The equinox is an important time, especially for those of us who want to deepen our relationship with nature.
It’s a time of pausing, of reflection, of feeling into what is happening around us, not just with the humans but with the non-human world too.
How is it for our elders such as the air? The oceans? The trees? The earth?
How is it for our brothers and sisters with 4 legs, wings, and fins?
When we consider these questions deeply, and are willing to see clearly, we will notice some disturbing trends.
All is not well.
Spiritual teacher Daniel Foor puts it this way:
“We’ve entered a global storm of growing intensity and unknown duration. A storm that we humans have invoked. The pathway through the coming century will demand many things of us.
Shifts that are critical on all scales: how we do family and community, how we do religion, international laws and systems. For certain, we’ll need to do more centering of relationship and interdependence.
If this feels daunting, it should.
We’re limited in our ability to contribute as isolated individuals, but that’s the point. It’s imperative to come back into conscious relationship with the Earth and to stay there through the storm.
The way forward is nothing especially new, it’s the application of ancient values in a modern context, but in ways that drop the human arrogance and celebrate our kinship with the many others.”
I couldn’t agree more.
Robin Wall Kimmerer, plant ecologist, distinguished professor, and author of the masterpiece ‘Braiding Sweetgrass’ echoes a similar sentiment:
“The Earth asks more of us than gratitude.
The Earth asks that we give our considerable gifts, in return for all we’ve been given and in return for all we have taken.
We are called to a movement made of equal parts outrage and love.
We need more than policy change; we need a change in worldview, from the fiction of human exceptionalism to the reality of our kinship and reciprocity with the living world.
The Earth asks that we renounce a culture of endless taking.”
Reflection questions after reading that deep wisdom:
- Will you join the growing movement to renounce a culture of endless taking and the fiction of human exceptionalism?
- What would that look like?
- What would change for you?
- How can you step more fully into this worldview which is a necessary shift if we want to preserve some semblance of the planet we have known our entire lives?
If these values resonate with you, consider joining me for a retreat (and fundraiser for whales) on Sept. 30 from 10-4 in Concord, MA. Mindfulness practice is an elegant laboratory in which to explore our beliefs and feelings in a non-judgmental container.
Contemplative practices engage in deliberate cultivation of compassion and empathy, for ourselves and our close-in loved ones, yes, but also then extending out that circle of compassion to include all beings and our wondrous, beleaguered planet.
To me, that is the fullest expression possible of being human; not more technology, more wealth, more power, more weapons; not more apathy, more mindless consumption, more distraction, more scrolling.
We are being called to shift in unprecedented ways, in large numbers. We are being called to live into our self-given title of Homo Sapiens (Wise Human).
And we aren’t meant to do this alone.
Stepping into an intentional community focused on cultivating these qualities which really matter is an act of sanity, rebellion and sovereignty.
When we infuse Earth-honoring, relational ethics with embodied compassion practice, we are entering a space of integrity and of magical co-creation.
It’s time to remember who we really are, and to stand in that knowing with the entirety of our being.
I’ll leave you with the powerful words of poet Drew Dellinger.
It’s 3:23 in the morning
and I’m awake
because my great great grandchildren
won’t let me sleep
my great great grandchildren
ask me in dreams
what did you do while the planet was plundered?
what did you do when the earth was unraveling?
surely you did something
when the seasons started failing?
as the mammals, reptiles, birds were all dying?
what did you do
once
you
knew?
If you want to see a tiny act done with great love for the earth, you can watch a clip of some monarch caterpillars I found in a field, raised to butterfly, and then released for the long journey to Mexico! They are astounding beings, now an endangered species on the red list, mostly due to habitat loss and pesticide use.
I still have 4 in Chrysalis and there is a chance one will emerge during the retreat day. 🦋
May all beings be safe, protected from harm, and be free from suffering. Please share with anyone who you think may be interested.
May our connection and our lives be of benefit to the children of all species, for the next 7 generation,
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