necessarily; it could be simply nature shutting down.

If we, or our governments, are foolish, and just plain stupid, enough to trade our miraculous and astounding natural riches for dollars, then we deserve the silence-- the "silent spring," as older activists called it. We do not deserve the rich orchestration of birds, crickets, and tree-frogs. For our greed has proved us unworthy.

And now, our bees are dying. A huge part of nature is dying, and yet, we human beings continue on our path of relentless greed. This silence of the bees is a signal, and only total ecological idiots will ignore and neglect a "sign" of these monstrous proportions!

This morning's silence probably has a natural and normal explanation. Perhaps it is atypically cool, or another parameter has gone astray. We can certainly, desperately hope so! But the haunting question remains: What if it is a "sign" of the "end of the world"?
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Please recycle, plant a tree, or demonstrate to the Goddess your genuine Love for nature. Please share this article, or at least, the discussion, with all your friends. Pass the word: If the "end of the world" comes, it will be a very subtle event, precipitated by human myopia and stupidity.
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