The way we see the world affects the way we treat it. If a mountain is a deity, not a pile of ore; if a river is one of the veins of the land, not potential irrigation water; if a forest is a sacred grove, not timber; if other species are biological kin, not resources; or if the planet is our mother, not an opportunity—then we will treat each other with greater respect. Thus is the challenge, to look at the world from a different perspective.
~ David Suzuki
Himalayan Mountains, Nepal – photo by 243510097, bigstockphoto.com
What if our religion was each other? If our practice was our life? If prayer, our words? What if the temple was the Earth? If forests were our church? If holy water, the rivers, lakes, and ocean? What if meditation was our relationships? If the teacher was life? If wisdom was self-knowledge? If love was the centre of our being?
~ Ganga White
Deep Forest and Sun’s Rays – photo by Virrage Images, bigstockphoto.com
It quickly becomes clear that in this mode of cognition [living from heart perception and intelligence], through this perception of Nature, all of Nature is one unified whole, all things are unremovable parts of one thing.
~ Stephen Buhner
Seljalandsfoss Waterfall, Iceland – photo by Fyletto, bigstockphoto.com
Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.
~ Leo Buscaglia
Tropical Frangipani – photo by videowokart, bigstockphoto.com
Animism is the way humanity has been deeply connected to the land and its seasonal cycles for millennia, in rapport and conversation with the animals, plants, elements, Ancestors and earth spirits. The opposite of animism is the “cult of the individual” so celebrated in modern society, and the loss of the animist worldview is at the root of our spiritual disconnect and looming ecological crisis. Human beings are just one strand woven into the complex systems of Earth Community, and the animistic perspective is fundamental to the paradigm shift, and the recovery of our own ancestral wisdom.
~ Pegi Eyers
Nature’s Beauty – photo by Maria Marganingsh, bigstockphoto.com
For the Lakota, kinship with all creatures of the earth, sky and water was a real and active principle. In the animal and bird world there existed a brotherly feeling that kept the Lakota safe among them.
The animals had rights—the right of human protection, the right to live, the right to multiply, the right to freedom, and the right to our indebtedness—and in recognition of these rights the Lakota never enslaved an animal and spared all life that was not needed for food and clothing.
This concept of life and its relations was humanizing and gave to the Lakota an abiding love. It filled their being with the joy and mystery of living; it gave them reverence for all life; it made a place for all things in the scheme of existence with equal importance to all.
From Wakan Tanka, the Great Spirit, there came a great unifying life force that flowed in and through all things—the flowers of the plains, blowing winds, rocks, trees, birds, animals… Thus all things were kindred, and were brought together by the same Great Mystery.
~ Chief Luther Standing Bear
Arches National Park, Moab, UT – phoro by Radomir Rezny, bigstockphoto.com
If awareness is not the exclusive attribute of humankind—if, indeed, every aspect of the perceivable world is felt to be at least potentially alive, awake and aware — then there is an obvious need, in any human community, for individuals who are particularly adept at communicating with these other shapes of sensitivity and sentience. The shamans are precisely those persons who are especially sensitive and susceptible to the expressive calls, gestures and signs of the wider, more-than-human field of beings, and who are able to reply in kind.
~ David Abram
Scottish Red Deer, Glenfinnan, Scotland – photo by stroop, bigstockphoto.com
The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within the Souls of people when they realize their relationship, their oneness with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize that at the center of the universe dwells the Great Spirit, and that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us.
~ Black Elk
Reykjanesta Cliffs at Sunset, Iceland – photo by rasica, bigstockphoto.com
We talk often about the ripple effects of kind acts. Science is now confirming that kindness is actually contagious because seeing others perform acts of kindness elicits a natural neurochemical response within us which makes us act more altruistically towards others. This phenomenon is called “moral elevation”. Even watching acts of kindness can improve pathways in our brain!
~ KindSpring.org
European Barberry Blossoms – photo by ArgenLent, bigstockphoto. com
We wait, starving for moments of high magic to inspire us, but life is full of common enchantment waiting for our alchemists eyes to notice.
~ Jacob Nordby
Red Deer in Foggy Forest – photo by Veneratio, bigstockphoto.com
Never underestimate the power of goodness within you. This power of goodness can change or heal your life and the lives of others around you.
~ Anthony Douglas Williams
Apple Blossoms – photo by SeNata, bigstockphoto.com
What is magic? In the deepest sense, magic is an experience. It’s the experience of finding oneself alive within a world that is itself alive. It is the experience of contact and communication between oneself and something that is profoundly different from oneself: a swallow, a frog, a spider weaving its web.
~ David Abram
Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, Lijang Yunnan Province, China – photo by 157295779, bigstockphoto.com
Nature is alive and talking to us. This is not a metaphor.
~ Terence McKenna
Portrait of a Jaguar – photo by Anolis, bigstockphoto.com
The planet will never come alive for you unless your songs and stories give life to all the beings, seen and unseen, that inhabit a living Earth.
~ Amitav Ghosh
Elf Garden, Iceland – photo by Ragnhildur Jonsdottir
No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.
~ Nelson Mandela
Balsam Root, Patterson Mountain, Port Washington – photo by Marina Poushkina, bigstockphoto.com
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