{"id":4726,"date":"2015-04-22T23:52:25","date_gmt":"2015-04-22T22:52:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/?p=4726"},"modified":"2015-04-22T23:54:23","modified_gmt":"2015-04-22T22:54:23","slug":"david-suzuki-force-of-nature-reposted-for-earth-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2015\/04\/david-suzuki-force-of-nature-reposted-for-earth-day.html","title":{"rendered":"David Suzuki, Force of Nature (reposted for Earth Day)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

In 1.5 of the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle observes that there are three\u00a0types of life thought to be happy: the life of enjoyment, the political life,\u00a0and the life of contemplation. \u00a0The life of enjoyment is a hedonistic life\u00a0focused on conventional pleasures. The political life is the life of a states-\u00a0person. It may aim at despotic power, or be lived for the sake of winning\u00a0public honors, but in its most proper form its aim is the exercise of moral\u00a0virtue and political and practical wisdom in the governing of the state.\u00a0The contemplative life, speaking generally, is the life of the philosopher\u00a0or student of nature<\/strong>. \u2013 Christine Korsgaard,\u00a0Aristotle and Kant on the Source of Moral Value in\u00a0Ethics, 96.3<\/em>, 1986, p.489, emphasis mine.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I have just watched one of the most impressive movies of my life.\u00a0Force of Nature, the David Suzuki Movie<\/a>, is deeply moving, brilliant, human, and urgent. Suzuki looks back on a life that tells so many stories and connects with every corner of the world. \u00a0This 90 minute film skilfully compresses 75 years of a magnificent life and does more than simply tell a story or convey sound-bytes. It takes us along on a journey, and, like the mythical \u201cHeroes Quest\u201d it is a journey that cannot help but leave us changed forever.<\/p>\n

We see\u00a0David Takayoshi Suzuki\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0Canadian youth shattered by the events at Pearl Harbor and his experiencing discrimination for the first time at the hands of Japanese kids during his family\u2019s internment. He speaks of turning to nature for refuge and solace, finding a home in science and in an American institution which had helped develop the nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He starts a family, returning to Canada as an ambitious academic\u00a0and being divorced by his wife. And in his young adulthood he lives through the 60s and 70s, becoming ever more aware of the destruction wrought by humanity all around him. At one point he admits that he was nearly\u00a0paralyzed\u00a0by the realization that his work in genetics, his science, could be used by militaries to wipe out whole races of people.<\/p>\n

But he pressed on, transforming his understanding into activism\u00a0through education<\/em>. He started a TV show, \u201cThe Nature of Things<\/a>,\u201d to explain and relate the complexities of nature and science\u00a0with passion<\/em>\u00a0to the common person. Through the show he met others who cared deeply for the environment, the most striking of whom were the\u00a0Haida<\/a>\u00a0aboriginal people of British Columbia, who were fighting to save a large section of sacred land from impinging lumber companies.<\/p>\n

They won that battle. But the war goes on.<\/p>\n

Speaking about the engine driving this war, the economy, Suzuki states that in our rush for progress, \u201cWe fail to ask the important question. Like, \u2018how much is enough? Are there no limits? Are we\u00a0happier\u00a0<\/em>with all this stuff? What is an economy for? We never ask those questions.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"David<\/a>
David Suzuki and the Dalai Lama at the Environmental Summit 2013 Portland Oregon (photo by Colleen Benelli flickr C.C.<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It\u2019s funny that virtually none of this film is explicitly Buddhist<\/a>, and yet the message and the man ever so clearly embody the virtues of wisdom and compassion. We do see shots of Buddhist monks chanting during a Hiroshima memorial service, but this is not the religion Suzuki was raised with, nor is Buddhism<\/a> something he took up later in life. His father, he tells us, \u201cfound great strength in the Japanese tradition of nature worship. Shortly before he died, he said, \u2018I will return to nature where I came from. I will be part of the fish, the trees, the birds; that\u2019s my reincarnation.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead, Suzuki is a man of science, in the best possible way, a true\u00a0student of nature<\/em>. An educator, he speaks plainly about those who have hurt him and those he sees as the greatest threats to humanity\u2019s future. And in\u00a0speaking\u00a0of his work, he comes alive with a\u00a0vibrancy\u00a0that can make almost anyone love science. A humble man, he doesn\u2019t take potshots at his opponents. Despite seeing so clearly the suffering caused by so much foolishness in the world, he is moved more by a sense of possibility and genuine hope for the future than by anger or despair. He has lived and continues to live a life not only deserving our attention, but also worthy of our emulation.<\/p>\n

The film is available on DVD or instant streaming<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"david<\/a> Originally posted at:\u00a0http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2011\/12\/review_of_a_force_of_nature.html<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 1.5 of the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle observes that there are three\u00a0types of life thought to be happy: the life of enjoyment, the political life,\u00a0and the life of contemplation. \u00a0The life of enjoyment is a hedonistic life\u00a0focused on conventional pleasures. The political life is the life of a states-\u00a0person. It may aim at despotic power, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":118,"featured_media":4727,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,20,15,10,3,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academia","category-activism","category-buddhism","category-commodification","category-happiness","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nDavid Suzuki, Force of Nature (reposted for Earth Day)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In 1.5 of the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle observes that there are three\u00a0types of life thought to be happy: the life of enjoyment, the political\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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