Yesterday morning as I was reading some reflections on the fires from a group of artists in Los Angeles, I was struck by a few short words from one who wrote “—a world – a past – gone.” That one little poetic group of words seemed to me to say more about the impact of this and other recent environmental disasters on the human psyche/soul/spirit than many volumes of reportage. Such is the power of words, of poetry, of art. Much can be said with very little.
In his article, Eudaemonia, Jamie Kirkpatrick introduces us to an old, old word, one that is meant to convey the concept of a good life. The word has its roots in ancient Greek, as does psyche of course, and refers to the felt state of being of the good and happy human spirit. In ancient philosophy, this good life was governed by ethics and reason. He then questions the possibility of living such a life today.
The almost inconceivable disaster in LA, the summer hurricanes and other recent environmental disasters that can be traced to climate change, as well as political turmoil and economic uncertainties, have left people reeling, stunned, homeless, and in some cases pretty much hopeless.
Today there’s a new word in our vocabulary that addresses a more and more common state. Solastalgia, itself a sort of hybrid of ancient words, was introduced by philosopher Glenn Albrecht in 2003 and has come to be more widely used in discussions of climate change and destruction of the natural world and resulting impacts on public health and the individual psyche. Solastalgia is sometimes explained as a feeling of homesickness while still living at home, a feeling with which we are all becoming more familiar of “—a world – a past –gone.” It is akin to a state of mourning and can lead to depression and anxiety, loss of identity and even an inability to act, all diametrically opposed to eudaemonia.
So, one more new word may be in order. This one comes to us via an art project called The Bureau of Linguistic Reality that was begun several years ago to help develop a new vocabulary for the new era of the Anthropocene. Epoquetude is a mix of both Latin and Greek words and expresses “a reassuring awareness that while humanity may succeed in destroying itself, the Earth will certainly survive us, as it has survived many other cataclysms….” Reading Jamie Kirkpatrick’s musings about the good mood he experienced after his trip to the mountains, I had to wonder if there wasn’t a bit of epoquetude happening there. Up in the mountains, away from the news, perhaps a sense of the eternal is still available to the human soul.
But as we develop new words for a new era, we still have much to learn from the ancients. And one last word, which may turn out to be the most important of all, comes to mind. It is said that in ancient mythology, the gods hate hubris. In the end it can only lead to disaster for those who place themselves above the laws of nature and the gods. After how many centuries, can we still understand this in time?
– Grace Mitchell
