The Church of Gaia/Earthseed
This page is historical and no longer represents an active project. Go here for further explanation.
Gaia is the living Earth, an embodiment of a concept that is both scientific and religious.
Earthseed is the name of the fictional religion on which the SolSeedMovement was originally based. It was invented by OctaviaButler in her novels, Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents.
I (Ben Sibelman) have been working on the concept of a "Church of Gaia/Earthseed" on my weblog for some time now. I have now merged this project into the SolSeedMovement and proposed the addition of these Tenets of Gaia/Earthseed to the SolSeedCreed:
- Life Is Sacred. We should not worship anything that is not alive.
- Change Is Eternal. We should not try to set up a changeless order. Doing so will only lead to unnecessary Chaos.
- Chaos Is Inevitable, but can be managed by Life.
- Life keeps Chaos at bay by building complex structures, on every scale from the microscopic (bacteria) to the planetary (Gaia).
- Life Changes slowly through evolution, becoming ever more complex and shaping itself to fit its Changing environment.
- Overly Rapid Change leads to unnecessary Chaos, and unnecessary death.
- Humanity must emulate biological evolution by moderating the pace of the Change we have unleashed, so that we can direct and shape it well enough to avoid creating too much Chaos.
- Only then can humanity fulfill its Destiny as Earthseed/SolSeed.
- The Destiny of Earthseed is to take root on other worlds, there to grow new biospheres, Gaia's children.
In addition to the virtues of SelfLove, Empathy, and Wisdom encouraged by SolSeed, the Church of Gaia/Earthseed supports the four additional virtues of Hope, Creativity, Pragmatism, and Perseverence. It also has a more general ethical stance.
Finally, as my tenth-grade social studies teacher taught me, there are three basic questions that people have always looked to religion to answer. If I want the Church of Gaia/Earthseed to be successful, I had better provide those answers:
- Where do we come from? That is, how did our world, the human race, or one's specific culture come to be?
- Why are we here? What is our purpose in life, as individuals and as communities? What do we need to accomplish or work toward?
- Where are we going? This is really two different questions: What happens after we die? Is there any way that one's mind or consciousness can outlast one's mortal body? Also, how will our world end, and when?
These concepts, along with as many ideas as I can pull together on healing our world and building new ones, will eventually be collected in a book tentatively titled Becoming Earthseed: A Survival Guide for the Human Race.
FAQs
...Or at any rate, questions I would probably ask if I were reading this, with answers from my weblog.
1. What exactly is this dangerous "Chaos" that you claim is looming over us? Just global warming?
- Well, that's one of several possibilities I list in my Titanic metaphor entry. See also the second page I've added to the SolSeed workspace, Cautious Optimism.
2. Why would an environmentalist like you want to support the radically technocentric idea of space colonization?
- Two reasons. First, because if we get our act together enough to put an independent colony on Mars (for example) and then have a relapse and destroy ourselves here on Earth, we'll still have an emergency backup society. Second, because life is so precious, I believe that increasing the number of living worlds would be a wonderful thing.
3. Okay, but this talk of destroying ourselves is kind of depressing...what positive ideas can you contribute to a religious movement, other than the distant dream of interplanetary and interstellar colonization?
- Well, I do have this collection of atheistic theories of immortality. Also some fun and relevant Rock Song Lyrics I wrote.
4. Atheistic? Isn't Gaia supposed to be a goddess? Can "She" really fit in with the scientific basis of SolSeed?
- Well, yes and no. But as noted at the top of this page, a major aim of my project is a reconciliation of science and religion.
5. Do you have anything more concrete to contribute?
- I've written numerous entries with various more-or-less-concrete ideas on what we should be doing to save our planet. More recently, I thought up a design for Gaia/Earthseed places of "worship" that you might find interesting.
--Scifiben 23:45, 3 August 2007 (PDT)
