Despite all of our advanced technologies and intellectual pursuits, the spirit of the Earth remains seemingly hidden from mankind’s awareness. Long gone are our hunter-gatherer days wherein an intimate understanding of the plants and animals was crucial for survival. These were the days filled with the recognition of animal and plant spirits existing upon a bountiful and reliable planet. The flora and fauna essence enduring today has not changed, but rather, it is man who has shifted his perception…and forgotten. The eventual progression towards animal domestication and agricultural farming inflated mankind’s once humble image to one of superiority, and our new-found abundance and control arrived with dire consequences for the spirit of the Earth and her inhabitants.
The once visible and known spirit of the Earth fell into obscurity as mankind’s self-serving dominance prevailed over the planet. The modern boom of populated towns and cities, large scale food production, industry and manufacturing simultaneously invited creation and destruction, enhanced by competitive global progress. Agricultural production resorted to toxic pesticides and fungicides to ensure profits while poisoning the environment, animals and people; industries mindlessly exploited and polluted the beauty and purity of the natural world; and cities emerged within fragile and vulnerable ecosystems devoid of intelligent planning and environmental preservation. Our current world reflects our willingness to trade the wise spirit of the Earth for our own supremacy, and all the modern comforts upon which we utterly depend are teetering on an unsustainable razor’s edge.
It has not been a good trade.
While there is no going back to our hunter-gatherer days, unless the Earth decides to take us there, we can recall the spiritual wisdom that we lost. Spirituality dwells within the inner realms and demands an inward journey. This is not an easy task for modern man whose daily life is consumed by the enslaving grind of the system, material maintenance and technological distractions. Our ancestors had the time and freedom to ponder the habits and migrations of the animals, to forage through the hills and forests in search of edible plants and to study the skies for clues about weather patterns. While all of this is still possible, the majority of our lands are owned, controlled and not free to roam. What is possible is our re-connection to the spirit of plants and animals, the stars and oceans, the rivers and fields, the forests and mountains. The wise spirit of the Earth has filled her creation with hidden mysteries, and only the inner journey to connect with our own spirit will grant us the key to unlock her secrets.
The Earth’s enigma is hidden within our DNA genetic design, awaiting illumination by our direct experience with her organic light. It is our knowledge of the Mother Earth as a wise, sentient, living, breathing, divine spirit that reveals our lost, yet eternal, connection to all life. The nature spirits are waiting for us to see them; the plants are waiting for us to preserve them; the animals are waiting for us to not harm them; the rivers and oceans are waiting for us not to pollute them; and the Earth is waiting to reveal her spirit to us. How will we come to remember and to know the real spirit of the Earth if we remain willing to trade her natural, divine power and wisdom for an artificially constructed intelligence and imitation?
The hidden spirit of the Earth is our source and life force, beckoning us to embrace her divine wisdom. Our understanding of all the earthly and cosmic forces are reflected in the natural world, and it is in nature that we find the animated and imaginative spirit of the Earth. We must resign our fear of and dominion over nature for championing our imaginative spirits to dream with the planetary mother. We can no longer afford to keep her wise and loving spirit hidden.
