I have the privilege of living on one of the most beautiful coastlines in the world. The sea here is part of the great strengthening and revivifying forces in my life and i like to be near the ocean as much as i can.
The other day i was walking our dog after a storm. There was a huge amount of sea plant material (can't bring myself to call it seaweed - sounds so pejorative) - the huge variety and immensity of the piles testimony to a great upheaval in that unseen realm.
There was velvety green weed (my favourite) and large bull kelp with its tenacious roots still holding the rock it was melded to. There was neptune's necklace and all kinds of other usually unseen miracles pungently rotting in the sun. There was also plastic. Large pieces of fishing paraphernalia as well as tiny bits as well as the unseen plastic.
My husband and i gathered large bags of it to bring home for our compost heap. It made me happy knowing that the minerals we could give our garden could be harvested in this way. That i could be part of the cycle; the miraculous cycle that something that grew in the depths could be just what my land needs to flourish. Amazing.
I thought about how the cycle of life in nature is closed. A self sealed system that has all it requires and all is useful. Nothing is wasted. The Life/Death/Life cycle is the ultimate recycling. All parts of the system are there in service not only to themselves but to the system at large.
Until of course we get to humans. The source of that unuseful plastic. The source of waste. Humans, in our need to be in control of the world around us, in an attempt to manage our meagreness in the face of the immensity of life, have tried to alter that system. Have tried to have ourselves think that we can be in control. That we can take what we want. That we can make something outside the life death life cycle and it will serve us to do so.
I think that is broken thinking.
I think that humans have a role to play in the closed system and that not with cutting the world open and scooping out what lies beneath. It is not with overpowering that balanced, self righting system. It is not with more power over and control of. I beleive that the place for humans is to be found with their open hearts.
I believe that we are required, in order to take our place in the scheme of things to turn up with open hearts, reverence and prayerfulness and tend lovingly to ourselves and the world.
Our role is one of lover not rapist.
Because we are so embedded in the paradigm of progress and boundless growth (which is impossible and frankly childish thinking - MORE MORE MORE, I WANT MORE is really only appropriate coming from the mouth of 2 year olds and then a bit irritating after a while) it is very difficult to see the value or the worth in this prayerful response.
It can feel lonely to turn up heart open for the planet.
But what spurs me on is the knowledge of the closed system. Because prayerful reverence is a very human possibility i believe that this action is part of the closed system and that because nothing is wasted in the closed system our reverence and love is met.
i found this post on facebook the other day from Grandmother's speak which summed it up for me.
The other day i was walking our dog after a storm. There was a huge amount of sea plant material (can't bring myself to call it seaweed - sounds so pejorative) - the huge variety and immensity of the piles testimony to a great upheaval in that unseen realm.
There was velvety green weed (my favourite) and large bull kelp with its tenacious roots still holding the rock it was melded to. There was neptune's necklace and all kinds of other usually unseen miracles pungently rotting in the sun. There was also plastic. Large pieces of fishing paraphernalia as well as tiny bits as well as the unseen plastic.
My husband and i gathered large bags of it to bring home for our compost heap. It made me happy knowing that the minerals we could give our garden could be harvested in this way. That i could be part of the cycle; the miraculous cycle that something that grew in the depths could be just what my land needs to flourish. Amazing.
I thought about how the cycle of life in nature is closed. A self sealed system that has all it requires and all is useful. Nothing is wasted. The Life/Death/Life cycle is the ultimate recycling. All parts of the system are there in service not only to themselves but to the system at large.
Until of course we get to humans. The source of that unuseful plastic. The source of waste. Humans, in our need to be in control of the world around us, in an attempt to manage our meagreness in the face of the immensity of life, have tried to alter that system. Have tried to have ourselves think that we can be in control. That we can take what we want. That we can make something outside the life death life cycle and it will serve us to do so.
I think that is broken thinking.
I think that humans have a role to play in the closed system and that not with cutting the world open and scooping out what lies beneath. It is not with overpowering that balanced, self righting system. It is not with more power over and control of. I beleive that the place for humans is to be found with their open hearts.
I believe that we are required, in order to take our place in the scheme of things to turn up with open hearts, reverence and prayerfulness and tend lovingly to ourselves and the world.
Our role is one of lover not rapist.
Because we are so embedded in the paradigm of progress and boundless growth (which is impossible and frankly childish thinking - MORE MORE MORE, I WANT MORE is really only appropriate coming from the mouth of 2 year olds and then a bit irritating after a while) it is very difficult to see the value or the worth in this prayerful response.
It can feel lonely to turn up heart open for the planet.
But what spurs me on is the knowledge of the closed system. Because prayerful reverence is a very human possibility i believe that this action is part of the closed system and that because nothing is wasted in the closed system our reverence and love is met.
i found this post on facebook the other day from Grandmother's speak which summed it up for me.
“LET THE EARTH LOVE YOU BACK”
As soon as I sat down before my altar, the Grandmothers spoke. “There is a goodness rising up,” they said, “a deep down goodness. It’s under your feet and all about you. You’re enfolded in it, so enfolded that wherever you go, it goes with you. You are living, breathing and moving within a matrix of good.” As I listened to them, I began to feel it. Something was supporting me, filling my body and mind with utter contentment. The Grandmothers were right. Something had begun to permeate me, and the only world to describe this something was ‘goodness’.
I looked at the Grandmothers in amazement. “Did you think all the love you’ve been sending to the earth over the years would not come back to you?” they asked. “Did you think you were the only one doing the giving? That this giving only flowed one way—from you to Mother Earth?
“Lovely one,” they said, and gazed at me with so much love that I choked up, “receive it now. THERE IS A TWO-WAY FLOW OF LOVE,” they explained; “it’s like breathing. You can’t live by only exhaling,” they laughed. “So start inhaling this goodness now,” they commanded. “Let the earth love you back.”
Each day since they told me this, I’ve been making a point of letting the earth love me back and what a difference it’s made!!
Please try it yourself. After all, this message is for you too.
If like me you believe in our human responsibility to turn up lovingly for the world you might like to join us on Praying True, a facebook group dedicated to just this cause.
I invite us all (me included) to open our hearts and step back into that closed system and close the door behind us.
Love is waiting.
RSS Feed