We are not separate beings living here on the Earth, with the Earth’s living systems, species, nature, civilizations and ideologies somehow external to us and at our disposal so we can eat, drink, clothe ourselves, build our homes, drive cars.
It’s that we are actually of the Earth. In the same way that plants, birds, lakes, oceans, mountains, skyscrapers, bridges, etc are of the Earth, made of and sustained by its elements, materials, gravitational pull, morphogenetic fields and intelligence….so, too, are we of the Earth.
Once upon a time, perhaps 5 billion years ago, and before the Earth was formed 4 billion years ago, a star exploded. The pull of gravity gradually brought the stardust together to form our Sun and the rest of the planets in our solar system. As time went on, gradually life began to appear on the Earth, including humans.
Our very bodies are made up of oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, calcium, phosphorus and the other elements that originate from that exploded star. Every atom in our human bodies comes from that star. And so, too, every atom of every plant, animal….all that exists…emerged and grew from that exploded star…and connects us to a huge living system that we explore and endeavour to understand.
We cannot exist here as human beings without the Earth providing the very materials that make us who we are, and that sustain everything about our lives. We are completely, deeply, intrinsically, majestically, miraculously inter-connected and dependent upon the Earth’s unconditional generosity.
We are biospherical humans, and indigenous to the Earth. We are animals who became conscious, self-aware and individualized within this biosphere.
(Biosphere: The biosphere is the part of the earth’s surface and atmosphere where there are living things ~ Collins English Dictionary)
*
So many of our ancient religions and the New Age ones, too, teach us to look up. To ascend. To pray to external gods and invoke their favour. To believe in a Heaven or a New Earth….elsewhere.
In this sense, we are diverted from the Earth and our very beingness. From the cosmic significance of the Earth, our lives, all of life. We are diverted from the very miracle of our existence that arises from the Earth.
And for all our philosophizing and skygazing to understand our place in the universe and to know our purpose, we have not always seen the divinity of the Earth or ourselves, and we’ve not seen the Earth as the place and intelligence in which we move and have our being.
But….we have all come from the tribes of the Earth that moved across the lands and understood the patterns, and the flows and the sacredness of all life. We knew how to keep the balances.
Those memories live in our DNA. We are indigenous to the Earth.
We must make our way ‘back’ into our bodies with a reverence that is passionate and on fire.
We must make our way ‘back’ to the Earth so that we will fully grasp that what we do to the Earth and to each other, we do to ourselves.
And as we look at the trashing of the ecosystems, nations, animals and people for money (FOR MONEY), and as we feel the fullness of the trashing, we will recognize the direct relationship of this to the trashing of our own internal ecosystem and understand why so many are on antidepressants, stressed, confused. Why so many don’t want to be here. Why we escape through addictions to meditation, sex, shopping, eating, social media.
We will see how fracking comes at the cost of further fracturing ourselves at the most intrinsic levels. That fracking could simply not be unless we were fractured and split.
When we understand these crimes against nature and against our very selves, we will find our ways back. When we can feel them enough and they hurt enough and we become angry enough (yes, ANGRY), we will stand up. We will be able to ferociously say, ‘No more’. We will find our voices, magic and creativity and will we reclaim the Earth and our lives and wellbeing.
We will see how the trashers were symptomatic of our forgetting and thank them for waking us up.
We will dream other stories that do not glorify warfare, destruction and conquering….and draw other stories from the Quantum Field of limitless potential. We will fashion and co-create new realities and learn to consciously partner with the Earth and its living system.
We will become the Keepers of the Garden and allow ourselves and our gifts to flourish and to nourish.
We are stardust
Billion year old carbon
We are golden
Caught in the devil’s bargain
And we’ve got to get ourselves
back to the garden (lyrics Joni Mitchell) HERE