Gaia Blog

Gaia’s Blog: Seeds for a Resilient, Earth-Centered Future

Deep Ecology and Earth-Centered Philosophy

In the 1970s, some out-of-the-box folks in the emerging field of ecology began to ask deeper questions about how to understand and restore the land. They began wondering about humans’ authentic place in the web of life, how we lost that, and how we might get it back. This led to the radical conviction that our thinking needs to become bio-centered, not human-centered. This shift in perspective opened the door to a new, “deeper” body of science and literature, of ideas and practices, that both challenge and inspire us to claim our true place in Gaia’s web.

The Path of Gaia

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garden pathAfter writing Gaia’s Blog for over a year, I’m circling back to the most central questions: Who is Gaia? How can we understand and unite with Her as fully as possible?

In mythology, “Gaia” typically refers to the Goddess of the Earth, the ancestral Mother. Indeed, another way to refer to Gaia might be as Mother Earth, the entirety of the physical planet—the waters and forests and prairies, and more fine-grained manifestations like the plants and animals.

To the visionary scientists who developed the Gaia Hypothesis 50 years ago, “Gaia” means the total, measurable physical/chemical/biological level of the planet, which, they proposed, is an intelligent, self-regulating system perpetually seeking homeostasis—even, or especially, in response to the ongoing breakdown of the biosphere. [Read more…] about The Path of Gaia

Becoming “Woke” on Behalf of Gaia

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These days we’re being confronted on all sides with a wide variety of human grievances. We’re even being urged to re-examine the very words we use, to become more “woke” to systemic discrimination and oppression.

As a relatively privileged white woman, I can’t imagine the trauma of centuries of oppression and mistreatment of Native and Black people, and their justified outrage about that. But one way I can get close to understanding it is when I contemplate the violence and aggression long perpetrated by men on women and girls. I can certainly resonate at times with the temptation to dismiss all men as arrogant, destructive, and hopelessly ignorant, if not downright complacent, about the vast male-supremacist ocean in which we all swim. (This despite the fact that in my own life, I enjoy close and respectful friendships with men who honor the Feminine in the world and themselves.) [Read more…] about Becoming “Woke” on Behalf of Gaia

What is Natural?

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The other day a friend and I were having a discussion about the future of this planet and of humanity. She asserted that since humanity is of Planet Earth just as much as any other lifeform here, all the human-caused disasters that are happening—forest fires, floods, droughts and heat waves, air and water pollution, even extinctions and climate disruption—are “natural.”

Well, on one level that’s hard to deny, unless humans were dropped off here long ago by an alien spaceship (a theory that I don’t find so far-fetched sometimes!) But, nevertheless, I felt myself resisting the idea that the heartbreaking mess we’re in right now, with the biosphere near collapse all around the globe, can be excused as merely natural. If natural means acting according to our true nature, can we really say that humans are “naturally” unconcerned about our impact on the planet; that we’re naturally uncaring and even hateful toward our fellow creatures? [Read more…] about What is Natural?

What is True Salvation? Gaia’s Answer to Easter

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A few days before Easter, I remembered a hymn received by a beloved matriarch in the Brazilian rainforest community that was my spiritual home for 20 years. The lines that struck me were: “I must love my Mother in the heights [heaven]” and “She is our protectress and guides us on the path of salvation.” I deeply love and respect this elder, who has patiently received and supported me many times—but I suddenly saw that the beliefs presented in these lines sum up the enormous illusion that is driving the destruction of our planet. [Read more…] about What is True Salvation? Gaia’s Answer to Easter

Undoing Our Separation from Gaia

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A familiar metaphor refers to the fish not perceiving the ocean even while she swims in its all-pervasive waters. Similarly, we modern humans usually have no idea of the ubiquitous anti-Nature, anti-Earth beliefs and assumptions we “swim” in as part of the human-created world.

One of the most pernicious human supremacist ideas—reflected in science and technology, spirituality, and everyday life—is separation. We’ve been conditioned to consider ourselves separate from and external to the rest of creation. We believe we possess both the right and the ability to use and manipulate everything on Earth for human-defined ends. But even when our intentions are good, we would do well to heed what plant ecologist Frank Egler said almost 100 years ago: Nature is not only more complex than we think; it is more complex than we can ever think. [Read more…] about Undoing Our Separation from Gaia