Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.
~ Lao Tsu
Gift of Nature – photo by alwih, bigstockphoto.com
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It is no longer appropriate to think only in terms of even my nation or my country, let alone my village. If we are to overcome the problems we face, we need what I have called a sense of universal responsibility rooted in love and kindness for our human brothers and sisters. In our present state of affairs, the very survival of humankind depends on people developing concern for the whole of humanity, not just their own community or nation. The reality of our situation impels us to act and think more clearly. Narrow-mindedness and self-centered thinking may have served us well in the past, but today will only lead to disaster. We can overcome such attitudes through the combination of education and training.
~ Joanna Macy
African Sunset, Serengeti National Park – photo by LuCaAr, bigstockphoto.com
“To be” is always to “inter-be.” Our body is a community, and the trillions of non-human cells in our body are even more numerous than the human cells.. There are no solitary beings. The whole planet is one giant, living, breathing cell, with all its working parts linked in symbiosis.. We do not exist independently. We inter-are. Everything relies on everything else in the cosmos in order to manifest—whether a star, a cloud, a flower, a tree, or you and me.
~ Thich Nhat Hanh
Yellow Daffodils – photo by Marglido Photography, bigstockphoto.com
… these stories emerge out of a human-plant collaborative endeavor and a mixed writing style, which I think we can fittingly call plant-writing. Through plant-writing, this book transcends the view of plants as the objects of scientific materialism and empowers a new and yet timeless vision of the world, one in which we encounter plants as the persons and companions they are and in which we bring kind-heartedness to each encounter.
~ Monica Gagliano – “Thus Spoke the Plant: A Remarkable Journey of Groundbreaking Scientific Discoveries and Personal Encounters with Plants”
Ferns and Climber Plants – photo by Rytis Bernotas, 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
Grand Canyon LIghtning – photo by rhphoto, bigstockphoto.com
When I am among the trees,
especially the willows and the honey locust,
equally the beech, the oaks and the pines,
they give off such hints of gladness,
I would almost say that they save me, and daily.
I am so distant from the hope of myself,
in which I have goodness, and discernment,
and never hurry through the world
but walk slowly, and bow often.
Around me the trees stir in their leaves
and call out, “Stay awhile.”
The light flows from their branches.
And they call again, “It’s simple,” they say,
“and you too have come into the world to do this,
to go easy, to be filled with light, and to shine.”
~ Mary Oliver
Beech Woods with Bluebells – photo by allou, bigstockphoto.com
We think that the problems of the world and of ourselves can only be solved through “doing,” not realizing that it is this focus on ceaseless activity that has created much of our present imbalance. Rather than always asking, “What should I do?,” we can learn to reflect, “How should I be?”
~ Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee
Spring Apple Flowers – photo by Kateryna Ovcharenko, bigstockphoto.com
We are all activists, activating one story or another through the power of our attention and the way we participate in our communities. We can choose to activate and embody the story of separation or the story of interbeing. We can choose what kind of world we want to bring forth together with the people we are in contact with. We can ask ourselves:
What am I choosing to activate through the power of my attention?
How does my participation contribute to the world I would want to live in?
~ Daniel Christian Wahl
Navajo Arch, Sunset, Arches National Park, UT – photo by thomasheen, bigstckphoto.com
Perhaps one of the most powerful keys to determining our experience of the months ahead comes from a shift in thinking that invites us beyond asking, ‘What can I get from the world that exists,’ to asking, ‘What can I offer to the world that is awakening?’ The way we answer this question as individuals becomes our collective answer to what comes next.
~ Gregg Braden
Pacific Ocean, Costa Rica – photo by Andrushko Galyna, bigstockphoto.com
We live in a creative Universe that is itself a work of cosmic art. Nature is more like a flowing living symphony than a material “thing.” And everything is connected, everything is energy… Mystical traditions and individuals have been expressing this understanding for centuries. Life is sacred, life is art.
Be mindful. See the beauty that exists everywhere, the creative mystery that we are. Be aware of your presence and connection to everything.
Know that behind your social persona and cultural identity you are the child of a Creative Cosmos.
~Christopher Chase, The Art of Systems Thinking
Nepal Jungle – photo by Quickshooting, bigstockphoto.com
Today I will practice the spiritually subversive act of smiling. I will face reality. I will recognize the depth of the problems around me and within me. I will understand how serious these problems are and I will engage with them as such. But then I will smile. Even in the heart of all the problems of the world, I will smile. And by so doing I will embody the subversive nature of spirituality. The smile has its own sacred reality. Life in the midst of death, joy in the midst of sorrow, hope in the midst of chaos. I will seek to embody that to the world, to all those who need it so desperately. Today I will smile.
~ Steven Charleston
Sunrise, Monument Valley – photo by SeanPavonePhoto, bigstockphoto.com