Cassandra - Trojan princess and priestess of Apollo, given the gift of prophecy, but cursed to never be believed.
The Cassandra Complex definition - A situation where a persons valid warnings are ignored or disbelieved.
Below is a discussion on the Cassandra complex in relation to environmental feedback.
Whilst carving this piece I visited a mate whose knowledge and connection to land is the most solid I’ve ever witnessed. As we chatted, he handed me a book by Victor Steffenson titled ‘Fire Country – How Indigenous fire management could help save Australia’. Immediately I went home and started reading. One thing that stood out for me was Steffenson’s connection to land. Early on he detailed the missing feeling he experienced when he left country for Cairns. I do not have anywhere near the level of connection Steffenson has with land, but his experience resonated with me. For when I left country, a gaping hole emerged that was once filled with the sounds of wind rustling through trees, the morning bird songs, and the crisp - terpene scented air, now replaced by human voices, car exhaust and the smells of living next to a pub.
Prior to my career in fire, I was lucky enough to work with wildlife in Nebraska, Alaska, California, Wisconsin and back home in Victoria. It was during this time I realised the earth/Gaia, is suffering from the Cassandra Complex.
People say we need to be custodians of the land. This is a foundation within indigenous cultures. However, in cultures influenced by new religions with urbanised minds this can be misinterpreted, implying we are above or even separate from nature. Aldo Leopold explains perfectly in A Sand County Almanac ‘Conservation is getting nowhere because it is incompatible with our Abrahamic concept of land. We abuse land because we see it as a commodity belonging to us.’ We are not just abusing the land, we are exhausting it. We are part of a system that is out of balance. In Leopold’s essay ‘Thinking like a Mountain’ he beautifully describes a revelation that occurred when he witnessed the soul leave the eyes of a dying wolf. Here is a section of that essay;
‘We reached the old wolf in time to watch a fierce green fire dying in her eyes. I realised then, and have known ever since, that there was something new to me in those eyes – something known to only her and the mountain. I was young then and full of trigger itch. I thought that because fewer wolves meant more deer, that no wolves would mean a hunter’s paradise. But after seeing that green fire die, I sensed that neither the wolf, nor the mountain agreed with such a view’.
At this time, many states in the US had eradicated wolves. In response, deer populations flourished. The deer decimated saplings and grass near rivers beds to a point that entire rivers changed course. This negatively affected many species reliant upon the river. Topsoil had washed away, leaving barren, hoof compacted land. The lands response to the loss of just one species was a Cassandra foretelling that was for many years ignored.
In Rachel Carson’s world changing book ‘Silent Spring’ about the use of pesticides including DDT, Cassandra’s warning were the now silent mornings that would, in any other spring, be filled with bird chatter. Carson stated that we live in a world where a river has to literally flow with flames before we hear the earths concerns (Cuyahoga River fire of 1969).
More recently Suzanne Simard’s research in to mycorrhizal networks highlights just how little we know about the world. Fungi – the largest of all the 5 kingdoms, was only classified a kingdom in 1969. Of the estimated 5 million species of fungi, only approx. 1% has been discovered. As a species we have the ability to alter the entire earth’s atmosphere, but our knowledge is greatly overshadowed by what we don’t know. Victor Steffenson and his kin knew their land was sick. Victor can listen to the land, hear Cassandra’s prophesies. But it wasn’t until Australia burned that we would listen.
The dangers of not living with the land is apparent in overpopulation. Ancient cultures that lived by the land had population checks in place. Checks such as forcing eldest sons to leave the community, killing first born, exiling the elderly, to raising the legal age for reproduction were all measures of population control. If this failed the earth would respond. The Trojan war for which Cassandra’s story arises was said to be the mastermind of Zeus, who was concerned that the population of humanity was too great. During this war, Cassandra’s warnings were not headed and her world ended in flames. This war, which was dated the same time as the collapse of the Bronze age civilization.
We are part of a closed system. Infinite growth is an impossibility. As the urban sprawl increases we fragment the land, then accuse species like kangaroos, squeezed in to these fragments for being too numerous, then cull their populations to reduce their impact. We fragment forests, altering transpiration cycles and inducing/exacerbating drought, then blame an ignorant PM for holding coal in parliament. Maybe instead we should be self-reflecting on a culture that wants the 4-bedroom house and backyard. We have had 2 years stuck inside to reflect. But instead, we got mad about the pandemic. Pandemics – a natural control method employed by nature when something is seriously wrong.
Aldo Leopold, Rachel Carson, and Suzanne Simard all heard Cassandra’s voice. But these academics were just the white conduits for the urbanised ear. For Cassandra’s voice has been heard all along. Cassandra’s message is the lesson indigenous cultures have been trying to teach us for generations. But will we listen? Or will we continue to suffer the consequences of the Cassandra Complex.
Cassandra had Spoken
Poem by Suzy Medwell
More wolves, fewer deer. Fewer wolves, more deer. How about no wolves?
Now our cattle can graze with no fear.
The landscape is altered, the balance is broken,
Through the eyes of the wolf, Cassandra had spoken.
And Leopold listened
Fewer mosquitoes, less malaria. Our war on nature is defiant.
And thus, the chorus of the dawn became an echo of silence.
With the predator gone, the balance is broken,
In that Silent Spring Cassandra had spoken.
And Carson listened.
Populations increase, forced migrations, climatic changes.
Famine leads to war, viral mutations.
We are of nature, and the balance is broken,
In the footsteps of history Cassandra had spoken
But will we listen?
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