What is greater than us is the earth itself—life—and we are folded into it, a small part of it, and we have work to do. We need a new animism, a new pantheism, a new way of telling the oldest of stories. We could do worse than to return to the notion of the planet as the mother that birthed us. Those old stories have plenty to say about the fate of people who don’t respect their mothers.
~ Paul Kingsnorth
Stormy Sunrise, Cave Point, Wisconsin – photo by Kenneth Keifer, bigstockphoto.com
Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.
~ Khalil Gibran
Early Morning, Siberia Altai Mountains, Russia – photo by Yury Taranik, bigstockphoto.com
Sometimes I come across a tree which seems like Buddha or Jesus: loving, compassionate, still, unambitious, enlightened, in eternal meditation, giving pleasure to a pilgrim, shade to a cow, berries to a bird, beauty to its surroundings, health to its neighbors, branches for the fire, leaves for the soil, asking nothing in return, in total harmony with the wind and the rain. How much can I learn from a tree? The tree is my church, the tree is my temple, the tree is my mantra, the tree is my poem and my prayer.
~ Satish Kumar
Tree Friend, Central Park, NYC – photo by Devadana Sanctuary
Ancient humans felt (and many indigenous people today feel) a burning responsibility to show their respect, honor, and gratitude to Nature, to the Universe, and to Mother Earth which gave them life. And so, they created rituals involving singing, dancing, lighting fires, and different types of prayer. These activities raised the vibration of the Earth and all life. Their actions, carried out with great love and gratitude in their hearts, reinforced and strengthened the forces of nature all around them. In turn, the Earth and the Universe protected and supported the humans, sharing with them the great abundance of existence.
~ Jocelyn Mercado, Pachamama Alliance
Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada – photo by Andrushko Galyna, bigstockphoto.com
Whether or not they contain the encapsulated wisdom of ages past, what is certain is that myths, fairy tales and folklore offer us a world imbued with participation mystique – a world in which humans are fully enmeshed. In this world, animals always have something to teach us, trees and plants can save or cure us, wise old men and women are waiting in the dark woods to help us, and a well may be a doorway to another world. Myths and folklore can put us back in touch with the seasons and turnings of the year, and they can restore our acceptance of the necessary cycles of life. They can also remind us that we have a responsibility to future generations, and to the planet as a whole. If we approach myth and story in non-human-centric ways, it places us more firmly into the wider life of the world: our personal story is enmeshed with a greater story of which we’re a part.
~ Sharon Blackie
Tree Elder – photo by denbelitsky, bigstockphoto.com
I believe with all my heart that we can create cities and towns that are functioning like a forest. The blueprint is here. How to really thrive on this planet is all around us. So it is with humility that we need to actually ask nature, what should we be doing? And then, with equal humility, start to apply that. We are capable of so much more as a species and we will be so much happier as a species as a result.
~ Sue Swain
Redwood Forest – photo by RobertU, bigstockphoto.com
People who believe that everything is fundamentally one differ in crucial ways from those who do not. In general, those who hold a belief in oneness have a more inclusive identity that reflects their sense of connection with other people, nonhuman animals, and aspects of nature that are all thought to be part of the same “one thing.”
~ Scott Barry Kaufman
Our Beautiful Earth – photo by samael334, bigstockpphoto.com
Perhaps one of the most difficult aspects for Western culture is to accept that we are totally dependent on the earth for all our needs.
~ Mary Jane Rust
Grand Canyon – photo by alexeys, bigstockphoto.com
Plants and mushrooms have intelligence and they want us to take care of the environment. They want to communicate that to us in a way we can understand.
~ Paul Stamets
Mushrooms, Moss, and Lichen – photo by malven, bigstockphoto.com
In the course of history, there comes a time when humanity is called to shift to a new level of consciousness, to reach a higher moral ground. A time when we have to shed our fear and give hope to each other. That time is now.
~ Wangari Maathai
Hawaiian Sunset – photo by Indira Darst
We cannot step outside life’s songs. This music made us; it is our nature.
Our ethic must therefore be one of belonging, an imperative made all the more urgent by the many ways that human actions are fraying, rewiring, and severing biological networks worldwide. To listen to trees, nature’s great connectors, is therefore to learn how to inhabit the relationships that give life its source, substance, and beauty.
~ David George Haskell
Baobab Trees, Madagascar – photo by Dudarev Mikhail, bigstockphoto.com
Nature is not unfeeling matter; it is full of invisible forces with their own intelligence and deep knowing. We need to re-acknowledge the existence of the spiritual world within creation if we are even to begin the real work of bringing the world back into balance.
~ Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee
Iceland Sunset – photo by Ragnhildur Jonsdottir
Communication with other species encourages deeper and more harmonious relationships with Nature. Sensing the messages being relayed by a ‘non-talking’ being involves listening with an open mind and an open heart. This is the way of the Shaman, and the way of living with respect and in harmony with all of Earths beings. Inter-species communication is also known as Telepathy and is the universal language of Nature.
By seeing Earth herself, and all of Nature as sentient, we open ourselves up to the communication that exists between all life and all species.Feeling becomes equally if not more important as thinking. Action is motivated by preservation not destruction. Care overrides cruelty.
As fellow sentient beings we don’t take from Nature, depleting and destroying her, but rather we become one with her.
~ Naturesheart.org
Glass Frog, Amazon Raiforest – photo by kikkerdirk, bigstockphoto.com
You carry Mother Earth within you. She is not outside of you. Mother Earth is not just your environment. In that insight of inter-being, it is possible to have real communication with the Earth, which is the highest form of prayer. In that kind of relationship you have enough love, strength and awakening in order to change your life.
~ Thich Nhat Hanh
Li River, Karst Mountain Lanscape, Guilin, China – photo by weltreisendertj, bigstockphoto.com
The healing of our present woundedness may lie in recognizing and reclaiming the capacity we have to heal each other, the enormous power in the simplest of human relationships: the strength of a touch, the blessing of forgiveness, the grace of someone else taking you just as you are and finding in you an unsuspected goodness. Everyone alive has suffered. It is the wisdom gained from our wounds and from our own experiences of suffering that makes us able to heal.
~ Rachel Naomi Remen
Lotus Blossom – photo by Ange DiBenedetto
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