Though free to think and act, we are held together, like the stars in the firmament, with ties inseparable. These ties cannot be seen, but we can feel them.
~ Nikola Tesla
Himalayan Mountains at Sunrise – photo by denbelitsky, bigstockphoto.com
Would that begin to heal the wound? If we were to see not just the half of the tree that towers above the ground but the half that lives beneath it. If we were to see that great complex of roots connected to all of the other trees in the woodland by networks of mycelium that act almost as a neural network, connecting up communities of living beings, sending and receiving signals. If we were to see this network, this community, as alive, as in some way aware. If we were to understand that when we tug on one leaf it is connected to everything else in the world.
If we saw trees as living, connected, aware—would we change our ways in relation to them, and would that change us?
~ Paul Kingsnorth
Tree Roots Reaching Out and Down- photo by Yastremske, bigstockphoto.com
For some people, opening themselves to compassionate responses initially creates its own kind of pain. When we recognize that all people—actually, all beings—are capable of suffering, our relationship to others changes. As the ripples of compassion move out beyond the circumference of our own suffering or that of our loved ones and friends, we may find it increasingly impossible to ignore the plight of people we’ve never met…Their situation and their capacity to suffer become piercingly real.
~ Nancy Napier, “Sacred Practices for Conscious Living, 2nd Edition”
Lotus Blossom – photo by Ange DiBenedetto
The environment is so fundamental to our continued existence that it must transcend politics and become a central value of all members of society.
~David Suzuki
Valley of Fire State Park, NV – photo by Fyletto, bigstockphoto.com
Luther Standing Bear, a Lakota elder, said of his tradition, “there was no such thing as emptiness in the world. Even in the sky there were no vacant places. Everywhere there was life, visible and invisible, and every object gave us a great interest in life. The world teemed with life and wisdom…”
~ Duane Elgin
Sky and Clouds – photo by underworld1, bigstockphoto.com
You are not separate from nature. We are all part of the One Life that manifests itself in countless forms throughout the universe, forms that are all completely interconnected.
~ Eckhart Tolle, from Stillness Speaks
Sunrise – photo by Yanika, bigstockphoto.com
Wisdom requires not only the investigation of many things, but contemplation of the mystery…The rational approach starts from the idea that everything is explainable and that mystery is in some sense the enemy. This means that it prefers pejorative, and even wrong, answers to admitting its own lack of understanding…
We struggle over words when the slime mold solves the maze, because our concepts don’t fit the data. It is not that nature lacks intelligence, but that our own concepts do.
~ Jeremy Narby
Honey Fungus – photo by Sid10, bigstockphoto.com
During the past era the focus has been on a transcendent, often disembodied spirituality. As a result we had forgotten the very practical nature of our true self. In dimension of oneness everything is included. There is nothing higher or lower, nothing that is not sacred. Spiritual knowledge belongs to the whole of life, to each cell of creation. The soul is present within the whole body of each of us and also within the body of the Earth. Spiritual principles offer us a very practical way to work with the energies of life.
~ Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee
Summer Dawn, Udmurtiya, Russia – photo by mastafo, bigstockphoto.com
Looking behind I am filled with gratitude,
Looking forward I am filled with vision.
Looking upwards I am filled with strength
and looking within, I discover peace.
~ Apache prayer
Zion National Park, UT – photo by CrackerClips Stock Media, bigstockphoto.com
How can you buy or sell the sky, the warmth of the land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them? Every part of the Earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every clear and humming insect is holy in the memory and experience of my people. The perfumed flowers are our sisters, the deer, the horse, the great eagle, these are our brothers. The rocky crests, the juices in the meadows, the body heat of the pony, and the man, all belong to the same family.
~ Chief Seattle
Monument Valley, AZ – photo by alisha, bigstockphoto.com
Practice One:
Ask for forgiveness as a representative of the human race—for all our harm to the Earth, its rapidly shrinking biodiversity and the cruelty and violence we do to each other. Act as a surrogate for the whole human race: this is a practice of representing universal responsibility.
Practice Two:
From the same whole humanity perspective affirm the flowering of the conscience and consciousness to heal Earth and all its peoples. Let your heart open as a representative of all hearts opening across the planet.
We are holograms of the whole: let us pray as such.
~ James O’Dea
Sunrise, Lake Bled, Slovinia – photo by CreativeNaturePhotography, bigstockphoto.com
Sometimes our light goes out, but is blown again into instant flame by an encounter with another human being. Each of us owes the deepest thanks to those who have rekindled this inner light.
~ Dr. Albert Schweitzer
Garden of the Gods, CO – photo by pilgrims49, bigstockphoto.com
What is real to me is the power of our awareness when we are focused on something beyond ourselves. It is a shaft of light shining in a dark corner. Our ability to shift our perceptions and seek creative alternatives to the conundrums of modernity is in direct proportion to our empathy. Can we imagine, witness, and ultimately feel the suffering of another?
~ Terry Tempest Williams, “Finding Beauty in A Broken World”
Sunrise, Huangshan, China – photo by AlSereb, 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
Yosemite Valley – photo by lbryan, bigstockphoto.com
[Referring to the heartbeat of trees]…while trees sleep at night they routinely have beats pulsate throughout their body.
These pulses are the tree distributing water throughout its body, similar to the way a heart pumps blood through the body. This could change the way that we study and look at trees, as it had long been assumed that trees distribute water via osmosis. What an incredible find! The heart beats occur very slowly in between one another, with some of them taking hours to repeat. The phenomenon is slow and gentle that it cannot be seen with the naked human eye. Nature is amazing!
~ Brandon Prows
Tree and Sunlight, Kanchanaburi, Thailand – photo by Thiradech, bigstockphoto.com
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