If 96 percent of the known universe is invisible, then how much of ourselves is invisible and not detectable by material technologies? How far do we extend into the deep ecology of the invisible universe? Because we are an integral part of the universe, a large part of ourselves may well be connected with and operating in these invisible realms. The roots of our being reach deep.
~ Duane Elgin
God’s Bridge Cave – photo by Enya Sophia, bigstockphoto.com
You are the force that makes the flowers open and close, that makes the hummingbird fly from flower to flower. You are in every tree, you are in every animal, vegetable, and rock. You are the force that moves the wind and breathes through your body. The whole universe is a living being that is moved by that force, and that is what you are. You are Life.
~ Don Miguel Ruiz, The Mastery of Love
Hummingbird – photo from bigstockphoto.com
if we are all swimming in the same ocean of subtle aliveness, then it makes sense that we would each have a direct experience of communion with, and concern for, the well-being of others. If we share the same matrix of existence, then the rest of life is already touching me, co-creating the field within which I exist.
~ Duane Elgin
Golden Sunrise Over Ocean Waves – photo from bigstockphoto.com
The idea of the universe as an interconnected whole is not new; for millennia it’s been one of the core assumptions of Eastern philosophies. What is new is that Western science is slowly beginning to realize that some elements of that ancient lore might be correct.
~ Dean Radin
Bay Creek, Shawnee National Forest, IL – photo from bigstockphoto.com
We are a natural part of the creation, we were put here on the sacred mother Earth to serve a purpose. And somewhere in the history of people were forgetting what the purpose is. The purpose is to honor the earth, to protect the earth, to live in balance with the Earth.
And we will never free ourselves until we address the issue of how we live in balance with the Earth. Because I dont care who it is, any child who turns on their mother is living in a terrible, terrible confusion. The Earth is our mother, we must take care of the Earth.
~ John Trudell, 1980
Yosemite – photo from bigstockphoto.com
I believe that humanity is suffering from a great separation sickness – a real disconnect from nature. My sense is that by understanding animals more deeply, we can begin to heal ourselves.
~Anna Breytenbach
Giant Panda Bear – photo from bigstockphoto.com
The changes required for humanity to live sustainably on the Earth are so broad, so deep, and so far-reaching that if we are to avoid a global calamity it is crucial that we discover “great stories” that can align and orient our journey into the future. Is there a story of our awakening as a species with such compelling promise that it overcomes our fears and our historical inertia?
~ Duane Elgin, “The Living Universe”
Stormy Coastline in Oregon – photo by Andrly Biokhin, bigstockphoto.com
Many people believe that trees, like humans and all living things, possess an energetic vibration and an aura. Because trees vibrations are slower and deeply connected to the Earth through their roots, connecting with trees can help us to feel safe, secure, and stable. Most would agree that a walk in the forest or even simply gazing at a tree provides a deep feeling of peace and serenity, and can be emotionally and psychologically healing.
~ Jocelyn Mercado
Cave Gorge at Sunrise – photo by Larry Knupp, bigstockphoto.com
The time has come to lower our voices, to cease imposing our mechanistic patterns on the biological processes of the earth, to resist the impulse to control, to command, to force, to oppress, and to begin quite humbly to follow the guidance of the larger community on which all life depends.
~ Thomas Berry
Cathedral Cove, Coromandel Peninsula, NZ – photo from bigstockphoto.com
A typical feature of shamans is their familiarity with states of consciousness that allow visions and explorations of other dimensions. Their primary function is to navigate from one reality to another in order to operate as bridges and create healing connections. There are many dimensions and worlds, which in our separate reality are totally unknown.
~ The Mind Unleashed
Antelope Canyon – photo by Andrea Izzotti, bigstockphoto.com
Sometimes I need
only to stand
wherever I am
to be blessed.
~ Mary Oliver
Sandstone Doorway, Ancient Buddhist Site – photo from bigstockphoto.com
the shamans and sorcerers whom I encountered in my travels always said that their ability to heal people was a by-product of a different kind of healing. Their primary work is to heal the relation the village and the land, to balance the equilibrium between the human gang and the more-than-human field of forces. If the magician was not simultaneously doing this work of offering prayers and praises and ritual gestures to the other animals and to the powers of the earth and the sky, then he might heal someone in the community and someone else would fall sick, and then he would heal that other person, and someone else would fall sick. The source of the illness is often perceived as an imbalance within the person, but it is actually in the relation between the human village and the land that supports it, the land that yields up its food, its animals for skins for clothing, and its plants for food and medicine. Humans take so much from the land, and the magician’s task is to make sure that we humans always return something to the land so that there is a two-way flow, that the boundary between us – the human culture and the rest of nature – stays a porous boundary. The magician ensures that that boundary is a membrane through which there is this two-way flow, and that the boundary never becomes a barrier shutting out the other-than-human powers from our awareness.
~ An excerpt from ‘The Ecology of Magic’, a Scott London Interview with David Abram, anthropologist, philosopher, magician and author of The Spell of the Sensuous.
Jungle, Bali – photo by Aksenovko, bigstockphoto.com
We live between the act of awakening and surrender. Each morning, we awaken to the light and the invitation of a new day in the world of time, each night we surrender to the dark to be taken to play in the world of dreams where time is no more.
~ John O’ Donohue
Cirrus Clouds at Sunset – photo from bigstockphoto.com
We breathe in oxygen given to us by the trees, drink water from lakes and springs, take in materials from trees and plants that grow in the earth, their leaves gathering energy from our local star, the sun. Every moment of our lives, whether we are aware of it or not, we live in unity and intimate connection with the creative wisdom of the natural world.
~ Christopher Chase, “Shifting Paradigms: Aligning With the Wisdom of Nature”
Lake – photo from bigstockphoto.com
My brain is only a receiver. In the Universe there is a core from which we obtain knowledge, strength, and inspiration. I have not yet penetrated into the secrets of this core, but I know that it exists.
~ Nikola Tesla
Arizona Desert Sunset – photo by Jeni Foto, bigstockphoto.com
