We have a whole bunch of stuff happening in our world, don’t we? Hurricanes, typhoons, earthquakes, floods, mudslides and a pile of other things produced by the actions or inactions of us silly humans. So is there any particular significance in the fact that all of this is happening in a relatively short time frame? Is “someone” trying to tell us something? Are we getting a message from the Chairman of the Board of All Existences?

I does make you wonder, doesn’t it?

It looks to me like the answer to this question depends almost entirely on our perception of God. Here’s what I mean.

If we’re thinking of God as an individual entity, living in heaven and presiding over our lives as an authoritarian (as in Father or Mother) figure – and who, by the way, metes out various degrees of reward and punishment depending on how we humans are conducting our lives, it would be reasonably logical to believe that we indeed, are being provided a warning message. A forceful reminder that we are screwing up and need to take major steps to get our act together.

But, taking this one step further, our interpretation of this message – along with our designation of the intended recipient – is going vary depending on our personal beliefs - especially if we have a tendency to extrapolate these beliefs toward the outer limits of logic. We all know what takes place. A “bad” event happens to members of societies which are primarily Islamic or maybe even Hindu or Buddhist – and what comes next? Christian extremists will quickly pick up their megaphones and start shouting “See, we told you so! God’s trying to tell you guys something. You’d better shape up and switch to Christianity or you’re toast!”

On the other hand, Islamic extremists are quick to point to the devastation produced by hurricanes, floods or earthquakes in the United States as an edict from Allah. “See, we told you so! Allah’s trying to tell all you evil people something. You’d better shape up and switch to Islam or you’re toast!”

And yes, even from within our own society we have seen individuals point to a segment of our population and proclaim “See, we’ve been trying to tell you! You’d better get on the ball and try to make something of yourselves. God’s given you a message and you’d better pay attention!”

Geesh… we humans can be downright goofy at times – not to mention hurtful and counter-productive. Shame on us!

From a different page in life’s coloring book, many of us tend to think of God in more abstract terms. As perhaps being the foundation intelligence and power behind all of creation. As being the total of all wisdom, power and love in all creations. Our view of “natural” disasters will likely lean more toward their having occurred as a normal result of our earth’s instability. Catastrophic events prompted by humans will generally be seen as a predictable result of our greed, lack of understanding, insecurities and a whole host of other questionable “motivators”.

My personal opinion is that it is not a bad thing at all to take some time to look at the uncomfortable events and situations that occur all around us, not necessarily for “messages” or warnings, but perhaps more for lessons. And not necessarily complicated lessons at that. Such as? Such as realizing that we all live on an unstable, unpredictable planet – and that no matter where we live, we are all subject to nature’s whims. It is important therefore, to consider – and plan for the best we can – the potential dangers that may be presented by our immediate surroundings.

It would be good for us to realize that we all – repeat, all – will have some kind of impact on our earth’s environment (air and water quality, availability of natural resources, etc.) and that it is up to each one of us to do the best we can to preserve and perhaps even enhance the conditions in which we live.

It would be good also for us to realize that our actions – individually and collectively – will in some way potentially impact the lives of many of the others who share this planet with us. That our words and actions should be based on love and compassion for our fellow man. That we are all here – not as competitors or foes - but as brothers and sisters simply trying to make our way through life in the best way we know how.