The Earth Soul

From the Greek goddess Gaia personifying the Earth, to the 20th century Gaia viewing the Earth as a self-regulating system of both living and non-living processes, to the current Gaia incorporating the physical Earth, the biosphere, humans, and our trade, infrastructure, communications, and computing systems into a conscious, planetary, self-aware, self-regulating organism complete with a global nervous system and brain, to those indelible, space-based photos of the whole Earth, people have viewed and increasingly do view the Earth with wonder as a unified whole.

From the Grand Canyon of Arizona to the urban canyons of Manhattan, from the snow-capped mountains of Colorado to the forested hills of West Virginia, from the sculptures of Vigeland Park in Oslo to the light of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, from the cherry blossoms of the Philosopher's Path in Kyoto to the Great Buddha of Nara, and from our local park to our backyard garden, the wonders of our natural and human-built environment, both the in-your-face conspicuous and the quietly welcoming, often touch us to the core. In whatever form Mother Nature presents herself, we can feel our kinship, our belonging. Extrapolating from anthills, bird's nests, and beaver dams, we can even feel that our own creations and constructions, accomplished as they are by one of the species living on this planet, are part of Nature, just as we are. Nothing on this Earth is left out of this embrace.

Walking a path in our local park, we can feel seen by Nature, just as we see. And then further we realize that our own seeing is Nature seeing through us. We discover that we are not separate from Her, as so many before us have recognized. We come to accept, and are accepted by, Nature, returning home.

And this home, this kinship, is not just of our body, but also of a part of our soul. The tree standing tall and proud relates to the same in us, as does the tree that is damaged and weakened. Our inner life and the inner life of the world around us are not separate. Our strength is Nature's strength. Our sorrow is Nature's sorrow. And vice versa.

This kinship extends not only to our brothers and sisters in human bodies, but also to our cousins in the bodies of other species: dogs, birds, elephants, and all the rest. We can see it in their eyes, hear it in their voices. The life that flows through them is the same life that flows through me. They have the will to live, and I have the will to live. That will is the Earth's will. We are the Earth.

Here is a little exercise for this week. You can try it at any time, though perhaps easiest outdoors:

Let your point of view expand to the point of view of the Earth as a whole.
As you look, let all that you see look back at you.
Feel your kinship with it all. This is seeing and being seen, both by the one seer. The one who sees through our eyes is the same one who looks back at us through our surroundings.
Abide in that seamless sea of awareness.
Be the Earth and let the Earth be you.

Follow @innerfrontier

About Inner Frontier Send us email