Certainties

Rift

The most valuable thing about travelling is that it gives you a new perspective on things. As I sit here with my morning cuppa, I think about my Canadian kin, sleeping half a world away. I so recently shared their day-to-day, looking at the world through their eyes.

I am no longer the person I was before I leapt from this corner of the globe, flying through different time zones to land on Canadian soil (tarmac, actually, thank goodness). I treasure my memory and joy of those welcoming hugs. And those lovely, familiar faces appearing in the flesh before me was miraculous. It was my own domain that was suddenly half a world away. I’m back at home now, and in the same way that we might edit our holiday photos, my mind is busy sifting and sorting the views I was presented with in those five very special weeks.

My environmentalism had made me feel guilty about taking a plane. I remembered the beautiful, plane-free, blue skies of lockdown, feeling the earth breathe clearly for a moment. But air-travel made it possible to be at my son’s wedding. I guess that makes me a doting mum but nevertheless a hypocrite. I arrived in BC at the tail end of an unprecedented (there’s that word again) heatwave. My brother-in-law was red-eyed-tired from managing fire-fighting crews and at my son’s lakeside home the ominous presence of wildfire smoke across the water focussed my mind on how climate change is a reality, making the urgency of reversing it more apparent. And yet, enfolded there in my family, I learned that any suggestion of a ‘climate emergency’ is taken with a pinch of salt - fake news put out by ‘the media’ to keep us all enslaved and compliant in a paralysis of fear.

Smoke

Back at home, not only is ‘the media’ full of talk about the climate emergency but a dear friend of mine is in jail for her part in an Extinction Rebellion protest. She’s 82 and passionate about the need to draw attention to the issue. But she has drawn a lot of abuse on the chat feeds for her actions and as her friend I felt the need to counter some of them. The responses were very unpleasant (one threatened to bury me) and left me wondering why we have to be so rude to each other. What has happened to thoughtful, respectful dialogue? I am using an on-line platform to write this blog, but I have come to deplore how on-line communication is full of vitriol and fabrication.

When visiting a funfair as a child with my grandmother, our favourite attraction was the Magic Mirrors. Her laughter at the distorted images she saw of herself was infectious, drawing in others to see what was so hilarious. The image of ourselves that we see in others is very often not one that we recognise and seldom do we find the distortion amusing. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could laugh hilariously instead of attacking the ‘mirror’.

Then there’s Covid-19. That has divided us, and big time! To travel to Canada I had to have proof of being double-vaccinated; a vaccination ‘passport’ in other words. My sister practices Ayurvedic medicine and is refusing to be vaccinated even if it means she will be barred from travel and entry to various establishments. She and her family are part of BC’s push-back against the creep of bureaucratic pressures that limit freedom and choice, claiming that so many Covid-related restrictions are illegal. Throughout my visit I witnessed widespread distrust of ‘the powers that be’ and of the corporate media. It’s somewhat the same on this side of the planet, of course. Who knows what information to trust? To accept that Science knows what it’s doing when we roll up our sleeves for some strange substance to be injected into us is a huge leap of faith. Yes, the vaccines were tested, but let’s face it, it’s still early days and there is much yet to learn about how they affect us; it’s still experimental. Similarly worrying, many of those who have accepted their part in this global experiment (out of fear, or solidarity….whatever), are evangelical about the need for it; vociferous in their criticism of those refusing it. I took the vaccine in spite of my reservations, thinking of myself as something of a guinea pig in advance of my family receiving it. My own brood have now all had it. It was their own choice. I now have to hope and pray that the awful implications so many of the anti-vaxxers predict, don’t materialise.

Fake news. How do we identify it? How do we find truth in a world where narratives contradict each other? What can we count on as arbiters of truth? Science? The Law? The Bible or Quran or whatever? Few trust politicians any more. 

This photo appeared in The Guardian 23 Nov 2020

Logic is seeing coherence in a set of premises, theory or viewpoint. Science, like detective work, is seeking evidence for a theory or viewpoint. A theory may be coherent and have internal consistency, yet lack evidence or be based on flawed evidence.  Also, investigations can turn up evidence to support (or refute) a theory yet miss that which goes the other way. An investigation which is in the pay of some commercial interest is unlikely to be trustworthy. For instance, the mobile phone company Motorola carried out a ‘scientific’ study into the connection between mobile phones and headaches. Also, many scientists, keen to promote themselves, may well be less than rigorously objective. The overlooking of inconvenient contradictions is well documented in the history of Science.  Nevertheless, inductive reasoning or empirical method is the tool of both science and legal investigation in establishing fact. What other way is there? We just have to do it right and remember that our ‘truth’ can be overturned in the light of new evidence. This is true for journalism as well.

“Follow the money” is a good mantra if we’re unsure of the motive behind a piece of news or propaganda.  But, if you are a conspiracy theorist it’s an inconvenient fact that many have made money inadvertently from this ‘pandemic’ (excuse the inverted commas - some argue that it’s just another flu and there is no pandemic). Does the acquisition of new wealth in this context mean that Covid-19 is a sinister invention for the very purpose of benefitting from it? No - correlation is not necessarily causation. 

The case is still on-going, of course, as to whether a bio-weapon escaped or was deliberately released from a lab in Wuhan; whether the mortality rates have been exaggerated; whether health services have been overwhelmed (in Canada and many other places, apparently not); whether the event is providing governments with an excuse for authoritarianism and repression; whether a virus was created by Big Pharma in order to boost their profits…..and so on, as we all try to dig deep into ‘what the heck is going on’. Certainly it’s an unfolding story. I don’t think any of us knows how the story will end, and none of us can claim to be certain of any of it (oops, I just contradicted myself - I should have said “maybe it’s an unfolding story….”) 

So what do we do in these circumstances. We are free to believe what we want, I guess, and I will contradict myself again by saying that while I would caution anyone to be too sure of anything I have nevertheless often admired people with a strength of conviction; it’s what leadership is made of. You have to wonder, though, about lemmings……(and sheep, and cults, and wars). So often we have been warned about the danger of blindly following along. George Orwell comes to mind - “Animal Farm” was on the pre-16 school curriculum at one time.

One evening in Canada we watched ‘The Matrix’. Gareth and I recently watched ‘The Matrix Reloaded’. I’ve been told that actor Keanu Reeves maintains that the film is not fiction but a documentary. ‘Matrix 4’ is due to come out this winter and I’m curious what its message will be. Dastardly plots, conspiracy and corruption is what good suspenseful movies are made of. They can feed into our consciousness such that our ‘suspension of disbelief’ becomes permanent and the fiction becomes a reality. I wonder - do such movies create or alert us to conspiracies? ‘Animal Farm’ was Orwell’s commentary on the folly of Communism, according to my teachers and according to the literati. I’ve never spoken with Orwell, however, so do I trust that information? Maybe he was simply telling a silly story about a bunch of pigs who took over a farmyard. I’d better track down Keanu and the creator of the Matrix movies to find out whether they are allegorical, factual or just entertainingly fictional. Oh boy - that means getting on a plane again, and will they speak to me anyway? Will they tell me ‘the truth’?

When a story popped up recently about a horrific event in the Danish Faro islands it would be a comfort to think of it as fake news; that a massive pod of dolphins were not really lured to a barbaric death and then rotted away as a result of there being too much meat for the islanders to use. 

While I do have the choice to believe or disbelieve that humans are on course to destroy ourselves and the planet, to ignore the alarm bells seems foolish to me. There is good science and bad science, but for me there looks to be very strong evidence for us humans having brought about a climate emergency. Am I a lemming, then, running toward the cliff, duped into believing a lie? Is the ‘real’ story that I am some sort of cash-cow, an enslaved tax-payer, farmed for the sinister desires of a small but super-powerful elite? The number who think so is growing, “waking up” apparently and ready to resist. 

One thing that my Canadian sister and I agree on is that humans have the capacity to overcome the dark and sinister elements of our world through love, hope and positivity. We really do have the power to manifest a better world simply by imagining and living it. My sister and I may be following different narratives but ultimately we both want a happy and healthy future for our descendants.  

And so, on both sides of the planet my family lives, breathes and tries to make sense of things. It’s a shame we can’t all be on the same page of the story, and we don’t even know if we’re reading the same book, or even using the same language. Things are, nevertheless what they are in spite of what we think they are (note my form of the “it is what it is” current mantra). Truth will out eventually though, and of that I really am certain.

I have downloaded this photo from Pinterest
Chinchillagirl2950 on Deviant Art

O Canada

 The other day I hiked 10k with my sister, my nieces and a friend to the 2,250m top of well-named Granite Mountain and gazed with awe at the surrounding peaks and mountainous skyline. We stood for a photo where my niece Holly poses brides and grooms for dramatic wedding shots after hauling them up the steep and rocky track by foot or on quad bikes. She showed me where one of the models for her red sheet photo series had posed for her and my legs turned to jelly just thinking about the treacherousness of it - a scantily dressed female robed in a flowing red sheet perched on the edge of a hundreds-of-feet high sheer wall of granite. My niece Becca gave her another photo op on a similar ledge, which added to my jelly-leggedness. 

Life with my Canadian family is always eventful. Next day, my brother-in-law, Peter, took a rare day off to get us all up to a wilderness park lake with their motor boat. Bearing in mind that the boat had been purchased as a reject and not been on the water for at least two years, this was a dicey idea. An adventure in the making, picnic and survival gear prepared, we set off on the long trek up into the park. It’s worth pointing out here that this Wells Gray Park is the size of Wales with just 20 miles of road into it. The road stops at the start of Clearwater lake and from then on the only way into the park is by boat. They don’t call it a wilderness park for nothing. To give a sense of the scale of things here, the park is a mere dot on the map of British Columbia. This is BIG country!

At the boat launch I stood around looking to see where I might be helpful but realising that my knowledge of boating was rather limited, I left it to the apparently more knowledgeable crew to get the craft into the water. Duly packed with all the gear plus my pregnant niece Holly, Peter reversed down the boat launch. The ominous sound of a ratchet alerted us to the boat having decided to launch itself prematurely and slide off the trailer onto the slipway. The propellor hit the concrete with a hard metal sound and a disaster was unfolding before our eyes. In these situations the screeching of bystanders isn’t particularly helpful so it’s a good thing that Adam, having got to the lake before us with Becca and their own boat, was there to help out, catching the ratchet to pull the boat back onto the trailer. Such a scary moment, seeing Holly’s imminent danger of being tipped out of the thing.

Finally in the water, a narrowly-escaped pregnant Holly, engaged with her father and Adam to get the motor running. Once again I sat back, taking in the scenery and watching with interest as the trio wrestled with a particularly obstinate machine. Meanwhile kayakers came and went from the little wooden dock. I saw them holding their breath to avoid inhaling fumes from the coughing and unco-operative motor boat that we had dragged unceremoniously into the peace of this vast, wild, clear and beautiful lake.

We took off from the dock without warning as the motor suddenly came to life. Adam, half dockside and half boat-side had to leap out of the way, shove his own little Becca-contained boat out the way too as our craft shot noisily and smokily out across the water. With Peter at the helm, for a few minutes we contemplated the adventures awaiting us further up the lake, and then the engine burned out.

Dreams are often a reflection of the very-nearly disasters of the day. Drifting off to sleep with thoughts of how fortunate we were to have lost the engine so close to the launch site with Becca and Adam available to tow us back in, I shivered thinking about how differently it might have gone. Had we been further up into the park with nothing but a pair of oars to get us back I pictured my sister, my niece, my brother-in-law and I, all with our different ideas of how to deal with the situation, coming inevitably to verbal blows, with our young German companion, Kat, calling desperately into the vastness for help.

As it happened we did enjoy the rest of the day once the boat was back securely on the trailer. We watched salmon jumping at Bailey’s Chute and stared with awe into the canyon below the spectacular Helmcken Falls. A good day was had by all, for sure…..except maybe Peter whose fit-bit registered a significant spike in his stress levels.

Helmcken falls is 141m high (463ft)

And thanks to Holly for most of these photos.