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De (G)Aarde Newsletter november/december 2009

Gaia is calling

 

For ages and ages the First Peoples who inhabited our planet have believed in an Earth -Mother who bestows life and receives the dead into her rich soil. The Old Greeks called her Gaia, the earthly presence  of anima mundi ( the soul of the world). She who sustains all.

Gaia is that Being that governs everything, nurtures and nourishes all life. That is why people of all times have experienced her as Mother.

 

We experience now the devastating effects of our loss of connections with the Earth and her processes. Therefore we also have lost sources of knowledge and wisdom about how to inhabit our Earth in these times of crisis and loss of life. For Earth- connected people the whole of nature is a body of wisdom, guidance, deep knowing and direction in life. Most indigenous cultures have known the Earth  to be alive - a sometimes harsh mother.

 

As we are entering a new time of ecological awareness we have the opportunity to heal our relationship with the Earth. The present situation of the climate changes, global warming and all the effects of these immense changes in the life of the Earth, have opened our eyes and consciousness. We are challenged to look for ways to weave new patterns of relationships among each other, the whole community of life and with the Earth herself.

 

In the past months we have seen the typhoons, floods, landslides, all over the Philippines and all kind of other disasters in nature in other places of the world. So many deaths, so many who lost all they had, so much loss of fertility and crops. Anguish, grief, insecurity. What has it done to our relationship with nature, with the environment where we are, the people involved and ultimately with our faith in the Creator. Because is not one of the pressing questions: why does God allow this? Is God angry with us, people ask.

 

Have we found one another in this? Could we talk about it, share how we are affected?

We are confronted over and over with questions like: what can we do in this situation where the effects of ecological devastation knock at our doors? It are times of deep existential upheaval also. Where to find security in inhabiting this planet, when  the ground under our  feet is shaking or washed away?

 

Confronted with mayor disasters the main question now becomes more and more how to live through all of this. It seems, that the time to solve the problems in time has passed. We have to live now with the effects of the impoverishment and depletion of the community of life and Earth herself.

 

http://ghfgeneva.org/Portals/0/pdfs/human_impact_report.pdf (There is _ symbol after  human and report. ) I invite you to read the human impact report.

I hope you can access it, it is a thorough study about the impact of the ecological crisis in the years to come. Even with effective decisions regarding the present global situation we will have an increasing number of deaths, poverty, hunger and disease in the coming years. We better know what is awaiting us.

 

 

So what spirituality, what virtues, visions can guide us
in these crucial times for the planet?

 

 

aia takes the initiative

 

In the lives of a growing number of people all over the world, deep changes occur; the breakthrough of a new relationship with Earth and the community of life. When this happens, lives are transformed. It is a change in consciousness, a mystical awareness. All of a sudden we know, that all is One, that all flows from the same Source. It is much more than a choice for other buying patterns, actions. In spiritual language one could call it an Illumination experience; you know and see and understand everything at once.  You have found your place in the community of all life. This is the true depth of the shift from the present to an ecological worldview. This moment is a gift, a moment of grace.

 

Just an example: the story of John Seed, who dedicates his life to save the rainforests of the world.  As a young successful business man he went  to India on a spiritual quest. Upon returning he lived in a Buddhist ecological community in Australia. One day he and his friends learned about the pending logging of virginal forests in their neighborhood.  On the morning that the logging machines came John stood in front of them with trembling knees, as a living shield, trying to prevent the logging. In his great fear all of a sudden he felt how the rainforest embraced him, protecting him and he stood there fearless and strong. The logging never happened. This moment changed his life.

Mother Earth had touched him, and he awakened into a new way of seeing and knowing.

 

There are many stories of people being touched by Mother Earth. It is a call to awaken. It is a call to unconditional love for Earth and all her life. This transcends even the best intentions and plans for action, though I am not denying the great need for actions. This is the core –experience of coming home, of being welcomed home again. There is a sense of healing and groundedness that cannot be expressed in words. It is a source of great strength, love, tenderness and fierce passion. From now on you walk lightly on the Earth. Gaia has embraced us, calls, waits for our homecoming..

 

The relationship with Earth has become primary and all our actions for keeping the Earth and her life flow from this strong bond. Without this deep bonding and connection to the Source, humans will experience burn out because of feelings of powerlessness, fear for own survival and sadness for all that is lost already. It is the experience that even in the most critical time, one may rest in the imperturbable life of Mother Earth.

 

The present situation; the conference in Copenhagen.

 

In the coming weeks the world will hold her breath as world leaders will come together to find agreements about cutting the CO2 emissions. Will we be able to make the necessary changes to limit the emissions even to less that the present level? In this case the same effects of the crisis will continue. So nothing can be solved on short term. When the Co2 levels will rise further we will enter a new zone of unforeseeable dangers. Will humanity hear the voice of the Mother and act out of her inborn knowing of balance?

 

Do we have any influence on the mega-decisions? Yes we have. The Vietnamese monk and peace activist Thich Nhat Than speaks to us:

 

 

So let us support this worldwide process of growing consciousness by meditation.

 

Suggestions for meditation 

• These weeks are crucial for the (near) future of life on our planet. Let us open ourselves to the power and the vulnerability of the Earth, our Mother.
  Also in crisis times the Earth gives to us unconditionally. We are loved by the Earth in her power, abundance and vulnerability.

 

• Let us look beyond pain, chaos and the devastation of this moment in time.
  Try to connect with the power of the Earth, her life of billions of years.
  Feel  how you breathe in the vast breathing body of our Mother.

 

• We have depleted her body, changed her processes of life. We have taken without returning.
  Tune in to the power, the creative Power from the Beginning.

 

• Feel how the love for the whole of Creation flows through you. You feel the resilience of Earth;  the faithfulness of our Creator.  You know from within how Earth adapts to all that happens, through the interventions of humanity.
  Allow prayers and wisdom to well up from your heart. Offer it to the world, to God, for those have to make the decisions we so badly need.

 

• Open your heart and rest in the knowing that the Earth carries us. Feel the deep longing for life and peace of all sentient beings, of Earth herself. Inhale peace, exhale peace, hour after hour…

 

• Do we dare to believe that there is more than the processes of diminishment and death of life? See how humanity chooses Life, here and now. See the trust for wholeness and Life that pervades the whole evolutionary process.

 

• “Another Earth is not only possible, but is happening already.
  In the silence of the day I can hear her breathing”  Arundahiti Roy

 

More Resources:

 

• See the website of Resurgence magazine: www.resurgence.org. You will find many articles about spiritual ecology and the possibility to subscribe by mail for a free newsletter.

 

• www.thomasberry.org On this website you find ( the latest) books of Thomas Berry

and the celebration in memory of him on September 26, 2009 in New York.

 

 

Wishing you the wisdom and the peace of Earth

 

 

Nov. 7, 2009 Elly Verrijt

Older newsletters

Newsletter may 2009
Newsletter august/september 2009
Newsletter november/december 2009

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