The Blackberry Walk

As a disclaimer before we embark on this entry, I have nothing against global warming - in fact, I do believe in it as a scientific phenomenon. This article is about the more... spiritual side. The weather outside has been miserable here in the UK. To my misfortune, I missed the hot spell over May due to exam revision, and now this paltry excuse of summer is all that remains. I may say to someone, "the weather has been awful", in true British fashion, and the reply will often be, "yep, must be global warming." Alright. There are some arguments that global warming can incur abnormal weather - even coldness - I'll grant that. Back when it was hot, I similarly moaned, "the weather sure is hot", receiving an identical reply, "must be global warming". Hmm. Global warming appears to be the hot and the cold, the left and the right, the zero and the infinity, the alpha and the omega - what is it at all anymore? The answer is a religion - or at least part of one. The Parthenon of scientific paganism in modern times is held up in part the pillar of global warming, an eschatological truth which lurks at the end of time. Global warming's prophesised Great Floods and desertification is an ostensibly demystified despritualised second-coming of Christ. Quite terrifying. Underpinning the myth (in the sense of mythological, not fake) of global warming, is a distinct guilt, a guilt of the sins of modern technological being revealed. Through our scientific enterprise, we've sacrificed the future, the spiritual nature of the world, and our very souls for our current pleasures, without forethought for our descendants. Much like Faust, we've sold our souls to the devil. It's no coincidence that the mad scientist is the villain of so many stories from Faust to Frankenstein - somewhere, to this day, we have an inkling that the knowledge of science is profane, and that through uncovering it we're digging into secrets we shouldn't. Are they secrets of reality, however? Owen Barfield, whose book Saving the Appearances I strongly recommend, mentions how pure science can only deal with the appearances of the world, describing no truth sitting behind the curtain of perception. However the scientific materialist sees nothing beyond perception; they discover truth through rulers, protractors and stop-watches and anything which can't be observed with a tool in the scientific pencil case is going into the recycling. To the dustbin goes: God, of course; goes the human soul, many I talk to agree; goes love, or maybe that's just a chemical according to some; goes morality, or maybe with all agree on that as a quid pro quo. To see only science is to see only material; things which can't be observed, like consciousness, are either reduced down or "to be continued". As we've discussed, the scientist doesn't pull back the curtain of reality, and instead views the perceptions - the actors on the stage - ignoring the stage hands and actors off stage. But this is an ideal world; the human mind is too prone to idolatry to never wonder what lies behind the curtain, behind the stage. Idolatry, as Barfield understands it, is to claim there is something definite behind the stage: behind the curtain of the totem pole is our ancestors; behind the curtain of a temple in ancient Greece is a god who came whenever they were called upon. Why are Abrahamic faiths not idolatrous then? Because they claim that God doesn't exist behind the curtain of things and that no divinity resides in matter (Jesus and the trinity of course being a different more complex extra matter). God can affect the world, but not be in it. Why then is science becoming pagan and idolatrous? Behind any weather current, hot storms or cold frost, lies the big boogie man of 'Global Warming' - a deity who's job it is to affect weather in peculiar ways out of spite for the sins of mankind. Many worship the deity through protests and elections, trying to make the wrath of global warming and his anger for humanity known. The problem with pagan worldviews is that they are too narrow. As G.K. Chesterton puts it when describing the thought patterns of madmen:

Perhaps the nearest we can get to expressing it is to say this: that his mind moves in a perfect but narrow circle. A small circle is quite as infinite as a large circle; but, though it is quite as infinite, it is not so large.

A conspiracy theory can explain everything, but will it explain the world usefully? To say that the Jews or whoever else are controlling the world can explain everything if you want it to, but will it be useful or true? It's a smaller, more naive, circle about which you circumambulate, unlike a larger and more nuanced vision of weather from experience. Much like the smaller circle, this narrow misunderstanding of global warming explains nothing; in short, it's no better than a conspiracy theory in it's meaning. Global warming, unfortunately, is just one such example of ideas in the hard or soft sciences being deified into incontrovertible principles. We should ensure our thinking doesn't become rigid and propagandised hailing these newly birthed pagan gods. For if the twentieth century has taught us anything, it's that demons needn't reveal themselves as gods, for the mask of a principle or ideology is far more appealing to modern eyes.