Humans are infinitely adaptable. We can change our environments in amazing (and destructive) ways in order to aid our survival. There are people groups thriving anywhere from the hottest deserts to the most barren tundras for thousands of years. We are truly amazing. And even though we know we've survived for who knows how long (millions of years perhaps?) how can we continue to be so short sighted? I mean, when it comes to issues like climate change and world poverty, we can't even set a plan for fifteen years down the road! Remember Kyoto? How many other resolutions or summits or promises have we broken? How many of us care? How many of us even remember?
Perhaps this is a predominantly "Western" problem, though I would venture a guess that just about all of our world's cultures are speeding up. Perhaps it's because our technologies are designed and marketed for instant gratification. That, combined with a very "time-centered" approach to life in the west rather than a "person-centered" world view leaves us stuck in the short term. Our media is certainly part of it as well; we can access current information within seconds through the Internet instead of spending hours searching in a library. I watch or listen to or read the news daily (usually all three!) so that I can keep current; so that I know what's going on in the world right NOW! And watching, listening, and reading are all instantly accessible through a variety of media venues. And even though I try to stay current, there's no guarantee I'll retain that information. I remember what a politician said or did last week or perhaps a few days ago, but I very seldom remember what was said five years ago!
I remembered an interesting concept in my Native Studies class a few years ago: Make every decision considering not just your children, or your grandchildren; but look forward to eight generations down the road. This was the rationale behind treaty making. First Nations leaders recognized that their world was rapidly changing, and that they had no choice but to change with it. They wanted to make sure their children and their children's children would have the resources to be able to thrive in the future. Of course, the treaties were never honored in the way they were intended (though the eighth generation is still about a hundred years away so who knows what could happen). I don't know about you, but even considering my grandchildren is a stretch let alone thinking about my descendants 200 years in the future!
Sometimes I wonder how my faith has lent itself to preferring short term thinking rather than long. Granted, it is very important to focus on what's going on now. "Now" is when we are making decisions - decisions that will not only shape who we are becoming, but also who our children will become and even what our world will become. "Now" is important precisely because "now" is all I'm able to deal with at the moment! This is not what I mean when I talk about a difficulty grasping the future. What I mean to speak to is the evangelical concept of time, rapture, and indeed the goodness of creation. Evangelicals have tended to view time as something of a "doomsday clock", ticking down until Christ's return. The church's purpose, therefore, becomes likened to preparing for disaster rather than preparing for the kingdom - which is now and not yet. A kingdom-centered future is a future that does not hold disaster for the world but redemption. You can see how this type of thinking would lend itself neatly to poor environmental stewardship or band-aid charity. Our future hopes shape how we choose to act now and they also effect how we view our past (another tense that evangelicals seem to have issues with).
It so happened that today I was listening to CBC Radio (again staying current) when I heard of The Long Now Foundation. This foundation is dedicated to designing and building a clock that will run continuously for ten thousand years. Sounds like a crazy idea right? What exactly would be the point of such a clock? Well, the members of this foundation (which happens to include some of the most intelligent minds on earth) think that this type of project might encourage us to shift our thinking to the long term... the really really long term! They plan to place the clock within a mountain (no joke - I know it sounds like the plot of a James Bond movie) and make it somewhat of a pilgrimage destination. Not only are they planning a to build a clock, but also a library, a server and a photographic exhibit that will also last for 10,000 years. I can understand how such a place could indeed be a spiritual experience. It would certainly put things into perspective. And here's more perspective: we're talking ten thousand years - a minuscule drop in the bucket of time!
Think of the shift of thinking that would have to take place to actually pull off such a plan... We manufacture products that are not designed to run after ten or fifteen years. Everything from the materials used to the power sources to the complex inner workings of machines would have to be rethought. You'd have to try and predict the conditions that the clock might face within the next ten thousand years. It seems like an impossible task - something straight out of science fiction. And perhaps its a futile task. I mean, how could a clock shift paradigms? Would people really go for that?
The whole thing got me thinking, "What would I imagine the world to be like in ten thousand years?" And then, "Do I really believe that the earth as I know it will still be around by that time?" And then, "Do I really care if the world is around in ten thousand years?" I should care, though my mind can't fathom even a two hundred years let alone ten thousand, let alone eternity. Even the word "eternity" oddly seems easier to stomach than ten thousand years. I wonder why that is? It's an uncomfortable question, one that I'm not ready to even attempt to answer.
What is it about the distant future (or for that matter the distant past) that is so threatening? As science reaches into the past through a particle accelerator and into the future through a James Bond-ish indestructible clock, how do I adequately address history and eternity in my own life - in my "now"? I think the answer lies in this moment, in the present but perhaps the present with a different understanding: understanding that I have come to this point because of the actions and choices of millions of people and through the wisdom and creative power of Providence, and that my actions, and, more importantly the person I choose to become will have similar ripples into the vast symphony of eternity.
Labels: random facts, the kingdom, The Long Now, time
