Recently I had some of my words on a previous article misunderstood and it occured to me that some explanation of what I mean when I use the word 'Fate' might be called for. I tend to use the word in the way it's used within the particular mystical stream I work in and forget that it's everyday meaning is a little different.When I say something that happened historically was 'Fate' this is, within my understanding of Fate, something indisputable, if something happened then it was 'Fate'; something that manifested in the great weave of things. This is not a moralistic concept, it does not condone or condemn a historical occurance. It just says that this thing happened. This dynamic system that is made up of all things, including us, expresses itself in numerous ways, some of those ways through human wills or collective human wills. If there is a way to put one's human will toward bringing about a more 'positive' (from our human perspective) result then I believe by all means we should do so. But in the case of history where something has already occured and cannot be undone I am inclined to try and above all understand the meaning of those occurances. Often we will see things that we disagree with or consider to be evils, sometimes knowing those things about history can allow us to understand things about the current weave of things around us that may help us to become positive forces for change.
When I observed in a post (a very long way back) that the children of Europe were fatefully connected with Australia I meant in no way to condone moralistically the colonisation of another sovereign people. What I meant was: this occured let us try to understand it, and if it proves beyond human comprehension, at least let us try to be positive, fateful forces ourselves in shaping the future of Australia. I don't think that this will be easy, in fact it is hard to even inch a foot forward in any direction without offending someone else in some way. But I would rather risk offence and misunderstanding than not try to come to grips with these big picture issues. I can know history, I can feel all my human feelings of outrage, pity, empathy, anger, frustration and even sometimes despair but it doesn't free me from the need to try with my own life to create a more positive future, even if there are some people who basically think that me and people like me don't have a right to one. I don't know why Fate span out as it did, nor do I expect to, as the supra-system I give this name to is not a personal 'God' as in the Christian worldview who is meant to operate within some idea of human justice. Nor does the concept of an intelligent supra system playing itself out through it's part exempt us from personal responsiblity for our actions. But I haven't done any harm to anyone, I've just been born in a particular place (yes I was born here, despite being in England for a while as a youngster) which I now have to find some sort of spiritual peace in.
It does not seem to me that despite all the atrocities and injustices that man perpetrates against man that the land here holds me in prejudice. People who are alive who have perpetrated or continue to perpetrate injustices should answer for them, the rest of us need to find ways to call the same place 'home' in a meaningful and non-destructive way.
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4 comments:
Dearest Alice!
It makes me very angry that a blog like this and posts like yours need to be defended on some level, and I note the few comments in recent days that have appeared to various posts have been particularly hateful, and ignorant in regards to your beliefs and opinions. And submitted no less by Mr Anonymous! I hate him. He is a coward.
The thing that the few comments I have read, least of which was the one you refer to in this post, is the negative perspective of the commentators. And I don't mean that they are downers, or pessimists or somehow sad. What I mean to say is that each of the commentators is fixated with the past. The berating of parents for having had children, the near racists comments to you for being white in Australia (which somehow makes you akin to a 19th Century British soldier on the Black Line?), the sheer lack of regard for the poor Hawthorn trees, that like so many white people in Australia didn't choose to be here either. These are all things that have ALREADY COME TO PASS. These things can not be unmade, they can not be erased. There seems to be a lot of passion in Australia for the preservation for the natural and indigenous environment, passion for sustainability and population size control and passion for the rights of the First Inhabitants of this land. And that is all a very good thing. However, the wellbeing of the other things that have been here for a long time now too, things that are born here, that know no other place as home, like the hawthorn, the rabbits in the bush outside my home, like me, is as important. The only appropriate solution which seems to satisfy this sort of person fixated with the past, is the complete removal of all these 'introduced' things, which, given the numbers, would be an impossibility or taken to its extreme, a crime far worse than the crimes which have already happened that have made the situation what it is. I sometimes wonder that humanity has learnt anything at all form the past, and would urge it to re-address our history seriously to understand the terrible things that have happened in order that they might never happen again. However, there also appears an obssession with the past that prevents otherwise intelligent and good people putting their energies towards a positive future. The future is the only thing we can effect. Hating something is in fact not going to change the past or somehow make it the results of past events dissapear. Regardless of the termonology one might use in relation to it. One does not actually have to be a fatalist in order to understand that the past cannot be changed.
I hope that you will always risk offence and misunderstanding in such a way. Because I honestly believe, and also that your blog demonstrates this; that you are attempting not to judge the past, not judge the facticity of our present, being as it is a direct result of that past, in a blind effort to mentally headbutt certain unpleasant things into oblivion, but that you are focusing your thoughts and energies and actions to the future and making the most and very best of all you have learnt from history and your own life's experience and ALL that you have to work with. And for all the do-gooders and cause-pushers, there seems very few people with a plan going forward for the common good. It is then, a more precious gift you have to offer.
Well everything has to be defended at some level I suppose, that's the nature of entering into discourse of this nature. I don't really so much post this to defend my previous statements, more because I become aware with people pulling up really old posts like that how my perspective is changing and maturing over time. With what has already happened over the past year in my attempts to live my beliefs I've had one or two things to think about and my latest posts represent refining of my direction.
Life is not static. Engagement with the past through appropriate frameworks enables the individual to complete a circle of involvement of past, present and future.
I have never experienced negative interactions when dealing with spirits of place of my locality as they appear to know my intention, although I always make a point of voicing that intent to them.
They appear to judge the actions and intentions of myself as an individual and don't hold me to account for the actions of others.
The opinions of others, although noted, don't define the nature of that relationship.
RR
Most agreed Red Raven, on all points actually. I don't imagine that the past is 'gone' as I don't see things as linear like that. But I do know what I can't change and I would rather focus on what I can. Thanks for your thoughtful contribution!
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