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Portal to Multidimensional Living

Life in all its variety and beauty calls us for a response – a new integrated understanding of who we are as humans. This is not only about stewardship of the Earth but also about embracing our embeddedness in nature in radical, fresh, and enlivening ways. Humans, Earth, and the rest of life are bound in single story and destiny. It is no longer a question of “saving the environment” as if it were something out there apart from us. We humans are the environment, and it is us…

~ Mary Evelyn Tucker

Island at Salt Creek Beach – photo by TAO Photography, used with permission

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A human being is part of the whole, called by us “Universe,”
a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest- a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness.
This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison
by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.

~ Albert Einstein

Northern Lights, photo by Marcel Pepin Photography, used with permission

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At the deepest level of ecological awareness you are talking about spiritual awareness. Spiritual awareness is an understanding of being embedded in a larger whole, a cosmic whole, of belonging to the universe.

~ Fritjof Capra

Photo by Zastrozzi Dh Photography, used with permission

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We are all connected to everyone and everything in the universe. Therefore, everything one does as an individual affects the whole. As thoughts, words, images prayers, blessings, and deeds are listened to by all that is.

~ Serge Kahili King

Ruby Beach, photo by KR Backwoods Photography, used with permission

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I am of the family of the universe and with all of us together I do not fear being alone. I can reach out and touch a rock or a hand or dip my feet in water. Always there is some body close by, and when I speak I am answered by a plane’s roar or the bird’s whistling or the voices of others in conversation far apart from me. When I lie down to sleep, I am in the company of the dark and the stars.

Breathe to me, sheep in the meadow. Sun and moon, my father and my father’s brother, kiss me on the brow with your light. My sister, earth, holds me up to be kissed. Sun and moon, I smile at you both and spread my arms in affection and lay myself down at full length for the earth to know i love it too and I am never to be separated from it. In no way shall death part us.

~ David Ignatow

Myrtle Creek, Mt. Rainier – Photo by TAO Photography, used with permission

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How can we fret and stew…under the calm gaze of ancient Tao? The salt of the sea is in our blood; the calcium of the rocks is in our bones; the genes of ten thousand generations of stalwart progenitors are in our cells. The sun shines and we smile. The winds rage and we bend before them. The blossoms open and we rejoice. Earth is our long home.

~ Stewart W. Holmes

Photo by Marcel Pepin Photography, used with permission

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From the standpoint of daily life, however, there is one thing we do know: that we are here for the sake of each other – above all for those upon whose smile and well-being our own happiness depends, and also for the countless unknown souls with whose fate we are connected by a bond of sympathy. Many times a day I realize how much my own outer and inner life is built upon the labors of my fellow men, both living and dead, and how earnestly I must exert myself in order to give in return as much as I have received.

~ Albert Einstein

First Light, Yosemite Valley – photo by Gary Hart Photography, used with permission

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The mountains, I become part of it…
The herbs, the fir tree, I become part of it.
The morning mists, the clouds, the gathering waters,
I become part of it.
The wilderness, the dew drops, the pollen…
I become part of it.

~Navaho Chant

Swan Lake – photo by Ron Niebrugge, Wild Nature Images, used with permission

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The Cosmos is filled with precious gems. Each moment you are alive is a gem, shining through and containing earth and sky, water and clouds. It needs you to breathe gently for the miracles to be displayed. Suddenly you hear the birds singing, the pines chanting, see the flowers blooming, the blue sky, the white clouds… We should enjoy our happiness and offer it to everyone. Cherish this very moment… Let go of distress and embrace Life fully in your arms.

~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Yosemite Valley Dogwood – photo by Gary Hart Photography, used with permission

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