Climate breakdown. Endless wars. Pervasive misogyny. Grotesque income inequality. Widespread extinctions. And political and corporate leaders worldwide who seem to be committed to perpetuating this dystopian vision.
How do we—you and I—meet all this without either immobilizing despair, or rage and bitterness?
To keep going, and to be useful to the earth, ourselves, and our larger communities, we must tap into a place of optimism. Not false bravado or masky cheerfulness. Real optimism. Real trust that a better future beckons and that we can go in that direction right now. We can do this by affirming the reality of Regeneration.
The planet’s unstoppable forces of regeneration live—and have always lived—in the land and waters, in every place, every plant, every creature. Therefore, these forces are also alive in us.
Regeneration involves circles and cycles, renewal and returns. These guiding symbols conduct us in a curving, spiraling direction that’s old and rooted, and yet is also new every moment. The direction toward being fully ourselves, while participating fully in the entire lifeweb. The direction toward dwelling in community with all beings, while offering our own unique gifts as humans. The direction toward true belonging and true abundance, within the earth’s vast, resonant, ever-renewing field of life and love.
Am I talking about the ways primal people—including our own ancestors—lived? Perhaps. Indigenous people today are certainly doing their eloquent best to carry out their own ways of going in good, sustaining directions, and are amazingly generous in sharing those ways with us.
And—the radical optimism I speak of here is about one thing only: All of us—you and me, all humans, creatures, plants, forests, rivers, oceans—linking up together with the planet’s regenerative, reweaving energies to become who we truly, really are. Sooner or later, this emerging, this becoming, will inevitably unfold everywhere around the globe. This renewing, restorative direction is universal and is contained in every single molecule in every single being, including ourselves. Even while the biosphere around us is stressed and depleted, we know that the power of regeneration is operating, often at invisible levels that are totally mysterious to us.
Sadly, it seems unavoidable that we humans and our fellow earthly inhabitants still face unimaginable struggles, deprivation, and suffering on our way to a sustainable, harmonious future. But that future will arrive, someday. For now, a part of our path is to help however we can to ameliorate both the hardship and the injustices experienced by humans and non-humans alike, as the dominating, disconnected, human-centered world unravels.
But the banner we proudly, optimistically carry is Earth’s green banner of Regeneration, the force that will never give up, and that will inevitably prevail.
We all have our own special ways to seed regeneration and restoration in the world. We probably won’t see many of these seeds sprout in our lifetimes. But that’s OK. As regenerative seed-sowers, as renewing web-weavers, we are expressing our basic nature as authentic members of the sacred earth community. We are blessing, celebrating, and strengthening our home planet’s momentum toward inclusive, interconnected life. We are optimistically following our destiny. One way or another, we’ll all arrive.
