Confessions of Complacency in the Midst of Global Warmth

Yesterday I was walking my dogs in the sunshine. When I turned my mind to climate change I felt… well… remarkably untroubled. The temperature was perfect, about 65 degrees. There  was a slight breeze that made the daffodils and camellias wave gently back and forth. All was right with the world, at least here. Runaway global warming, massive storms, droughts, widespread extinctions, political unrest, and the other ills that climate change is likely to bring? Well, there’s always something. We’ll deal with it somehow.

Aren’t we funny creatures? At the exact same time that I am convinced we must make massive changes in the world – now – to prevent widespread suffering, destruction, and death, I experience moments of, “Eh, whatever. Have you noticed the jasmine is blooming?”

Never mind the fact that it’s MARCH in Portland, Oregon, and it’s supposed to be 45 degrees and raining more or less constantly. Never mind the fact that when I moved to Portland 23 years ago you didn’t see the sun between October and June, except for what I liked to call the occasional “sucker hole.” It’s just kind of hard to be upset about the weather when it’s so pleasant. (Apologies to the people elsewhere on the continent suffering severe water shortages or ridiculous amounts of snow.)

Maybe we can’t really trust our sense of urgency to let us know whether something is actually urgent. I’ve certainly been overwhelmed with a sense of imperative about things that later proved to be pretty unimportant except for the projections of my own delusions. And then there are problems in the world that our friends or neighbors believe should merit our full attention and response – but we just listen politely to our friend’s concerns while hoping they will change the subject soon, and then get back to planning a barbecue.

Lately I’ve personally been very consumed by the process of selling our condo, buying a house closer to the zen center I lead, and finding ways to make part of my living as a writer. There are all kinds of exciting and stressful projects to contemplate: Refinishing floors, packing, locking loan rates, emails, blog posts, rss feeds, guest teachers at the zen center… not to mention walking dogs and getting rid of an ant infestation.

Oh yeah – and all of this activity is carried out with the background assumption that everything will stay more or less the same for at least the next 30 years that we’ll be paying our new mortgage. Many experts on climate change are suggesting this is an increasingly risky assumption to make…

Zen Master Dogen warned us that even if you attain great spiritual development, if you miss the fundamental matter, “You are playing in the entranceway, but you are still short of the vital path of emancipation.” And yet he also wrote, “Going forward is, after all, an everyday affair.” When I read that line I always think about things like sweeping floors, enjoying a good meal, and having heated discussions about the Dharma.

We just keep living, trying to avoid the extremes of complacency and panic as we go.