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What is life?
It is the flash of a firefly in the night.
It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime.
It is the little shadow which runs across the grass
and loses itself in the sunset.
~ Crowfoot, Blackfoot warrior and orator
Rainforest Herd, Hoh Rainforest – photo by KR Backwoods Photography, used with permission
Once we step into the reality of a holistic consciousness that is truly in “interrelationship” with the whole, we will find our self in a very different world in which everything is interacting with us in a continually dynamic state. Even our consciousness is affecting the physical world. The question then becomes what is our role in this truly interdependent reality? Even our present image of “deep ecology” primarily sees the world through a consciousness of separation – the analytic and rational framework of our education and conditioning. We rarely experience our consciousness merged into the oneness of the world around us, as for example exists with indigenous peoples for whom even the idea of an individual being separate from their environment does not exist.
~ Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee
Bermagui, Australia – photo by Mark Gray, used with permission
The beauty of the trees, the softness of the air,
the fragrance of the grass, they speak to me.
The summit of the mountain, the thunder of the sky,
the rhythm of the sea, speaks to me.
The faintness of the stars, the freshness of the morning, the dewdrop on the flower, speaks to me.
The strength of the fire, the taste of the salmon,
the trail of the sun, and the life that never goes away,
they speak to me.
And my heart soars.
~Chief Dan George
Bench Lake, Mt. Rainier – photo by Sandy’s NW Hiking Photos, used with permission
Our task must be to free ourselves by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty.
~Albert Einstein
Summer Sunset, Desert View, Grand Canyon – photo by Don Smith Photography, used with permission
when you look at the interconnected network of plant roots and micorrhizal mycelia in any discrete ecosystem, you are looking at a neural network much larger than any individual human has ever possessed.
~ Stephen Harrod Buhner, Plant Intelligence
Hilo, Hawaii – photo by Don Smith Photography, used with permission
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.
~Navajo Chant
North Cascades, photo by KR Backwoods Photography – used with permission
The second image of sustainability is often referred to as “deep ecology” and it considers the ecosystem as a living whole of which humanity is only one part. In this complex web of interrelationships all species are dependent upon each other, and it is this dynamic pattern of inter-relationship that needs to be sustained. No one part can be considered as separate from the whole, and the idea that the environment is just here to support our human civilization is a travesty of real environmental consciousness.
~ Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee
from Sustainability, Deep Ecology, and the Sacred
Rainbow at Lake Crescent – photo by TAO Photography, used with permission
For too long we have separated spirituality from the Earth, the Creator from the creation. We each must find a way to return to the sacred unity, where the Earth is whole as well as holy.
~ Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee
Royal Arch, Boulder, CO – photo by Devadana Sanctuary
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
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
Moonset, Whitney Arch – photo by Gary Hart Photography, used with permission’
Acknowledging our love for the living world does something that a library full of papers on sustainable development and ecosystem services cannot: it engages the imagination as well as the intellect. It inspires belief; and this is essential to the lasting success of any movement.
~ George Monbiot
Cedar Creek at Grist Mill, WA – photo by Sandy’s NW Hiking Photos, used with permission
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 us safe among them… The animals had rights – the right of man’s protection, the right to live, the right to multiply, the right to freedom, and the right to man’s indebtedness. This concept of life and its relations filled us with the joy and mystery of living; it gave us reverence for all life; it made a place for all things in the scheme of existence with equal importance to all.
~ Chief Luther Standing Bear
Mother and Her Cub – photo by KR Backwoods Photography, used with permission
[Some] followers of the deep ecology movement have stressed that, for deep ecology, respect and care for Nature are not based on a code of ethics They grow spontaneously out of realizing that our small ego self is embedded in a larger ecological self. We reach awareness of and ability to act from this larger self by means of extension of identification. What we identify with we care for because, if we love ourselves, we spontaneously love what we identify with.
~ A. R. Drengson
Big Spring Creek – photo by Sandy’s NW Hiking Photos, used with permission
When you look at what is happening to our world – and it is hard to look at what’s happening to our water, our air, our trees, our fellow species – it becomes clear that unless you have some roots in a spiritual practice that holds life sacred and encourages joyful communion with all your fellow beings, facing the enormous challenges ahead becomes nearly impossible.
~ Joanna Macy
North Cascades, photo by KR Backwoods Photography, used with permission
The interconnection between the outer and inner is foundational to life, both our individual life and the life of all of creation, as has been understood by indigenous peoples since the very beginning; therefore we cannot address our outer ecological crisis without a real consciousness of the inner situation. We cannot redeem our physical environment without restoring our relationship to the sacred.
~Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee
Angel’s View – Milky Way, Grand Canyon – photo by Gary Hart Photography, used with permission
In a book that looks at plant intelligence, as well as the intelligence of other life forms, the author says, speaking of Charles Darwin’s work on plants “ 1) that the root of the plant is in fact its brain; and 2) that the plant is using sensitive, and intelligent, analysis of its surroundings to navigate through the soil their brain capacity is much larger than Darwin supposed their neural systems are highly developed – in many instances as much as that of humans, and that they make and utilize neurotransmitters identical to our own.”
~ Stephen Harrod Buhner, Plant Intelligence
Hoh Rainforest – photo by KR Backwoods Photography, used with permission
