Accepting our kinship with all life on earth is not only solid science, in my view it’s also a soaring spiritual experience.
~ Neil deGrasse Tyson
Oregon – photo by Mirwais Azami Photography, used with permission
There is a road in the hearts of all of us, hidden and seldom traveled, which leads to an unknown, secret place. The old people came literally to love the soil, and they sat or reclined on the ground with a feeling of being close to a mothering power. Their teepees were built upon the earth and their altars were made of earth. The soul was soothing, strengthening, cleansing, and healing.
~ Luther Standing Bear
Photo by Heubi
Every living being is connected intimately, and from this intimacy follows the capacity of identification and as its natural consequences, practice of non-violence… Now is the time to share with all life on our maltreated earth through the deepening identification with life forms and the greater units, the ecosystems, and Gaia, the fabulous, old planet of ours.
~ Arne Naess
Sunrise, Horsetail Falls, Yosemite – photo by Gary Hart Photography, used with permission
It is through the heart that a real connection is made, even if we first make it in our feet or hands. Do we really feel our self as a part of this beautiful and suffering planet, do we sense its need? Then this connection comes alive, a living stream that flows from our heart as it embraces all of life. Then every step, every touch, will be a prayer for the Earth, a remembrance of what is sacred.”
~ Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee
Rimrock Lake – photo by KR Backwoods Photography – used with permission
May the sun bring you new energy by day,
May the moon softly restore you by night,
May the rain wash away your worries,
May the breeze blow new strength into your being,
May you walk gently through the world
And know its beauty all the days of your life.
~ Apache blessing
Julie Pfeiffer Burns State Park, photo by Gary Hart Photography, used with permission
It is as if a raindrop fell from heaven into a stream or fountain and became one with the water in it so that never again can the raindrop be separated from the water of the stream; or as if a little brook ran into the sea and there was thenceforward no means of distinguishing its water from the ocean; or as if a brilliant light came into a room through two windows and though it comes in divided between them, it forms a single light inside.
~ St. Teresa of Avila
Russian Gulch State Park, photo by Gary Hart Photography, used with permission
I do not see a delegation of the Four-Footed.
I see no seat for the Eagles.
We forget and we consider ourselves superior.
But we are, after all, a mere part of Creation and
We must consider to understand where we are.
we stand somewhere between the mountain and the ant,
As part and parcel of the Creation.
~ Chief Oren Lyons, Onondaga
Eclipse of the Moon, Carnationa, WA – photo by Mirwais Azami Photography, used with permission
I don’t think there is a way for those who work in service to the earth – for environmentalists, ecologists – to really woo our culture back into a reciprocal or sustainable relation with the land until we draw folks back to our senses, because our sensing bodies are our direct contact with the rest of the natural world. It is not by being abstract intellects that we are going to fall in love again with the rest of nature. It’s by beginning to honor and value our direct sensory experience: the tastes and smells in the air, the feel of the wind as it caresses the skin, the feel of the ground under our feet as we walk upon it.
~ David Abram in an interview with Scott London
Whatcom Falls, WA – photo by Mirwais Azami Photography, used with permission
If we recognize the sacred and embrace it within all of life, we will find that life will speak to us as it spoke to our ancestors. It will remind us of how to live in harmony with creation, and how to restore the balance that is intrinsic to life. The sacred is a quality of spirit in which all is one. The remembrance of the sacred is a key that can awaken our consciousness to the oneness to which we belong.
~ Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee
Double Rainbow, Yosemite Valley – photo by Gary Hart Photography, used with permission
…When we hear the morning chorus of birds, we may sense that deeper joy of life and awake to its divine nature; at night the stars can remind us of what is infinite and eternal within us and within the world. Watching the simple wonder of a dawn or a sunset can be an offering in itself. Whatever way we are drawn to wonder, to recognize the sacred, what matters is always the attitude we bring to this intimate exchange.
~ Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee
Sunrise on Mount Baker – photo by Marcel Pepin Photography, used with permission
It has always been the business of the great seers (known to India as ‘rishis,’ in biblical terms as “prophets,” to primitive folk as ‘shamans,’ and in our own day as ‘poets’ and ‘artists’) to perform the work of the first and second functions of a mythology by recognizing through the veil of nature, as viewed in the science of their times, the radiance, terrible yet gentle, of the dark, unspeakable light beyond, and through their words and images to reveal the sense of the vast silence that is the ground of us all and of all beings.
~ Joseph Campbell
Quinault Rainforest – photo by Bob Stevens, Northsound Gallery – used with permission
…everything has power, including the most inanimate, inconsequential things. Stones have power. A blade of grass has power. Trees and clouds and all our relatives in the insect and animal world have power. We believe we must respect that power by acknowledging its presence. By honoring the power of the spirits in that way, it becomes our power as well. It protects us.
~ Russell Means
Eagle – photo by TAO Photography, used with permission
When we recognise the virtues, the talent, the beauty of Mother Earth, something is born in us, some kind of connection, love is born. We want to be connected. That is the meaning of love, to be at one. When you love someone you want to say I need you, I take refuge in you. You do anything for the benefit of the Earth and the Earth will do anything for your well-being.
~ Thich Nhat Hanh
Myrtle Creek, Mt. Rainier – Photo by TAO Photography, used with permission
Waves are the voices of tides. Tides are life. They are the ocean’s pulse, and our own heartbeat.
~ Tamora Pierce
Ruby Beach, by KR Backwoods Photography, used with permission
There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature, the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after the winter. Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life. The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us, the less taste we shall have for destruction.
~ Rachel Carson
Antelope Canyon, photo by KR Backwoods Photography, used with permission
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