CN & Climate Change

The purpose of Chivalry-Now is to foster heroic qualities in those who awaken to it. It is a philosophy based on such tried and tested virtues as truth, thoughtful conscience, civility, and strength of character - but it is also based on action. It was never meant to be an armchair philosophy for feel-good introspection. Chivalry was and is a call to arms, at least metaphorically, for what is right. This quest for everyday justice reflects the deepest strivings of the human impulse. At the same time, it teaches us how to discern the difference between right and wrong. From the knowledge we glean, we find personal autonomy and take our places in the world as forces for good. Real good. Not the contrived versions with which others seek to distract us.
     As we engage our personal quests, it is natural to look for a meaningful cause to represent. The final choice will be decided by many factors, not the least of which are our own talents and interests.
     Choosing a primary mission does not excuse us from responding to other worthy causes. We fight the evils that life brings us. That is part of the learning process of the quest. It prepares us for greater challenges.
     Climate change is a threat that people of conscience cannot ignore. It stands before and beside us at every moment. It challenges weaknesses that we might not be aware of, such as recognizing a severe threat that is coming our way, even though the most severe results are not yet upon us. It challenges our ability to reason, to examine scientific evidence and honestly evaluate it. It challenges us to examine our own demons that would prevent us from taking a positive stance. It challenges us to be clever in reducing our own contributions to the problem, and in reaching out to others to do the same.
     It challenges us to be knights-errant in not following the deceptive lethargy of the crowd, and committing ourselves to truth instead - which is the truest test of chivalry.
     Our system of concepts bear this out:
     Areté judges us by how well we apply reason to virtue. Nature's Law tells us to express the moral dictates of conscience through reason. Telos encourages us to become our very best. Anagnorisis separates us from ideologies that would close our minds in order to impede moral discernment.
     And then there is Ordo Mundi, the way of the world, the way of nature. The Grail legend tells us that the kingdom was made a Wasteland because of the king's pride, a debilitating wound that only compassion and purity of heart, expressed by a simple question, could mend. We can only ask the right questions now by first placing aside all our ready-made conclusions and seeking truth for what it is.
     Here we are. The Wasteland wrought by climate change, which we see happening today, confronts the future of our children. Metaphorical demons and dragons work in concert to divert us. Like the Grail knights before us, we each come from our own tangled forest of perceptions, eyes wide-open and anxious.
      What kind of knight will we be? Those who fought among themselves for no good reason? Those who grew disinterested and lazy and turned back? Those who were succumbed by their own inner demons of insecurity or past guilt? Or the ones who faced every challenge with true resolve and restored nature to its life-sustaining fullness?
     We have a saying in Chivalry-Now. Find your inner Knight! Now is the time to test who we are as individuals and the depth of our beliefs. The test is ongoing. We must do what we can to combat this incredible assault upon our world, and reject the deadly vice of greed that would now sustain it.

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