• Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Gaia Blog

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

  • HOME
  • GAIA’S BLOG
  • ABOUT MARY JANET
  • CONTACT

Going with Gaia’s Grain

July 1, 2020 by gaiaejadmin

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.

In contrast, the human-created world is based on exactly opposite principles. Dating from the establishment of the first large civilizations in Babylon and ancient Egypt, the dominant social order has become one of a few (primarily wealthy, ruling class men and their immediate families) thriving at the expense of everyone else (women, non-ruling class men, servants and slaves, and non-human beings). The institutions that have arisen over the millennia to support this still-operative paradigm include capitalism and fascism, patriarchy and racism, and limitless exploitation of Nature, all driven by a seemingly insatiable greed for domination and material abundance.

This is obviously a very brief, broad-strokes summary of almost 6,000 years of human history. What is clear, however, is that the human-centered world has never been sustainable and is increasingly showing its failings in all arenas. What can we learn from Gaia that will help us live better in our own human and more-than-human communities? I refer to this area of knowledge as going with Gaia’s grain, as opposed to the human-centered world, which goes against Gaia’s grain in almost every way.

I’ll be exploring ways to go with Gaia’s grain in future posts.

Filed Under: Deep Ecology and Earth-Centered Philosophy, Home Featured Left

Primary Sidebar

The Latest from Gaia’s Blog

Regeneration: Gaia’s Wild Card

When I was 9 or 10, my dad and I often played spirited games of poker in the evening. We enlivened most games by letting the dealer declare certain cards to be “wild cards.” If you got a wild card, … [Read More...] about Regeneration: Gaia’s Wild Card

The Wheel and the Virus: Teachings from the Dark

Here we are again, in the darkest time of the year. After our holiday celebrations (most of them based on the land-connected traditions of our ancestors), now we settle into the rhythm of short days, … [Read More...] about The Wheel and the Virus: Teachings from the Dark

Life in Gaia’s Calm Lane

On a recent winter’s day, I watched a ruby-crowned kinglet take a bath in an icy stream. The stream was almost totally frozen over, but beneath the overhanging branches of a spruce tree, the water … [Read More...] about Life in Gaia’s Calm Lane

ameryllis bulb

Lessons from My Christmas Amaryllis Bulbs

One of my favorite autumn rituals is to go to the nursery in October and buy amaryllis bulbs. This year I splurged and got 9 of them! I pot each bulb, upper part uncovered, place it near the … [Read More...] about Lessons from My Christmas Amaryllis Bulbs

Sacred Heart, Sacred Earth

The heart is sacred. Gaia’s lands and waters and plants and creatures are sacred. We are sacred. All existence on all dimensions shares a connection with the sacred, vital life of Mother Earth, of … [Read More...] about Sacred Heart, Sacred Earth

Blog Topics

  • Ancestral Spirituality
  • Deep Ecology and Earth-Centered Philosophy
  • Earth-Centered Practices and Ceremonies
  • Gaia and the Divine Feminine
  • The Sacred Land’s Wisdom

ENews Sign Up

Join my mailing list and receive an occasional short email from me with my latest blog writings.
—Mary Janet

Gaia-Blog.com • ©Copyright Mary Janet Fowler, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA.
Reproduction of this material in whole or in part is strictly prohibited without written permission.
Web development: EJ Communications