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“Our challenge is to create a new language, even a new sense of what it is to be human. It is to transcend not only national limitations, but even our species isolation, to enter into the larger community of living species. This brings about a completely new sense of reality and value.” (Thomas Berry, “The Ecological Age,” in The Dream of the Earth, 42).
EARTHSONG JOURNAL: THE MYSTERY OF MOTHER EARTH AFTER A THUNDERSTORM
I’m sitting looking at the trees after a long, vibrant thunderstorm; I am contemplating my thoughts of all the mystery in this event.
THE LIMITS OF OUR CONSCIOUS PERCEPTIONS
We think of the environment through the filter of our own limited conscious perceptions. What if there is much more to the Earth than is obvious. Thinking that’s all there is, what if there is more to all the plant and animal life than we see at casual glance?
ARE OTHER LIFE FORMS IN THE ENVIRONMENT DISCREETLY SEPARATE FROM US?
“Our relationship with the earth involves something more than pragmatic use, academic understanding, or aesthetic appreciation. A truly human intimacy with the earth and with the entire natural world is needed. Our children should be properly introduced to the world in which they live.” (Thomas Berry, “Human Presence,” in The Dream of the Earth, 13).
We think of other life forms as separate, discreet events from us; we don’t see them as part of a greater oneness and mystery, which is beyond our five senses. There are questions: do life forms communicate in their own ways, perhaps energetically, that we can’t perceive within the parameters of our closed off senses? Perhaps in our evolutionary space in time, there are many things in the environment that are much more mysterious and complex than many of us can fathom.
BEING IN HARMONY WITH THE DIVINE
If I just sit with this mystery in contemplative silence and let it speak to me in its own languages other than my own, then I can feel and be present to this “Peace that passes [my] understanding.” I can feel this intimacy that I call the Earthsong. I can be present and feel in harmony with what I call the Divine.
Artwork by Richard MacKay
-Richard MacKay
Things that inspire me:
Learning in a variety of ways, literary, analytic, experimental, communicational and being compassionate.
Creative endeavors, such as art, music, poetry, and dance. Hiking in the woods or in nature. Feeling the energy of oneness in nature that is not felt in the city. Strumming on the guitar and composing poetic verses.
The spirit of oneness in my experience. The connection between different facets of my experience, such as visual colors, harmonies, nature and language. Spirituality is sensing my world as both.
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