WHY THE CONCEPT OF THE “NEW EARTH” IS COLONIAL
The term “new Earth” is a concept that circulates with prevalence in new age spirituality, and is presented with a tone of solutionism to the existing socio-economic-environmental problems and challenges we currently are fraught with. Yet, the very proposed “solution” of a “new Earth” is a form of colonialism.
The very notion of humans creating a “new Earth” denotes that we have a solution to this mess, but let’s not forget that we were the ones who created it in the first place, so what makes us think that this “new Earth” will be anything different? Just because we are “spiritual”? The Church thought so, too. Will it be a situation where it’s “meet the new Earth, same as the old Earth”? Did any of Britain’s commonwealth of a “new world” turn out to be any different than its originator? (In fact, “new world”
/ “terra nova” were the exact terms used by European countries when they were colonizing the Americas.)
The terms “old Earth” and “new Earth” are equated with in binary values of “bad” and “good” respectively, as well as linear time. Yet, like all energies, beings, systems, and forms on this planet, complexity, multi-factors, and nuance are the realities of both “old” and “new”.
The term “new Earth” implies the absolute rejection and disposability of the “old Earth”, revealing two dangerous qualities of colonialism: absoluteness and disposability. What will be disposed? What makes the cut in the “new”? Who has decision-making rights? Whom will it serve? What process would be employed to make these two decisions specifically? Furthermore, what will be the guiding principles for this “new Earth”? Will the multi-species, multi-beings, and multi-variables, including the ones that the human mind does not yet know or understand, be advocated?
Part of the problem with disposability is its unwillingness to sit with, observe, and learn from its actions that have led it to want to create a “new Earth” in the first place.
The label and idea of “old Earth” and “new Earth” are rooted in biblical teachings, of the “old Earth” filled with sinful, damned humans and the “new Earth” touted as the messianic restoration of a “sinless” order. Whether one is aware of the inherent dogma that lingers in society’s current psyche and language, the ghost remains.
What if is there is no such thing as the option to operate an “old Earth” or “new Earth”? What if we don’t really have the option to delete and start over? What if the reality is we can’t spiritually bypass the situations we are in, that no amount of fabricated belief systems or ideals can lead us to salvation? That spirituality alone can’t save us? That technology alone can’t save us? What if salvation is owning our actions, and embracing our power as students, supporters and stewards of this Earth rather than pretending we are at its centre or it’s pinnacle?
When we consider a “new Earth” are we inflating human capacity, ignoring human’s propensity towards fallible actions or certainly modern human’s, and are we underestimating the power of the Land, Waters, and Air? Are we willing, as mentioned in the paragraph above, willing to become learners of the Earth? Are we willing to relating with all that exists through visible and invisible relationship (aka animism)?
The “new Earth” mindset believes that the Earth is a finished / completed set of resources, rather than a continuously evolving and changing being. “New Earth” thinking is fixated on restoring by elimination, rather than acknowledging that the Earth herself needs a different response depending on the time / age she is in, and that the response must adaptable and inter-compatible.
As with any desire to move into a more just, equitable, circular, and peaceful world, the invitation must be met from the inside out, not the outside in. We have seen how DEI mandates can set the expected tone and behaviour (which rewards performance not sincerity), but cannot produce whole-hearted, lasting outcomes that will impact the folks who need it the most. The “new Earth” dogma is one that betrays just how more decolonizing and deconstruction that still needs to take place within.
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