What if there were another system and jurisprudence, based upon the concept that the planet and all of its species have rights — and they have those rights by virtue of their existence as component members of a single Earth community?
~ Thomas Berry
Wood Mouse on the Forest Floor – photo by CreativeNaturePhotography, 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
Grand Canyon in Winter Snow – photo by Songquan Deng, bigstockphoto.com
A world in which elves exist and magic works offers greater opportunities to digress and explore.
~ Terry Brooks
Elf Garden, Iceland – photo by Ragnhildur Jonsdottir
Nature loves courage. You make the commitment and nature will respond to that commitment by removing impossible obstacles. Dream the impossible dream and the world will not grind you under, it will lift you up. This is the trick. This is what all these teachers and philosophers who really counted, who really touched the alchemical gold, this is what they understood. This is the shamanic dance in the waterfall. This is how magic is done. By hurling yourself into the abyss and discovering it’s a feather bed.
~ Terence McKenna
Forest in Snow at Sunset – photo by Umas83, bigstockphoto.com
Earth Mother teach me of my kin,
of Hawk, and Dove, and flower,
of blinding sunlight, shady knoll,
desert wind and morning showers.
Teach me every language of
the creatures that sing to me,
that I may count the cadence of
infinite lessons in harmony.
~ Jamie Sams
Brown Bear in the Forest, Finland photo by Michal Masik, bigstockphoto.com
In the universe, there are things that are known, and things that are unknown, and in between, there are doors.
~ William Blake
Northern LIights and Stars, Yukon Territory, Canada – photo by PiLens, bigstockphoto.com
Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality.
~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
Huai Mae Khamin Waterfall, Thailand – photo by littlegallery, bigstockphoto.com
Our natural state of being is in relationship, a tango, a constant state of one influencing the other. Just as the subatomic particles that compose us cannot be separated from the space and particles surrounding them, so living beings cannot be isolated from each other…
~ Lynn McTaggart
Sunrise, Grand Canyon National Park – photo by maverick888, bigstockphoto.com
If we surrendered
to earth’s intelligence
we could rise up rooted, like trees.
~ Rainer Maria Rilke
Snowy Sunset, Yosemite – photo by YuliyahH, bigstockphoto.com
The world is not decided by action alone. It is decided more by consciousness and spirit; they are the secret sources of all action and behavior. The spirit of a time is an incredibly subtle, yet hugely powerful force. And it is comprised of the mentality and spirit of all individuals together. Therefore, the way you look at things is not simply a private matter. Your outlook actually and concretely affects what goes on. When you give in to helplessness, you collude with despair and add to it. When you take back your power and choose to see the possibilities for healing and transformation, your creativity awakens and flows to become an active force of renewal and encouragement in the world. In this way, even in your own hidden life, you can become a powerful agent of transformation.
~ John O’Donohue
Sunrise, Lake Minnwanka, Banff, Canada – photo by Songquan Deng, bigstockphoto.com
The nitrogen in our DNA.
The calcium in our teeth.
The iron in our blood.
The carbon in our apple pies.
Were made in the interiors of collapsing stars.
We are made of star stuff.
~ Carl Sagan
False Kiva and Milky Way, Canyonlands National OPark, Utah – phtoo by Kris Wiktor, bigstockphoto.com
We must relinquish our convenient narratives of human exceptionalism and triumphalism – those stories that centralize human agency and enthrone human interests as supremely paramount in the multiverse. And we must do this not simply because we are now regaining some awareness about the nobility of other species and life forms – and not entirely because we are ourselves now humbled by our less than spectacular origins, but mainly because these times of upheaval call on us to revisit what is implied in being human. Do we continue to insist that we are lords over all, masters of the universe – uniquely distanced from the fleshy, dirty discourses of ‘nature’ – ravaging plagues burning soil and earth into asphalted forms of our own making? Or do we recognize our relatedness to all things, our real dependence on the land we supposedly transcend, and that to be human is not a magisterial decree of isolation, but a chorus…a syncretic process of shared ecological participation?
~ Bayo Akomolafe
Sunrise on the Mediterranean, Costa Brava, Spain – photo by Dzmitrock, 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
Magical Being – African White Lion – photo by EnjoyLife, bigstockphoto.com
When I was young, I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire kind people. Know that every deed counts, that every word is power… Above all, remember that you must build your life as if it were a work of art.
~ Abraham Joshua Heschel
Lotus Flowers – photo by photirung, bigstockphoto.com
This is a dark time, filled with suffering and uncertainty. Like living cells in a larger body, it is natural that we feel the trauma of our world. So don’t be afraid of the anguish you feel, or the anger or fear, because these responses arise from the depth of your caring and the truth of your interconnectedness with all beings.
~ Joanna Macy
El Capitan, Yosemite National Park, CA – photo by jeffbanke, bigstockphoto.com
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 76
- 77
- 78
- 79
- 80
- …
- 305
- Next Page »