I feel the need for a restart. And while this political cycle is not over, what with the Georgia Senate runoffs<\/a> and Trump\u2019s refusal to accept reality<\/a>, we\u2019re past the point where my constant involvement will significantly influence the outcome.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t want to disengage from politics. But I do want to stop obsessing over them.<\/p>\n And so I want to go back to the beginning of my Paganism. I want to reconnect with the source of my inspiration and wisdom.<\/p>\n And that begins with Nature.<\/p>\n We do not know how the universe began.<\/p>\n Physics does a great job of \u201crolling back the film\u201d and seeing what happened over the past 14 billion years or so. But when it gets to a fraction of a second after the Big Bang, the model breaks down. We don\u2019t know what happened before the Big Bang, or if such a question even makes sense.<\/p>\n Fundamentalists argue their God created everything, but that just pushes the question back: where did their God come from? And if the answer is that their God always existed, then why can\u2019t we just say that the universe always existed?<\/p>\n This much we know: everything we can see, hear, and touch in the material world was once compressed into an infinitely small, infinitely dense point.<\/p>\n And then it began to expand. Over billions of years, stars and galaxies began to coalesce. Then came planets. Then came biological life.<\/p>\n When you look up in the night sky, the light you see has been traveling in space for millions, and in some cases billions of years. The stars are so far away we can\u2019t comprehend the distance, even if astronomers can measure it.<\/p>\n On one hand, we are all incredibly small and insignificant. On the other hand, we are part of a universe that\u2019s billions of years old and billions of light-years in size.<\/p>\n These two statements form the foundation of my Paganism. We are tiny and brief and insignificant. And we are part of something huge and old and all-encompassing.<\/p>\n We are part of all that is.<\/p>\n We do not know how life on Earth began. It\u2019s possible life began and ended several times, but we have no evidence of that it did, and no way to know that it didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n What we know is that about 3.7 billion years ago, life began. And this time it stuck. Every living thing is a descendant of that first single-celled organism.<\/p>\n Life began in the sea, then moved onto the land. Through the process of evolution<\/a>, the lines diverged. The first primates appeared about 55 million years ago<\/a>. Our line diverged from chimpanzees about 6 million years ago. Our species \u2013 homo sapiens sapiens<\/em> \u2013 appeared about 200,000 years ago. Our most recent human relatives \u2013 the Neanderthals \u2013 died off sometime in the last ice age. Some of their genes live on in all of us except for Africans.<\/p>\n We are all related. All humans can trace their ancestry back to East Africa. We share 99% of our DNA with chimps, 90% with cats, and 50% with bananas.<\/p>\n When Saint Francis called the wolf his brother, he had no way of knowing just how right he was.<\/p>\n We aren\u2019t just connected to everyone and everything else \u2013 we are related<\/em> to every living creature on this planet.<\/p>\n We evolved to breathe the air, drink the water, and eat other living creatures<\/a>. If we do not do these things we will die.<\/p>\n Over the past 300 years or so, we have become increasingly detached from the land. Today most of us live in cities or suburbs. Our food comes prepackaged from around the world instead of from the land on which we live. We have forgotten what it is to forage for roots and berries, to hunt, to grow crops, and to tend herds.<\/p>\n One of the drivers behind the modern Pagan movement has been the desire to reconnect with the land, and with the rhythms and cycles of Nature. We celebrate the Wheel of the Year<\/a> in part because our ancient ancestors did (some of them, anyway) but also because something deep inside us recognizes the need to mark the changing seasons and to honor the agricultural cycle.<\/p>\n We come from the Earth, and without the Earth we would not be.<\/p>\n Lest we grow naively romantic, let us remember that Nature includes hurricanes, wildfires, and coronaviruses.<\/p>\n Christians argue that the Earth is \u201cfallen\u201d \u2013 that there was a time when everything on Earth was perfect for humans. Pagans understand the reality that we are simply one species among many. We like to think we\u2019re the pinnacle of evolution, but go hiking in grizzly bear country or swimming in a shark habitat and you\u2019ll quickly realize that Nature isn\u2019t all about us.<\/p>\n When we drop our human-centered arrogance, we learn to respect the rest of the natural world. Bears and sharks are just doing what they have to do to survive, the same as us. We can appreciate their beauty, even as we acknowledge the need to give them their space.<\/p>\n Prairie dogs dig holes. Beavers build dams. Tall trees block sunlight from smaller trees. All creatures modify their environment. But only humans have the brain power and the technology to modify their environment to the extent that we do.<\/p>\n Many times this is a good thing. Cities are an efficient use of land and energy, and they promote sharing and growing cultures. I\u2019m rather fond of electricity and modern medicine.<\/p>\n Much of the American West evolved to burn on a regular basis. The first people who lived in these areas learned to live with the fires<\/a>. Europeans moved in and tried to stop the fires. That just means that when the fires do start, there\u2019s far more fuel and the damage is far greater.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a line from a comic book movie, but it\u2019s still true: with great power comes great responsibility. We have a responsibility to leave clean water, clean air, and healthy soil for future generations of humans. And we have an obligation to share the Earth with other creatures\u2026 and not just the ones we like.<\/p>\n![\"a](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/243\/2020\/11\/crow-11.07.20-05.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nThe Big Bang<\/h2>\n
![\"We](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/243\/2020\/11\/0929-191-Marfa.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nAll life on Earth is related<\/h2>\n
We are dependent on the Earth for our survival<\/h2>\n
![\"penguins\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/243\/2020\/11\/Dallas-Zoo-111.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nNature is beautiful and terrible<\/h2>\n
All creatures modify their environment, but none to the extent of humans<\/h2>\n
![\"prairie](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/243\/2020\/11\/0926-11-prairie-dog.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n