By Jaime Vergara
For Variety

SUDDENLY from behind the rim of the moon, in long, slow motion moments of immerse majesty, there emerges a sparkling blue and white jewel, rising gradually like a small pearl in a thick sea of black mystery. It takes more than a moment to fully realize this is Earth — home.” Thus mused Astronaut Edgar Mitchell of Apollo 14.
A quiet but swift paradigm shift has occurred in the last four decades when the focus of human existence moved from humans, their freedom and responsibility to themselves and their plant, to the planet itself whose health has become the final accountability of human decision-making and its set of ethical values.
The late Joseph Campbell of the Power-of-Myth fame, called this paradigm shift the “Earthrise Consciousness.”
There is no virtue in this consciousness itself, and it is not being prescribed, imposed or enforced on anyone. It has either occurred on individual minds, or it hasn’t. It does not confer moral virtue because it has occurred. But to those on whom the consciousness has occurred, however, a radical transformation transpires, and the implication on social policies, political programs and community projects is revolutionary.
Like the power of religion, the earthrise consciousness has invitatory pull to the scientific, urban and secular mind of the times, leaving behind vestiges of superstitious modes unwilling to shake off dependence on supernatural forces to determine destiny, of exclusive parochial and sectarian forms that are defensive from the perceived threat of what is alien and foreign, and of mindless repetition of sacredly held rites and rituals whose sanctity existentially had long ago vanished with the winds of change. Something new looms in the horizon, and it threatens some, mystifies others.
Chaos prevails and the faint of heart takes cover, the feeble mind pines for the longed-for utopia of untroubled times and eternal safe havens. Illusive as it is illusory, the promise of the other world‚ turns out to be just an ephemeral phantasm. The ancients located the locus of meaning in the sky. Today, the significance of life, if it is recognized at all, is at the core and center of this world, on the planet earth.
We mark another year when we as a nation celebrate Earth Day. The date has become immaterial. The fact that some focus on the earth is celebrated year round around the world testifies to the widespread character of the earthrise consciousness. Alas, even the White House has finally recognized that there might be something foreboding about a phenomenon called global warming‚ that threatens universal well-being. Already, families whose members are diagnosed with autism are lucid that the drastic chemical intrusion into human metabolism is no light matter in affecting neurobiological wellness.
“The task before us now, if we will not perish, is to shake off our ancient prejudices, and rebuild the earth,” the Jesuit Chardin intoned not too long ago. That occurs most powerfully first in the imagination. Behold, mother Earth!