Happy Earth Day-- Don't Screw It Up.

 

    It's a somewhat cloudy morning and I'm working on a crossword puzzle as usual.

    "Gaia," Ben says over my shoulder.

    "Hmm what?"

    "That's 14 across," he explains, so it is. At the precise moment I write it down, the clouds part and sunshine bathes the room.

    "Do you believe in God?" Ben asks.

    "Do you believe in subtlety?" and people think I'm blunt.

    "The Gaia thing got me thinking," he clarifies.

     I think one of the most personal questions you can ask--more so than one's sexual proclivities,-- is about one's spiritual beliefs. It is a sacred matter that should not be shared lightly.

    "My motto is believe what you want and keep it to yourself." is my short answer.

    "There sure were a lot of comical believers in the loony bin. They would go on about how they've been saved by God after some preacher shoved a Bible in their hands and promised redemption. Funny how they never questioned why God afflicted them with addiction or mental illness," he opines sardonically. I forgot about Ben's unique perspective to observe human behavior.

       " Part of religious membership is the promise that in exchange for dutiful worship, God is personally involved with one's daily existence. When their leaders can't explain calamity, they make up some bullshit excuse like 'it's your fault, not God's.' " I say with equal disdain.

    "So Atheists fall into the same trap. How could a loving God allow a child to die of cancer, they wail. But it's just nature when a shark eats a surfer. They don't get The Mystery," Ben dismisses.

    "The Mystery?" I'm unfamiliar with the term.

    " Everything is a gorgeous mystery. Nature, life, good, bad, simple complex --it's all an awe inspiring, intertwined mystery we will never understand," he says in a hushed tone.

    I look at Ben and wonder. There is a growing body of evidence that whole forests talk to each other over great distances, like fungi that covers miles under the soil. Even Ben, who has lived his whole life in a pot, knows this. There is along silence as we look out the window to watch clouds saunter across the sky while the tall pine trees across the street sways in the light breeze.

    "Part of The Mystery is respecting all life and humans better stop treating the Earth like a garbage can or get a real bitch slap from Mama Gaia," Ben thunders like a tent preacher.

    "Amen brother," I respond.