Deep Ecology and Earth-Centered Philosophy

A year or so ago I had a dream: I am in what seems to be a church, and the altar—the holy place that radiates spiritual force and blessings to the congregation—is in the center of the room, with space for the congregation all around it. But the “altar” is actually not a human-constructed altar—it is a vast virgin forest. In the mysterious way of dreams, an endless, verdant forest manages to also occupy a delimited area at the center of this church-like physical space. And symbolically it clearly shows that the forest is at the center of the spiritual work that takes place here.

I grew up irregularly attending the United Church of Christ until I was 10 or 11, when I lost interest. One thing I remember is the solemn layout of the church, with the pews fixed rigidly in place, lined up to face the altar and raised pulpit in front, where the minister delivered his weekly sermons. It didn’t feel much different from going to an assembly in the auditorium at school, with the authorities in front, standing above and removed from the “congregation” of us restless kids. [Read more…] about Gaia in the Center

A few posts ago I presented the idea that we can choose to go with Gaia’s grain, and therefore, against the grain of the currently dominant human-created world. We can attune ourselves with Gaia’s fundamental principles, which, right from the start, are in a totally different dimension from human-centeredness. The latter assumes that human beings are separate from and superior to the rest of creation. Gaia-centered thought begins by assuming that human beings, like all beings, exist within Gaia’s vast web and are interconnected with all physical and spiritual life on Earth. Therefore, if we study Gaia’s rhythms and patterns, we can get clues about ways to start going with Her grain.

One important clue is the circle, and its wilder sister, the spiral. We know that Nature works in circles and ever-returning cycles: the cycle of a day, of the seasons, the moon in a month, the sun in a year, and the ceaselessly-repeating cycle of Life, from birth to growth, to maturity, decline and death, followed by regeneration and rebirth. [Read more…] about Going With Gaia’s Grain–Part II

Visualize a beautiful earth, untouched by human greed. Imagine crystal clear skies everywhere, wild waters pure enough to drink, and vast, clean, undisturbed wild forests, deserts and seacoasts. It’s almost impossible for us to imagine, even those of us fortunate enough to live in fairly intact, semi-wild areas. In other, less fortunate places—in the cities, in the fossil fuel extraction zones, and the industrial agriculture zones—clean air, land and waters have been not only unattainable but almost unimaginable for generations. And humanity is in a constant state of deep grief because of this, whether we know it consciously or not. [Read more…] about Gaia’s True Abundance

Gaia—the vast, living, intelligent being that created and is still creating our planet and everything on it—constantly tends toward balance and inclusion, and toward every being within every ecosystem thriving according to its nature. Our indigenous ancestors lived lives that were centered around attuning to the patterns of Gaia in their local ecosystem, and honoring and harmonizing with the totality of life there. These ways are still courageously modeled for us by the remaining indigenous peoples around the globe.

Gaia in Her fullness can best be understood as a system, a web of infinite relationships and interactions among all of its members. Such a system cannot sustain itself without reciprocity, that is, all within it constantly finding and re-finding a balanced interchange, without anyone taking or accumulating more than they need. This reality is not a fluffy, sentimental one, of course: most interchanges within a living natural system involve finding food to eat, and its members literally eating one another. When a system is balanced, however, there is enough for all the various plant and animal beings within it to feed and shelter themselves, to reproduce, and to flourish as a totality. And when all beings (including human beings) who live in a forest or watershed, or in and around a sea or estuary, are flourishing, the entire system is vibrant, sustainable and regenerative. [Read more…] about Going with Gaia’s Grain