Cousins of Wolves

God plays dice and people play the odds. We often bet wrong, but we are good enough at playing the odds that we are now cocooned in predictable safety: seat belts, vaccines, life insurance, free public education, health care, pensions, and so on. We stopped fighting, put the bad guys in jail, evicted the wolves and retired in our climate controlled homes emerging now and then to stock up on frozen pizza and ice cream. Life can be boring when there's no need to take a chance, so we watch rom-coms, mysteries, game shows, team sports, ersatz 'reality', because pretending to be in the game keeps things interesting without imposing risks.

Before I take the God-plays-dice analogy any farther, I should repeat my disclaimer. Whenever we are thinking 'God is _____' and fill in the blank, we are using a metaphor to make the unthinkable thinkable. A metaphor may be useful, but since it is just a suggestive place holder for We-Don't-Know-What-Belongs-In-This-Blank, it may get us into trouble if we take it too seriously. Theologies that get us into trouble are forgotten. As it happens, we are in trouble. Part of our difficulty is that we forgot some things when the God-of-war got us into trouble and we discovered the God-of-love. 

Love is good in my experience; but there is more to God than we have imagined or can imagine, and a lot that we have forgotten because we have grown comfortable in our bubble of love. So when I say God plays dice and is arbitrary and uncaring, I am talking about those aspects of reality obscured by the goodness in human society, good meaning respect, restraint, reciprocity, grace, gratitude, generosity, trustworthiness, curiosity, knowledge, wisdom and love. If the love bubble bursts and nastiness prevails, we will dissolve in the chaos from which we have emerged, because that reality is still there and God continues to roll the dice. Behave or God will get you. God is more than love. Not my favourite idea although I understand it: Romans 12:19, and Deuteronomy 32:35.

A few years ago, little Natasha asked Grandma how long ago it was since she was a monkey. That was Natasha's understanding of evolution, the metaphor that is quickly replacing the Creator-God as the way we think about our origins. She knew that Grandma's affection was absolute, but how perceptive of her to imagine that we were monkeys so recently. In fact we retain the vestiges of monkeyism while becoming human. The monkey has appetite with a limited capability for satisfying it. Humans retain the appetite, and we also know how to get what we want whatever the circumstances. What's more, we feel entitled as favourites of the God of love. While monkeys can thrive without destroying the forest, human appetite equipped with know-how and a presumption of privilege and permission turns forest into desert. We were warned in Eden and forgot. Genesis 2:17

Somewhere in our gallery of God metaphors there should be one that declares us family with other species thriving with mutual respect in a wilderness garden. Oh, there it is in aboriginal lore, almost forgotten by those who saw it as a threat to acquisition and power. Embrace that metaphor and be cousins of trees and monkeys and wolves before the love bubble bursts.

© Can Stock Photo / judyates

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Blame Game Hurts Wildlife: David Suzuki and Rachel Plotkin, September 30, 2020

Frazer River Salmon Run drops by millions. CBC News, August 25, 2022.

List of Species at Risk in Ontario: Government of Ontario

Who Will Clean it Up: Rob Easton and Joel Dryden, CBC News, August 25, 2022

Try or Try Not

God plays dice. That sounds wrong because we imagine God as Daddy. We ask him for what we want and he provides while dealing with whatever cost and bother the gift generates. 

You know, that's not how it works. 

To tell the truth, the universe (aside from things like puppies) is impersonal, somewhat arbitrary, somewhat predictable, and quite unforgiving. Actions have consequences. If we don't know that in our bones and begin treating the world with respect and restraint, we are done. We are already getting a taste of what's coming: drought, floods, monster storms, wildfires, famine, rising oceans, heat fatalities, climate refugees, mass extinction of species, and multiple feedback loops driving the biosphere to collapse. God keeps playing dice. We keep betting boxcars (two sixes), imagining we can win by rubbing a rabbit's foot. Meanwhile, the cost and bother accumulate because nobody is keeping track of what we owe. If we want to survive and thrive, we are fortunate that the ancestors kept track of what worked and what didn't in a list of things to do and things not to do. However, the list is incomplete. We find ourselves in novel circumstances and we don't know what to do.

I know. I hear you. You want reassuring words to distract us while we rush toward catastrophe like a frog in a saucepan that hopes the water is not actually getting hot. Forget hope. Care or don't care, your choice. If we care, we will notice what's happening and make a plan. If we have a plan, we can play the odds. If we don't care, God doesn't care. If we don't plan, there is no plan. If we don't try, then what will be will be. We've known that since Moses. How did we forget something so obvious and simple?

For fun, switch the metaphor to poker. I wager a Moses. You raise me a Yoda: "There is no try. Do or do not." Yoda was telling Luke that he could, if he chose, move a spaceship by controlling The Force with his thoughts. You know, that's just a story. Luke isn't going to do anything with his thoughts unless his thoughts move muscle: leg muscle, arm muscle, face muscle, voice muscle... somebody's muscle, because he's going to need help. Doing is not a thought; it is muscle guided by thought making things happen. What's more, you can't be sure what you are doing until it's done. Before it's done you are just trying. We try and we learn from consequences and then keep trying because it ain't over 'till it's over. I raise you a Yogi Berra. 

This is getting confusing: dice, Jedi, frogs, poker, baseball. Let's settle for reality. I'm all in. I want to see the actual cards. 

Aha! We have been dealt thermodynamics. 

Here in this universe,
when we try to get what we want,
it makes a mess.

All you can do with a mess is
find a use for it,
ignore it,
dilute it,
hide it,
export it
or clean it up,
which makes another mess.
That's how it works in this universe.

We thought we were doing good when we invented engines for the heavy lifting, concrete and steel to build cities, fertilizer to multiply crop yield, wells and pipelines to fuel transportation and heat homes. Now all of that is done. Now we can see that what we were really doing was investing fossil energy in a growth spiral that requires ever more energy to keep going. Meanwhile the products of combustion accumulate interfering with the radiation of heat into space. We tried to do good, but what we really did was put a lid on the pot and dial up the temperature. 

On a positive note, we aren't done yet. 
On a scary note,...we don't know what we're doing.

Not to worry.

When what to do is unknown,
try or try not.
If we try,
then we learn,
and try again until it's over.
That's how it works in this universe.

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Alberta Renewable Energy Pause Timeline: Drew Anderson, The Narwhal, May 6, 2024

Ignoring Climate Change is just Too Expensive: David Suzuki, June 12, 2024

Tears for Jasper: CBC News, July 25, 2024

The Jasper Wildfire: CBC News, July 26, 2024

Photos of Alberta Oil Sands: Amber Bracken and Drew Anderson, The Narwhal, November 2023

Silent Summer

 We had a young visitor here from England a few days ago. He had set himself the goal of seeing some wildlife while in Canada: moose, bears, coyotes, skunks, chipmunks, racoons, robins, blue jays, cardinals. We had to apologize that there were no moose in the neighbourhood, but we thought he could easily add redwing blackbirds to his list by visiting the nearby drainage pond. We were wrong.

Since we moved into our beautiful new home here on the edge of town fifteen years ago, the coyotes have moved on, the frog chorus has gone quiet, one lonely dove is left mourning its solitude after the eviction of killdeers from the soccer field, no crickets, a single bee visiting the hosta blossoms, an occasional whiney mosquito to remind us that we are lowly prey as well as top predator. We lament the retreat of wild things and beckon them back with an offering of echinacea and milkweed and dill. The odd butterfly stops by for a nectar snack. So far, no caterpillars.

When I proposed a neo-einsteinism a few weeks ago, I was having some fun while hinting at the ruckus made by our species in our search for safety, comfort and beauty. Remember this?

God plays dice.
People play the odds.
Smart people play the violin.
Wise people play with earplugs.

Every sour note is a lesson learned
as we progress
from Turkey in the Straw
to The Lark Ascending.

Practice.