Mother Nature is Not the Enemy

As the death toll continues to mount (it is about 80,

000 at this time, but could reach as high as 100,000

or more) the horror that was created by the earthquake

and subsequent tidal waves on Sunday, the 26th of

December, 2004 continues to both sadden and fascinate

people throughout the world.

It has probably been better understood by most of

mankind by now that this type of natural event and

disaster is the worst kind of natural disaster that

can happen and that people can experience.

In natural events and disasters such as hurricanes,

cyclones, typhoons, volcanic eruptions and tornadoes,

we have some kind of warning or evidence that

something is about to happen and we can take some

measures to prepare for it and protect ourselves from

it. Usually such measures consist of making

preparations to protect our property and belongings,

taking shelter in a specially built building or

structure, or an evacuation.

But because earthquakes can not be predicted as to

when or where they will happen, we have to be mindful

about what to do when one is occurring, and even with

such a mindfulness, we may be very limited in what we

can do.

What we can do is influenced by where we are (a big

city or in the country) or what time of day it is (at

night, in the very early morning or at mid –day).

But because tidal waves are spawned by earthquakes and

the time between the earthquake and the arrival of

tidal waves onshore can be a matter of one hour or

more, we are able to have some control over the

situation and save lives through education and

mindfulness.

Another factor that makes the preparation for

earthquakes so difficult to be mindful about and

implement is that they do not happen so frequently.

In fact, events of the sort that happened off the

coast of Sumatra and across the Indian Ocean on

Sunday, December 26th, 2004 happen only about once

every 150 years or so.

When these events do happen we look at Mother Nature

as the enemy, but this is not the case.

This event, for all of its horror was nothing more

then an expression of the forces that make up the

earth on which we live.

And this event, for all of its horror, lasted no more

then three to four hours in total.

That is little more then an evening of watching

television and eating for most of us throughout the

world.

The actual arrival of and destruction by the waves

lasted no more then thirty minutes in most places.

Like so many things in life and that Yoga and Buddhism

refer us to, much of the results of this event had to

do with our own lack of mindfulness.

In our pursuit of pleasure and our desire for money,

we build bungalows, guesthouses and hotels in places

that are too close to mother nature’s expressions of

itself.

In our ignorance, we do not teach people about how

Mother Nature can be.

In our ignorance we do not warn people about an

impending catastrophe because it is too much trouble,

or we do not want to take responsibility for it, or

are afraid of hurting tourism, as happened in

Thailand, and as a result things are worse.

No one person or organization is the blame though it

appears that errors in judgment were made by more then

a few.

Regardless, perhaps many of the deaths could have been prevented with just awareness about what the results

 of an earthquake can be and what signs to look for at the sea that signal the arrival of a tidal wave, such as a

 sudden receding of the sea.

When this happened in South Thailand, the local Thais

went into the sea to gather stranded fish while many

westerners recognized the signs of danger and started

to flee.

It is funny how mankind is by the sea, for both

pleasure and out of necessity. Both the rich and

holidaymakers want to enjoy its fresh air and scenery,

while the poor live and work there because they have

no other place to go or other means of livelihood

outside of being a fishermen.

Many of the people who were so tragically killed were

enjoying a morning walk on the beach, a lie in the sun

or a swim in the sea.

Some were fishermen preparing their nets for the day

or just about to go out to sea.

We may want to see how our old tendencies and thoughts

about what it right, good and pleasurable to do will

lure us back into the same sort of complacency or

ignorance that has led to this death toll as being as

high as it is.

This can mean simple things to understand, but more

difficult to perhaps implement, such as when we

rebuild, move villages farther away from the sea,

build some kind of sea wall, initiate a warning system

and educate all people about what the signs of an

imminent tidal wave are.

Yoga and Buddhism also teach us that we can lose our mindfulness about things that are closer to our daily life

 and experiences then a once in a lifetime or hundred-year event such as an earthquake or tidal wave.

In our day to day lives, we lose mindfulness about

what we think and feel, letting them overwhelm us

instead of see them as being skillful or unskillful,

or wholesome or unwholesome.

The same goes for what we say, and we often utter

words and phrases in ways that are abusive to others

or show a lack of understanding about a situation or

person.

Our habits both at and away from work show much about

our mindfulness.

Many times we make our lives more complicated or

confusing by indulging in those things that we are

told help us to relax or let go.

We can be driven by the desire for pleasure and ego – gratification, instead of thinking about the health and

 well - being of ourselves and others.

Both Yoga and Buddhism are trying to make us more

mindful that it is not others or mother nature that we

have to look at as being the enemy but it is our own

ignorance and desires that cause many of the problems

that we have.

Mother Nature is not the enemy or our enemy though at

times it certainly can express itself in ways that are dangerous or life – threatening to ourselves and others.

But the same can be said as being true about our own

ignorance and the conditioning and experiences that

have led to it being such a way.

We all become too complacent and accepting of things

from time to time, and wake - up calls are part of

life.

Hopefully when we experience a wake - up call it is

one that we can manage and not be as severe as the one

that was experienced by the people living and

vacationing along the shoreline communities in India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, The Nicobar and

 Andaman Islands, Somalia and Burma last Sunday.

And hopefully those who survived this disaster, just

we are able to survive our wake up calls, can learn

something for it, instead of thinking it as being

something that ruins our life or makes our life not

worth living anymore.

©2004 John C. Kimbrough (December 30th, 2004)

(John lives and teaches in Bangkok, Thailand. He can

be reached at johnckimbrough@yahoo.com)