Rewilding the heart, rewilding the earth

I hadn't heard the term "rewilding" before listening to this episode. It's not hard to guess what it means!

We need to bring back the conditions for our natural environment to be "wild"; we need to stop raping the earth of the very spaces and resources it needs to thrive. It sounds so obvious - the earth is our home. There is nowhere else to move to. Yet somehow, gradually and collectively, we have become blind and careless. Over recent years I've heard myself saying more than once: "We're like frogs in water that is slowly getting to boiling point." You probably know that analogy. Apparently if a frog is dropped into a pan of boiling water it will frantically struggle to get out. But if it is placed in warm water on a low heat it will quite happily enjoy the warmth and sink into a tranquil slumber eventually allowing itself to be boiled to death. The analogy is much too close for comfort.

Fortunately there are many organisations and individuals who are sounding the alarm - and showing us how to take action. If you Google the word "rewilding" you will find, as I did, many links.

A challenging insight in this episode is that we won't succeed in rewilding the earth unless we also rewild our hearts. "You can't find nature sacred if there is no sense of the sacred within you." For some, "rewilding the heart" happens unexpectedly and even through trauma. Clare Dubois, in this episode recounts her experience. Here's an 8 minute clip of her story. I was particularly fascinated by Clare's story because several years ago I joined Tree Sisters. Through a monthly donation "my forest" now has 363 new trees. The total number of trees planted by Tree Sisters at the time of writing this is: 22,850,619! If you did listen to the YouTube clip you will know that Clare was/is a confirmed introvert who had no idea how to deal with her grief at the rape of the earth until the event described. Of course not everyone has to go through such a dramatic experience. Our call to action may be quiet and progressive. But one way or another we each have a part to play. And as two of the panel commented - we have to feel the pain of our planet before we truly show up and take action. The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben is an inspiring read.

It's interesting that Covid is a disease of the lungs and trees are the lungs of the earth. A diagram of lungs shows that they even look like trees!

 "The whole fabric of creation is designed for peace, harmony and fullness of life," said one person. That echoes creation stories around the world and in many religions. For example: the creation story in Genesis 1. If you are interested in the mythology of trees in different cultures and religions this is an interesting site. Getting back to that "peace, harmony and fullness of life" is what this mutual rewilding of our hearts and our planet is about.

I've loved trees since I was a child. They seem so solid and rooted and dependable. They know how to weather storms and grow around obstacles. Their roots are strong enough to push up through concrete pathways. They stay put through the centuries often growing through cities now deserted and crumbling.

Take note of the last line: Our heritage is in our hands.

A final quote: "Trees are not insane.If you want to become sane go outside. Bow, listen, learn." 

Some links to those on this episode:

Catherine G Lucas: Founder of Co-creating Our Future, author and Birth the New Earth Host

Clare Dubois: founder of Tree Sisters

James Murray White: Filmmaker, Activist and Co-founder of XR Rewilding

Mick Collins: Occupational Therapist and Author of The Unselfish Spirit The Visionary Spirit and Birth the New Earth team member

Dark Night of the Globe

 

Calling our current environmental and pandemic crises a "dark night of the globe" may seem rather gloomy and daunting. However, this description holds a serious challenge and a wonderful hope.

Many of you will immediately think of the origin of the "dark night" language in the experience and writings of St John of the Cross (16th Century). John's experience included terrible external injustices and a deep personal spiritual crisis. It was a death/resurrection experience. Out of the trauma, the 'unknowing' and the surrender to what felt as if  his whole world was crumbling, John emerged into new life. He brought gifts of insight, poetry and writing we still draw on all these centuries later. It is significant that he is Saint John of the Cross. Yes. Jesus endured betrayal, abandonment and injustice culminating in a false trial and sentence. He entered the darkest night as he approached physical death on a cross. He begged to be delivered. He wished there was some other way, yet surrendered to going through with it: "Father, if it be possible take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done." (Luke 22:42). That surrender to death was the doorway to resurrection.

The speakers in this summit conversation wanted to make clear that the global dark night terminology does not imply that "God caused this". Rather, it is the outcome of human behaviour, selfishness and greed. One panelist called the global dark night "savage grace" as it burns away our illusions and reveals the consequences of aligning with darkness. Darkness is often more 'thrilling' and intriguing. It provides a place to hide. (Sadly, it is also more newsworthy.) Light exposes and reveals the truth with nowhere to hide. Living in the light requires repeatedly dying to the ego and our illusions of separateness and control. 

But the dark night also invites us to recognise our creative capacity to co-operate in bringing about change. We have a part to play in Birthing the New Earth - that's what this summit is about.  As Quantam physics constantly reminds us: we live in a world of possibilities. Not just "nice ideas" but actual change brought about immediately by our attitudes, actions and choices.  (Remember the butterfly effect from the previous post.) 

One of my particular areas of interest is noticing how realities expressed in contemporary science are "hidden in plain sight" in spiritual texts. As a life-long Christian, of course I see this most clearly in the Bible.  Jesus puts "loving your neighbour as yourself" right up there with loving God (Mark 12:30-31). More and more I have come to see that loving my neighbour "as myself" doesn't just mean "as much as I love myself" although that's not a bad start! In a very real sense my neighbour actually is "myself".  What I do affects everyone else - directly or indirectly. The Buddhist image of Indra's net expresses this well. So does a spider web!

So our part in co-creating our future is to own our influence and express our creative potential. If we externalise the crisis as something happening to us we are pretending to be separate from it, denying any responsibility for contributing to change.  But each of us has potential to join in bringing about the light of a new era to follow this dark night.

This summit conversation was fiery and impassioned I felt quite breathless by the end of it! The urgency for "sacred activism" was evident. The facilitator, asked each person to ground it in a final practical word to those listening. The responses:

• What breaks your heart the most? Step up and do something about it - right now.
• What was I born for? I need to make every day a day I honour the truth.
• Words have power - watch how you speak. 
• The present moment is the portal for change.
• Don't get caught in pessimism - that is self perpetuating. In every moment there are infinite possibilities.

What strikes me in all of these responses is that they each bring the focus back to the present moment. It is easy to think it's all too big, too daunting, what could I possibly do that would change anything? There's the tempting escape route again! Both Jesus and quantam science say: "You can't get away with that. You are making a difference one way or another whether you are aware of it or not!" So even if we can't do "great things" let's make a habit of choosing to "do small things with great love" as Mother Teresa said not so long ago.

************************

Panelists in this conversation:

Catherine G Lucas: Founder of Co-creating Our Future; Author; Birth the New Earth Host.

Caroline Myss: Five time NYT best selling author and Internationally Renowned Speaker.

Andrew Harvey: Internationally acclaimed Writer, Poet, Translator and Mystical Teacher

Paul Levy: Author, Spiritual Emergence Pioneer and Birth the New Earth team member.

 

Awakening Through Crisis

As I mentioned in my previous post I have been inspired by the Birth the New Earth Summit Over nine one-hour sessions, twenty experts and visionaries in various fields, share their wisdom and passion for doing just that. In the next few Posts I plan to share some highlights from each session. (I highly recommend you sign up and listen yourself if you can. What I share are some of the things that most inspired me and I certainly haven't covered everything!)

 The first episode The Re-birth of People and Planet focussed on awakening through crisis. Most of us would prefer to avoid crisis! But what if we thought of crisis as an opportunity to “wake up” and discover resources we never knew we had? What if crisis was a motivating gift to energise our power to be part of a re-birth?

The Chinese characters for crisis mean danger and opportunity. How appropriate for the current time as we face climate crisis and a global pandemic. Victor Mair, professor of Chinese language, says the characters "represent an incipient moment; a crucial point when something begins or changes.” We have an opportunity to be part of this crucial turning point.

Sometimes this opportunity begins with a personal/spiritual crisis. Each of the four people in this episode  refer to what they called a spiritual emergency as a turning point in their lives which motivated what they are doing now. They name our current crises a Global Spiritual Emergency. The good news is that spiritual emergencies can lead to spiritual awakenings. One told of his spiritual emergency taking him to a place of awe and knowing the one-ness and holiness of all things. (This reminds me of Thomas Merton's experience- and the experiences of many other mystics.)

I can see that many points of crisis in my own life stand out as significant positive turning points. As more of us learn to trust and integrate crisis a groundswell grows that can become a positive tipping point in our global crises.
 
Many years ago I learned about the Butterfly Effect (a very small change in one place can influence a much bigger change at a distance) 

 

and the Hundredth Monkey Effect (when a critical number of people embrace a particular idea or behaviour it quickly becomes widespread). 

I found both fascinating but at the time didn't seriously apply them to my own behaviour. Currently these realities are in sharp focus. The pandemic and the climate crisis demonstrate that even the smallest actions we take affect the whole planet, and its people - for good or ill. As another panelist said: "The future is uncertain and we are all creating it together." That is a challenging reality.

One of the greatest challenges is to avoid being caught in the "mind-virus" of fear and pessimism. If that happens we become part of the problem. We are adding to a groundswell of anger, depression and helplessness. However, fear if faced and integrated can be a motivator to energise new action and creativity. If power is used unconsciously it is destructive and perpetuates the belief that we are separate from each other and from the earth. But we can choose to use the power within us to act creatively with love and compassion for each other and the planet - realising that we are all intricately connected.

Many tiny seeds planted in bare earth become a beautiful garden. What seeds are you choosing to plant?

 

I am hopeful that before too long there will be a "hundredth monkey" tipping point in a positive direction. (And don't forget that butterflies emerge from a constrained chrysalis where everything looks like mush!)

Re-birth of people and planet is possible - each of us has a role in bringing it about!

                                                        *******************************

Some links to the four panelists in this episode:

Catherine G Lucas

Kylie Harris

Mick Collins

Paul Levy

Breathe new life - now!

 This feels like a new chapter in my Blog. I thought of starting a new Blog but decided it’s easier to continue this one. If I had started a new Blog the title of this post would have been the title of the new Blog.

I chose this title because it gives a feeling for what motivates me to write again. Some of the things I’ve been interested in for a long time seem to be coming together synchronistically recently. 

• Quantam physics
• Covid crisis
• Climate crisis
• Effects of colonialism
• Indigenous wisdom 
• Science and spirituality 

My challenge is to distill the interconnectedness of these seemingly random issues into meaningful bites for myself and readers!

So where does breathing fit in? 

Breathing is something we can only do right now. We can’t breathe our previous breath again and we can’t breathe next minute’s breath before next minute arrives.

Breathing involves breathing in and breathing out. As Covid shows us - every breath affects both me and those around me. (This is obvious when sitting near someone smoking). It is also true in less obvious ways. The ideas I take in and absorb affect the things I will say. The attitudes I nurture in myself will affect the atmosphere around me even if I’m not speaking. (We can “feel” anger, joy, disdain, warmth etc).

It may be a surprise to consider that these two simple realities are expressions of quantam reality. 

The only time we have is right now. We can’t ‘re-do’ the past and the future isn’t here yet!

We live in a participatory universe. In other words we are influencing the way life evolves whether we realise it or not!

So “breathe new life now” is an invitation to be aware of what we take in and what we put out. We are not separate beings who can watch from the sidelines of life.

Resources that are directly or indirectly contributing to my current thinking are:

The Quantam Revelation: A Radical Synthesis of Science and Spirituality

Paul Levy (Select books, 2018) 

Birth the New Earth summit  https://www.birthnewearthsummit.com/

Here we are again!

 "Here we are again" is a phrase we've used a lot over the past year in relation to COVID lockdowns. I'm using it here for another reason. After writing my Caravan of Selves Blog posts up to June last year it seems a pity to wait another two years before I'm old enough (!) to write the next episode. So "here we are again" or at least here I am again!

A Blog is a funny thing. It is halfway between private journal entries and very public FaceBook posts. I've missed Blogging, because for me it is a place to keep track of the most important things I want to remember. FaceBook is good for instant moments and photos but (for me at least) not for longer reflections on deeper things.

So I begin again by copying most of the Christmas letter I sent out at the end of 2020. I find Christmas letters a great way to remember the highlights of a year.

2020 will be a year to remember…
The Covid 19 pandemic has influenced almost everyone on the planet in some way. It would be wonderful if love, joy and peace would spread as globally as the virus. Perhaps that is still possible. When we choose to nurture love, joy and peace within our own hearts it permeates in ways seen and unseen.

We began the year with a wonderful cruise around NZ for seven days. The weather was perfect and the
cruise took us to some of the most beautiful places in our amazing country. Milford Sound, Akaroa and
the excellent Waitangi visitor centre were among our favourite places. Little did we know that all too
soon cruises would be off the agenda for some time. We look back with great gratitude.

Welcomed onto the Marae at Waitangi

Arriving in Milford Sound at sunrise

Beautiful Akaroa Harbour

Since that carefree beginning this year has been dominated by unexpectedly selling our house and moving into Evelyn Page retirement village!

Entrance

The timeline and circumstances of this are quite remarkable. For 18 months or so we had been
researching possible options for when the time was right to make a move. So one Saturday in February we went to an open day at Evelyn Page village. One of the show apartments was a sunny north-facing apartment with double aspect and both bedrooms opening onto a balcony. We thought it would be an ideal layout if one like that was available when we were ready to move. On Wednesday that week one of Anthea’s supervisees (K) mentioned her son, Andy, and wife and two children were looking to buy in Orewa. They wanted a house pretty much like ours. We explained that we weren’t ready to move just yet – partly because we would need to find an office space for our work. However if the family wanted to look through our place we were happy for them to come as long as they knew it wasn’t yet on the market. On Thursday K texted Anthea to say she and her husband would like to offer us an office space in their home near the beach in Orewa, if/when we did sell ours! On Friday Andy with his wife and children came to look and immediately said they loved the house and would like to buy it if they could!

We were quite shocked but also aware that something amazing was happening. We made a quick return visit that day to the apartment we had seen a few days before to make sure we still thought it suited us. It did, so we put a hold on it. On Saturday we got an updated appraisal on our house from agents we had used a year before as part of our research. Then on Saturday evening we did all the price negotiating with Andy by text message!! We came to a very happy agreement. On Monday we did the paperwork for the sale of our house and the contract on the apartment.

Our living area

Balcony

So within the space of a week we had sold our house, been offered an office space and put a contract on the apartment we are now living in! All along we had said “We’ll know when the time is right to move.”We certainly didn’t have any doubt!

All of that happened just before Covid really hit NZ. In a few weeks NZ went into five weeks of total lockdown. This is not a great time to be packing up a whole house, getting rid of at least half our furniture and many books, linens, crockery and other things we couldn’t bring to a small apartment! Of course we couldn’t have anyone come to help with heavy lifting! Op Shops were closed and no-one could come to view or pick up things for sale. It was tough! I found it very stressful physically and emotionally. But we made it. Ponsonby Baptist Church is linked with CORT (Community of Refuge Trust) which houses over 400 people. CORT took all our excess furniture. Women’s Refuge were able to take all our excess linens. These were both classed as essential services. It was wonderful to know that what we couldn’t keep was going to people in real need.

The settlement date for moving was 7th May. As the Covid situation continued we thought that date
would have to be extended. But amazingly moving house was possible when Lockdown went down to
Level 3. This happened ten days before settlement date! It’s almost a “too good to be true” story. But it
is definitely true and we have been living here now for seven months by the time most of you read this.

Of course there are adjustments and settling in to be done with such a move. But we have found both
residents and staff here to be very warm and welcoming. In fact we feel quite spoiled! A great advantage
is that we are literally “just down the road” from where we lived previously. The environment, shops and
services are all familiar. We are very happy and grateful.

The Election has been another major feature of this year. We are so blessed to live in New Zealand! Our
Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, has become a world renowned figure in the way she has managed the
pandemic here. The landslide victory of the Labour Party in the election is, in part at least, due to this.
Throughout her whole 3 year term Jacinda has modelled, and called us, to be a culture of kindness, compassion and inclusiveness. There is much hope for “peace on earth and goodwill to all people” under such leadership. But it takes us all to make it happen. Jacinda repeatedly
called us “the team of five million”. 

Doing my bit in the "team of five million"!

Family news includes the joy of new birth and the challenges of aging.
My niece Lydia and husband Phil are the proud parents of an adorable son, Oscar!

Oscar Andrew Miller

Anthea and I between us have five siblings (plus spouses) between the ages of 75 and 84! Supporting
where we can and observing the reality of various levels of need, makes us very grateful we have been
able to move here before we have significant health or disability needs.

Over the summer we plan a few days in Tauranga before Christmas to visit family members and four
days of retreat at the Tyburn Monastery on the outskirts of Auckland. Apart from that we will enjoy day
trips and “support local” – which is not difficult to do in this beautiful country!

None of us know what 2021 will bring but hopefully we will all be ready to enjoy each day with gratitude,
trust and love.