Dignity, Australian Trees and the Interfaith Tree: a speech given by Chris Parnell in Ballarat at the close of The Tree of Life Project, 23 November 2013

Chris Parnell 

speaking at the close of The Tree of Life Project

Ballarat Botanical Gardens

23 November 2013

Dignity, Australian Trees and the Interfaith Tree

Dignity as a human value is action that includes self-worth, self-regard and self-respect. What we think, feel and do with regard to ourselves, are the foundation of our integrity in encountering and interacting with others. In this manner, dignity is built on self discipline, self respect, self confidence, self sacrifice and self
satisfaction. Dignity becomes a path toward the goal of life.

If I think, feel and act with dignity, then I will think, feel and interact with others with dignity also. Where my life is sacred unto myself, then I will have regard for rights, and I will also have regard to the sacredness of others and their rights. Dignity is not only something I have for myself, dignity is something that I also confer on the other. In doing so, I am recognising and honouring the true humanness of each and every other person. Living dignity builds the dignity of the other.

The Trees of Faith Stories

The Bodhi Tree

Trees figure in myriad ways in the stories of the different religions. In the Buddhist faith, the Buddha achieved self-enlightenment sitting under the Bodhi tree.

In the mystical tradition of Islam, the great Sufi poet Rumi said,

Every tree, every growing thing as it grows, says this truth: 

You harvest what you sow. 

With life a short as a half taken breath, don't plant anything but love.

The Banyan Tree

In the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna said,

"There is a banyan tree which has its roots upward and its branches down, and the Vedic hymns are its leaves. One who knows this tree is the knower of the Vedas." 

In the Sikh faith, we have the story of Guru Nanak as a young man being kept in the shade of a tree as the sun moved across the sky. The shade of the tree did not move from the sleeping young Nanak.

In the Baha’i faith, there is the orange tree beside the Mausoleum of The Bab, from which devotees take the seeds and plant them nearby houses of worship, worldwide.

The Latter Day Saints have the narrative of the revelation of the Tree of Life, with an iron rod beside it; this is the rod of faithfulness to the Word of God.

In the Jewish faith, the sacred narrative of Moses begins with the burning bush, and Moses being told to take off his shoes, for he is standing on sacred ground.

In the Christian faith, Jesus teaches that you will know a tree by its fruits: 

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? So, every sound tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears evil fruit. A sound tree cannot bear evil fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will know them by their fruits. (Mt 7:15-19)

The Trees of Australia

Trees feature notably in Australian Life. We have the ever-present gum tree, the eucalyptus tree and the wattle tree. Many of our Cenotaphs and war memorials have trees growing from seeds of the tree at Lone Pine at Gallipoli. 

The Gum Tree exudes copious sap from any break in the bark. If you look at a gum tree, and examine the branches carefully, you will always find one branch is bare, dead, bereft of leaves and gum nuts. It appears the tree is pruning itself, casting off its unwanted part. This is a metaphor for human life. We cannot do in the evening of our lives what we did in the morning of our lives. We shed attachments and desires naturally as we age, just as the gum tree sheds its needless appendage. Human life is like that, we are continually letting go of attachments, glamour and affectation from our past for they weigh us down needlessly as we grow peacefully into the evening of our lives.

That one dead branch suggests to us that life and death, hope and loss, always coexist in the world. The gum tree, our Eucalyptus, is a unique living symbol of hope and survival.

Throughout our land, we find our own genus of the Eucalyptus tree, eucalyptus regnans. A Eucalyptus tree which regenerates itself. This is a unique tree, the only tree which regenerates itself in bushfire. The heat of bushfires causes the seed pods to burst open and they are fanned forward to land where they will and take root and grow.

The Eucalyptus and its gum weeping variants suggest the cycle of creation, preservation and destruction. This cycle of Generation, Organisation, Destruction

(GOD) spells the process of divine creation, maintenance and receiving – renewal of all life energy.

Wattles, also called acacias, are wonderful native plants. In fact, Australia's official floral emblem is a wattle. More than 850 species of wattle grow in Australia. The Australian Coat of Arms features the Kangaroo and Emu perched on sprigs of Wattle. Henry Lawson was once accused of sedition, when he wrote a poem about a strike camp at Barcaldine in Queensland. It was then that the memorable imagery suggestive of the Australian value of "fair go" entered the Australian soul, that of blood on the wattle:

So we must fly a rebel flag
As others did before us.
And we must sing a rebel song,
And join a rebel chorus.
We’ll make the tyrants feel the sting
O’those they would throttle.
They needn’t say the fault was ours
If blood should stain the wattle.

Seeds from the Lone Pine cones have been planted at the Shrine of Remembrance and the Australian War Memorial. These have been successfully propagated and presented as living war memorials to schools and ex-service and other organisations throughout Australia and New Zealand.

Trees as symbols suggest the marriage of heaven and earth. Like the Banyan of India, we may emulate a tree in meditation and reach up to heaven to breathe in the divine love. Our feet become the roots as we reach down and breathe the sustenance of Mother Earth.

Trees are also symbolic of the growth of faith. When we plant a sapling, we put a fence around it to protect it, we put manure or fertiliser on it, and we water it and protect it as it grows into a great tree, giving shade and shelter to many. It takes discipline and time to give that shade and shelter.

No one throws stones at bare trees; 

only the fruit-laden trees attract the stones. 

The Interfaith Tree

The Interfaith Tree of Australia accommodates all. We have striven as a nation to protect freedom of religion and worship in Australia. The work of the Australian Human Rights Commission and its collaboration with the Australian Multicultural Foundation and educational institutions produced the keystone reference document, Freedom of Religion and Belief in 21st Century Australia.

The foundation of our Interfaith Tree is dignity and respecting the rights of the other. As interfaith networks, we welcome the other and enter into dialogue with the goal of understanding, cooperation and harmony.
Interfaith Networks are not about syncretism where religions are merged; no, no: this is not the goal. Interfaith Networks respect and honour the boundaries of all religions.

It is from within these boundaries of faith and discipline, prayer and practice, that we encounter the other and experience points of contact in experience of the divine, with whatever name we honour and worship the Divine.

Our Interfaith Tree has many branches accommodating people of faith, and people of no faith. Often, people of no faith have profound values which they espouse and practice in the public domain. These values, truth, right conduct, love, peace and non-violence, are also human values. It is these values which we share in common as Australians that highlight interfaith activities as important to community well-being, respect and understanding. It is culture and values that bind our Australian society together.

Please note: The photos and links in the above speech were inserted by the editor of this blog.

Bushfires and response-ability - a re-think needed?

The article below is from the pen - oops, the keyboard - of Bronwyn Lay, daughter of B.I.N. member Margaret Lay. It is worthy of consideration.

Bushfires demand response-ability

Bronwyn Lay |  22 October 2013

I've never felt the earth move but have sniffed smoke, ashes and the aftermath of bushfires. The fright of inferno is akin to the world being taken away in an instant. It makes bodies tremble and language vanish. In front of violent nature, who are we but helpless and mute?

In bushfires, tsunamis and earthquakes, our relationship to the 'natural' world comes at us like an alive nightmare, and hurts. The natural world might not possess emotions like anger and revenge, but asks violent questions about meaning and action and responsibility. Many ask us to draw a line in our mourning, and only think about the humans. This is repression, for on such occasions humans and nature are bound in a dangerous dance.

In Lisbon 1755 the Western world changed direction. The ground literally moved as the biggest earthquake recorded in Western history hit the Portuguese coast and decimated Lisbon. A tsunami and fires followed. It was All Saints day and many people were at Mass when the earthquake hit. The monarchy fled to the hills to live as nomads, and thousands died.

To read more please go to Eureka Street magazine on line.

Welcoming the stranger - a response to displaced and stateless people

Faith leaders promote protection of displaced people

Representatives of various religions at a meeting called by the UNHCR in December 2012.

25 July 2013

Along with other faith-based groups, the World Council of Churches (WCC) has helped develop a declaration, launched by the United Nations refugee agency. It aims to strengthen protection for the world’s refugees as well as internally displaced and stateless people, who account for more than 40 million people in the world.

“A core value of my faith is to welcome the stranger, the refugee, the internally displaced, the other. I shall treat him or her as I would like to be treated. I will challenge others, even leaders in my faith community, to do the same,” reads the declaration.

Based on common values of welcome found in all religions, including Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism, the declaration is titled Welcoming the Stranger: Affirmation for Faith Leaders. It was launched on 12 June in Geneva, Switzerland.

The development of such a declaration was recommended last year in a Geneva meeting called by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. The meeting engaged faith leaders, faith-based humanitarian organizations and government representatives in addressing the theme “Faith and Protection”.

Organizations that developed the declaration along with the WCC include the office of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Jesuit Refugee Service, the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, the University of Vienna Faculty of Roman Catholic Theology, the Lutheran World Federation, the Islamic Relief Worldwide, the World Evangelical Alliance and World Vision International.

Sydia Nduna, WCC programme executive for Migration and Social Justice, said, “The WCC has always been committed to the cause of the refugees, uprooted people and migrant workers, playing an important role in shaping some of the key UN declarations in the past decades.”

She added that “sacredness of all human life and the sanctity of creation” are central to Christian beliefs. This affirmation, she said, calls faith leaders to create inclusive communities that welcome people regardless of their age, abilities, ethnicity, gender, class, caste, nationality or race.

“Our Christian faith compels us to ensure that human life, physical security and personal safety are upheld in the law and institutions,” said Nduna.

The WCC’s Migration and Social Justice programme will release a theological statement titled The Other is my Neighbour: Developing an Ecumenical Response to Migration. This statement is to be released at the 4th International Consultation of Churches with Migrants in New York in October, an event organized in conjunction with the UN High Level Dialogue on Migration and Development.

Read declaration: Welcoming the Stranger: Affirmations for Faith Leaders

WCC’s work on migration and social justice

WCC just and inclusive communities programme

Faith and environment - faith pushing for action on climate change

GreenFaith Australia, an interfaith environmental organisation founded at a meeting in Temple Beth Israel in 2008, is about to merge with ARRCC, the Australian Religious Response to Climate Change.  ARRCC has been rather Sydney-Canberra centric and hasn't quite lived up to its national name.  Similarly, GreenFaith Australia has not lived up to its name remaining mainly a Victorian organisation although in recent times an active green shoot has come into being in Tasmania.  The merger, it is hoped, will extend the reach of both organisations in bringing the voices of faith into the climate change conversation.

Again thanks to B.I.N. member, Elizabeth, the following article from Crosslight has come to Beside the Creek:

By Thea Ormerod (Chair ARRCC) and Sangita Bhatia.

According to an article in The Guardian, climate change is the most divisive and toxic issue in Australian politics and is one filled with uncertainty.

The anti-carbon tax rallies which ran before the carbon price was voted through were bitter, abusive and scientifically illiterate. However prominent religious leaders recently took a positive stand on the issue.

The leaders have signed an open letter organised by the Australian Religious Response to Climate Change, and came together for an official launch in Sydney on 4 July. They are calling upon Australia to be a part of the global solution to climate change, in order to avert a dangerous potential 4° C rise in global temperatures.

Rev Dr Brian Brown, moderator of the Uniting Church Synod NSW/ACT, spoke at the launch of our stewardship of the earth’s resources.

“The gifts of Creation given to us are meant to be used wisely, and in a way which leaves a world which continues to provide for the needs of future generations,” Dr Brown said.

At the launch the various signatories and their spokespersons affirmed our human interconnectedness with the natural world, and our responsibility to take care of it.

They share concern for social justice for those who are suffering the effects of climate change in the Pacific and elsewhere, as well as for those whose jobs will be displaced when society moves away from coal mining.

Ms Jacqui Remond, director of Catholic Earthcare and spokesperson for Archbishop Philip Wilson, very eloquently responded to the question on coal mining.

“As living creatures we must take responsibility for the spheres that we are a part of, the biosphere, the atmosphere, the lithosphere and the hydrosphere,” she said.

“What we understand from science is that we are causing crises within each of these spheres primarily due to release of fossil fuel in the atmosphere. It’s quite clear we have to reduce our mining of coal.”

Ms Remond went on to speak about the Clean Energy Future legislation which includes a price on carbon. “The results show that in the first six months of its operation, 4300 megawatts of power has been saved. We need to celebrate this achievement as this is an equivalent of three power plants being closed.”

Keysar Trad, spokesperson for the Grand Mufti of Australia, said, “We are spiritual people but our spirituality is meant to change the way we live, how we respond to the social issues society is grappling with.”

The leaders also invited all people of faith to participate in a transition to a more just and sustainable way of life. In Ms Remond’s words, “Everyone can take part in lifestyle changes such as reducing their consumption, switching to GreenPower and installing solar hot water. We can also let our political leaders know about the change we want to see.”

For the full text of the open letter and signatories go to: http://www.arrcc.org.au/leaders-open-letter