“Speak To Me Of God”

“I said to the almond tree, ‘Friend, speak to me of God,’ and the almond tree blossomed” ~Nikos Kazantzakis

There is an indescribable completeness that one finds in commune with nature.  It gives contentedness and joy; it feeds the soul.  Days spent in a sterile, synthetic environment lead to separation, discontent, worry, and fatigue, but time spent in nature brings peace.

Make every effort to deepen your connection with nature, and with yourself.  breathe the air, feel the earth, take in the sunshine.  Hear the wisdom of the earth and follow its guidance.

The End is Near; Let’s All Get Fanny Packs

If you listen to me speak, or follow me on Facebook, or read my blog,  you will get an idea of my moral and ethical principals.  You might even think I’m radical, or going against the grain.

But what if I never spoke a word.  What if I never typed a sentence.  What if I never shared a meme, or article, or video via social media.  Would my values still be clear?  Judging solely based on my actions, would you see me as a peaceful parent?  Not likely.  Looking at my possessions, would you see me as a minimalist?  That’s doubtful.  Observing my eating habits, would you find me to be a health nut?  Not even close.  Does the way I live my life even come close to reflecting any of the bold statements I make on a daily basis?  No.

I, my friends, am a fraud and a hypocrite.  I say one thing, and do another.  Because it’s much easier to say, isn’t it?  It requires no effort, no sacrifice, no change.  When I say “This is who I am” what I am really saying is “This is who I would be, if I wasn’t so damned scared.”

I know that I am not the only one.  I know that there are millions more like me, who beat the drum of sustainability, and freedom; oneness, and peace, but when it comes to real, meaningful change, we are full of excuses.

I don’t know when it happened, but some time not too long ago our society was given a choice.  We could either make some serious changes in the way we live our lives, or we could become cold, calloused and uncaring.  Sad as it is to say, we chose the latter.  We could never live our fast-food, consumerist, on-demand, high tech lifestyle while at the same time having a deep awareness of the implications of our actions.  So we chose to forget it.  To put up mental barriers, and block the consequences of our decisions from our minds.

But as much as we blind ourselves, those uncomfortable images do slip in from time to time.  Baby seals covered in oil.  Massive plastic islands.  Impenetrable smog clouds.  So, we do what any level headed, clear thinking species would do.  Make a few easy, small, “band-aid” changes that don’t actually address the problem, but give us the feeling that we are making a difference.  “Look!  The package for these plastic bags is made from 75% recycled material!” or “This chocolate is Rainforest Alliance Certified!”  It is good that people want to save the rainforest.  It’s good that we have recycling programs.  But at the rate we are going, we need much more drastic and immediate action if we want to sustain life on this planet.  Imagine a man planning to sell his house, and move to another country.  He checks his calendar, and sees that the date is getting closer, so he goes out and purchases a fanny pack.  No airline ticket, no realtor’s sign in his front yard.  Just a fanny pack.  That is where we are as a society.

The other coping mechanism, as I already mentioned, is to be very vocal about issues without actually making any lifestyle changes.  Maybe our friend with the fanny pack can purchase a shirt with an image of his new country’s flag, and tell everyone how great it is over there.   Now he’s ready.

At some point we will awaken from our comatose state.  When we do we will either look around and start making the necessary changes to save our planet, or we will look around and realize that it’s too late.

Expanding On “The Body of Christ”

Humans, animals, plants, and stones; the Sun and the Sky.  We are all inseparably connected.  So much so, that it is difficult to distinguish where one begins, and another ends.  It is probably more accurate to say that we are one being, than to say we are many beings who are connected.

There is an illustration in the Bible which speaks of the Christian Church as the “Body of Christ.”  It encourages Christians to act not as separate entities, but as one unit.  This is an amazingly wonderful idea, but Imagine what could be done if we applied to the entire planet, rather than limiting it to humans of a certain religious persuasion.

 Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body.   And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body.  If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?  But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.  If they were all one part, where would the body be?   As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!”  On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty,  while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it,  so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.  If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.  1 Corinthians 12:15-26

There is no need to compare or compete.  Realize that the consciousness you are experiencing is only a part of your true self.  By caring for others, and caring for the earth, you are caring for yourself.  There is no need to be jealous of what another has, because you possess all things.

A Lasting Legacy

Billions of people have tried, or are trying, to make a lasting legacy.  Many humans struggle with the idea that all too soon they will be dead, and eventually forgotten.  No matter how generous you are, no matter how heroic, no matter how many libraries you name after yourself, what office you h0ld, or how many records you break:  You will be forgotten.  After 100, 1000, or 10,000 years your name, your face, your life, will be wiped from history.

Forgotten but not Gone

While the details of your life will fade into obscurity, you will by no means be gone (Where would you go?).  Going on all around us is a constant exchange.  We breathe in the air taking in oxygen.  We breathe out releasing carbon dioxide.  Rain falls to the earth, enters the soil, and is taken up by the roots of a tree.  The tree uses the water, the carbon dioxide, and energy from the sun to create fruit.  We then eat the fruit, and its digestion is aided by trillions of micro-organisms living inside of us.  Nothing is stagnant.  Nothing stays still.  Matter and energy are constantly changing shape, changing hands, changing form, mixing, and melding.  This process continues after we die, the only difference is that there is no longer an entity that is notably and recognizably ‘you.’

Our bodies leftovers, however, will not be the only part of us to remain.  Every breath we take, every action, every thought, and every word, has an impact.  Each day we shape and change the world around us.  We all do, in fact, leave a legacy.  The legacy is not one that can be easily traced, nor one that is easily perceived by our fellowman.  But the earth knows.  and the earth will never forget.

So, if you want to leave a lasting legacy, be mindful of your actions.  Live each day with purpose, and take time to recognize your connection with every creature on this planet.  Headstones will eventually crumble, but the earth, and her creatures, will be around for some time.

The Moneyless Man

How can we feel so disconnected from the water that we drink, the food that we eat, and the soil from which the food grows?  How can we feel so cold and calloused toward our fellow man, and fellow creatures, who breath the same air, and bask in the same sunshine?

Mark Boyle, Author of “The Moneyless Manifesto” says that money is a key factor, and an unequaled tool that is used to create an illusion of separation, and destroy the benefits of oneness.

“The reduction of life and all its expressions to an empty statement of financial worth is only made possible through the use of such an abstract, objective, meaningless thing as money. Cold, hard cash. It changes hands so easily, so thoughtlessly – numbers entered on a screen. It makes life so easy, because we don’t have to think. We don’t have to question where the endless rows of Ikea furniture come from, or how we can have strawberries in February; we just hand over the money. Simple.

 

The real costs of these luxuries are not internalised in the price because they can’t be. How do you quantify the loss of a rainforest – the death of a hundred thousand trees, the extinction of plant and animal species, the loss of homes, cultures, languages, knowledge and ways of being human? How do you figure in the costs of climate change, of soil depletion, of depriving a people’s land of its water, and then forcing them to work in effective slavery, doing soulless jobs growing monocrops for faraway people whose eyes they’ll never look into?

 

You can’t. So we don’t. And money is the only way we can do that, because it is so completely, utterly abstract that it can embody all that harm and sadness and tragedy and not be the slightest bit affected. Cold, hard cash. Numbers on a screen.”

If you would like to learn more, Mark’s book is available for free online at http://www.moneylessmanifesto.org