Earth Day is a day for remembering…
…that the Earth is our home, a home that provides us with shelter, food, technology, pleasure, joy, beauty and all the conditions to live.
Earth Day is a day for remembering…
…that we are the product of billions of years of life, adaptation, struggle and evolution. We have been woven into existence from and by the Earth itself. There is an intimate bond between humans and the Earth. We are inseperable. We are of the Earth. We are the Earth and the Earth is us, as is everything else, interconnected, interdependent and interrelated through the web of life.
Earth Day is a day for remembering…
…that human beings are physically, mentally, emotionally, psychologically, energetically and empathically wired to each other and to the Earth. We have evolved complex and mysterious nervous systems that have the ability to feel what others feel. Not just other humans, but other animals, plants, ecosystems, beings, on and on through the web of life.
…we have the “ability” / tendency to turn our empathy off. Many do this, and have been doing it for millennia. If we are not mindful, we can push our empathy—for others, for nature, for the web of life—out of our awareness. When we do this we perpetuate thoughts, words, actions, behaviors and choices that lead to needless suffering. Earth Day is a day for bringing awareness to this phenomenon, and stopping it. Remember, we also have the ability to turn our empathy on. When we turn our empathy on, and keep it on, we heal.
Earth Day is a day for remembering…
…the law of sacred reciprocity. There is a reciprocal balance between giving and receiving. If balance is not at least attempted in every "transaction," then imbalance will result. Because we are all connected, and thus, one, if I take too much without giving in return, I not only deprive and hurt others, I also deprive and hurt myself. Likewise, if I give too much (or if too much is taken from me) without receiving in return, both I and others will suffer.
…If I harm the Earth, if I harm another person, or being, if I take life, resources, goods, energy, etc. without giving life, resources, goods, energy, etc. in return, then I am ultimately harming myself. This is walking the path of imbalance and perpetuating unnecessary suffering. This is how our systems have grown and developed for a very long time.
Earth Day is a day for recognizing…
…that our systems are set up in ways that make sacred reciprocity, harm-reduction and healing difficult to truly impossible. Our systems are set up in ways that perpetuate thoughts, words, actions, behaviors and choices that fail to recognize our inherent oneness. They do not recognize the web of life. Our systems are set up in ways that promote taking and demote giving. They privilege few and hinder most. They do not honor sacred reciprocity, person to person, system to person, system to nature.
Earth Day is a day for acknowledging…
…that the systems and technologies we have created to buffer us, to protect us from the dark, cold, hungry, painful, unpredictable, “chaos” of nature, have in fact led to a self-destructive separation from nature, from each other and from our self. They have fragmented the whole into pieces, all the while neglecting to put the pieces back together again. Our systems, once thought to be protective and supportive, are in fact the exact opposite. They create separation, schism, fragmentation and fear-based thoughts, words, actions, behaviors and choices. Our systems need changing, as do our worldviews and lifestyles long-promulgated by these systems.
Earth Day is a day for honoring…
…our learning process. We are learning in the ways we’ve always learned, through trial-and-error, through our mistakes. As a collective, we are doing our best, and we can do better. We must to better.
Earth Day is a day for honoring…
…the potential within us, to create a beautiful world where nature and self are re-united, a world where the natural wisdom inherent in the human-nature connection will show us how to heal, grow and thrive together, as one.
Earth Day is a day for honoring the Earth…
…it’s beauty, bounty and natural magick. It is a day for giving the Earth our full attention, for truly sensing the Earth in its wholeness and greatness. It is a day for recognizing everything that the Earth is and does, for acknowledging everything that the Earth has gone through and everything that the Earth has witnessed. Now reread this paragraph and replace "the Earth" with "our mind-body." You can also substitute "our relationships" as well. The Earth is all of these things.
It is impossible when celebrating and honoring the Earth as a whole not to see the Earth’s wounds, and thus, not to grieve and mourn. To truly honor something is the honor the whole of that thing. This is also how to heal something. We must see the wound before we can heal the wound. We must feel the wound to heal the wound. To heal, we have to honor the whole, the healthy parts and the wounded parts. So, on Earth Day, we also grieve and mourn, so that we might take responsibility for making healing-changes to how we think, act, behave, relate and choose from now on—together.
May Earth’s natural, healing and transformative magick guide us on our journey toward becoming that which we are meant to become. This Earth Day and every day hereafter. So mote it be!
Comments