Europe's Wound And The Space Age
This week Angela Merkel spoke of 'Europe's wound' and UK's Parliament imploded over Brexit.
This week I read Stephen Hawkin's last book: Brief Answers to the Big Questions. He thinks we are now entering a new phase of human history; that either a nuclear confrontation or environmental catastrophe will cripple the earth at some point in the next thousand years. He hopes we will find a way to re-locate homo sapiens on some other planet. There is no time to wait for Darwinian evolution to make us more intelligent and better natured. Nationalisms increase. We are a selfish species. We have mapped DNA, which means we can read ‘the book of life’, so he thinks we can start 'writing in corrections'. The task of Celtic spirituality and our Way of Life is to offer the world a way of ‘writing in corrections’ which is freed from nationalistic and denominationalistic constructs.
'End times' draw near. Trade wars increase. International infrastructures break down. A rootless and egotistical globalised elite seems set to rule the world, rendering national democracies a charade. ‘The rain that falls on their home countries does not make them wet’ says Alexander Gauland of Germany’s Alt Right movement, echoing Hitler’s rhetoric. This leads to a revival of neo-fascism and tribalism. In fear, we turn to people with old ideas to govern us. The politics of identity takes centre stage. We become tribal.
Stephen Hawking urged ‘Taking more and more passengers into space will bring new meaning to our place on Earth and to our responsibilities as its stewards, and it will help us recognize our place and future in the cosmos – which is where I believe our ultimate destiny lies’ (*Brief Answers to the Big Questions page 175). I urge that we connect with Christ at the heart of the cosmos, who will help us to tend the planet and each country with care.
Democracy requires common values. Science requires a connecting narrative. Justice requires a concept of truth. The planet, threatened by the catastrophes of global warming, requires tender care. As Eros runs unchecked across hallowed trails of civilization we require sources of purity. The space age requires pioneers who model what is needed. Religions that could provide this have been rocked to their foundations, but Celtic Christianity and the Way hold out the possibility of all these requirements.
