I recently watched a movie titled: "Leaves of Grass"...Edward Norton was the main character (he's not my favorite actor) but the movie actually turned out to be sort of good..there is a scene where the Norton character is telling a female Rabbi that his brother murdered someone and he stumbles and asks her for some sort of way to make up for what his brother did....
She (the Rabbi) says: "We are animals Professor Kincaid, we have brains that just trick us into thinking we are not."
He asks: "What can I do with that?"
She says: "Repair"
He asks "What...what do you mean?"
She replies: "All of us, you , me, your brother, ...we break the world, help repair it."
Note: the dialogue isn't exact, but close enough....it was a great scene, you might like the movie.
I am haunted by the knowledge that we human animals have tricked ourselves into thinking we are not equals of the other animals and as a result have broken the world, or are in the process of breaking it and the best we can do at this point is to stop breaking and start repairing.
Living as an ethical vegan is an absolute minimum requirement as a way to maybe, just maybe, stop a big part of the breaking of the world.
Repair is a tougher thing....in some way perhaps, helping rescue animals placed in harms way because of us is a way to undertake some small beginning of that repair.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
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"Living as an ethical vegan is an absolute minimum requirement as a way to maybe, just maybe, stop a big part of the breaking of the world." - This. I couldn't have said that better. And while there is a part of me that knows we can never repair what we've done and make it good as new, we can't go back and remove the suffering we've already caused, there is the opportunity for us to prevent further suffering and repair as much as possible the damage we've done to our planet. Not all of our species will do this. And our numbers, those of us who will do it, may never be great. But to the ones we do manage to make a difference for, it means the world. .. Great post!
Thank you for commenting, Krissa. That's not a bad thing to cling to...what you said: "...to the ones we manage to make a difference for, it means the world."
The Rabbi is referring to: Tikkun olam (Hebrew: תיקון עולם) is a Hebrew phrase that means "repairing the world." It is The Spiritual Purpose of Life. Too many of us have lost our way.
Thank you for commenting Patty and for elaborating about the origin of part of the dialogue. I very much agree...and I am totally convinced that we have tricked ourselves...with disastrous results for all.
I really like the term "repair" as opposed to "help", maybe because it's clearer who's responsible for the damage created. Thanks for introducing it!
Thanks for commenting SITOGV, you're welcome although as Patty noted Tikkun olam arose from jewish spiritual notions. Repair does sure seems to fit the current situation doesn't it?
I wouldn't be an Ed Norton fan either... If not for the movie Atonement. It too has some profound messages.
I too like the word "repair"... Guess we are all struggling in our way to make a society "on the mend." I can't help thinking sometimes though, that certain things are too broken to fix. Perhaps reality will someday force us to start from scratch completely? Hopefully much wiser.
Thank you for commenting Bea. No doubt some things are too broken for repair.
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