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Author and ACORN Board Member Ron Slabaugh
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Last month my take-off was from an article urging us to "think like an ecosystem." I want to stay with that theme for a while and look at resources for doing that. Today I'll explore applications of ecological thinking to the domain of spirituality. Indeed, there is an identified entity called 'eco-spirituality.'
Thomas Berry, the late Catholic theologian and author, has, with his writing, helped establish the field of eco-spirituality. Consider this succinct assessment of our situation on the Old Home Planet and his advice for what we need to do:
"The present human situation can be described in three sentences:
In the twentieth century the glory of the human has become the desolation of Earth.
The desolation of Earth is becoming the destiny of the human.
All human institutions, professions, programs and activities must now be judged primarily by the extent to which they inhibit, ignore, or foster a mutually enhancing human-earth
relationship.
In the light of these statements it is proposed that the historical mission of our times is:
To reinvent the human
At the species level
With critical reflection
Within the community of life systems
In a time-developmental context
By means of story and
Shared dream experience."
From "Reinventing the Human at the Species Level," appearing as an Appendix in The Christian Future and the Fate of Earth by Thomas Berry and edited by Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim, 2009.I'm fascinated by his suggestion of the power of story. "Story" refers to the cultural understanding we have of ourselves as humans, our history and our relationship to all else. Daniel Quinn used this notion in Ishmael (Mother Culture whispering to us in the background). When I heard Charles Eisenstein speak in Montpelier a few weeks ago he began by suggesting we consider his remarks less a 'lecture' or 'exposition' than a story. While his talk certainly was an analysis-basically a summary of his books-it takes on more change power for the listener as a 'story.'
Our current story portrays humans as separate from nature and essentially different. We live out this story of separation even as we intellectually understand that we are a species of mammal,
evolved in nature and are subject to natural laws.
For several years I've been on the board of the nonprofit organization, Spirit in Nature (SpIN), an interfaith path project on Goshen Road in Ripton. A dozen marked paths through the woods, across brooks and along the Middlebury River represent the different religions: Buddhist, Hindu, Christian, Unitarian, Friends, Baha'i, etc. Sayings laminated in plastic and mounted on plywood appear on trees reflecting the given religion's view of our species' relationship to nature. I recently became President of this organization and as a result I spend more time walking the paths, working on them, representing SpIN (the founders rejected the obvious acronym: SIN!). And thinking about it all, I've come to realize that this gem of a resource is an ecospirituality project, supporting Barry's suggestion that we need to redefine our species' relationship to Earth. If you've never visited, drop in. It's definitely worth the effort and only a half mile off Highway 125 on Goshen Road.
Recently I walked the SpIN paths with some nuns from the Sisters of Mercy. Two of them are in residence at Mercy Farm in Benson, Vermont. They are planning a SpIN path there. They call Mercy Farm "an eco-spiritual center." Here is their mission statement:
"A response to the critical issues facing earth, Mercy Farm . . . is an Eco-Spiritual Center that invites all to explore the interconnectedness of all life. As both a working farm and a space for contemplation, guests have the opportunity to accept their place in the Universe and to discover sacred practices of body, mind and spirit that
invite them to live responsibly as a member of the Earth community."
My practice of Druidry is my intentional way of changing my personal relationship to nature and has had a powerful influence on me. I'll end with a couple of quotes from the SpIN brochure:
"We were told by the creator, This is your land. Keep it for me until I come back."
Thomas Banyaca, Hopi Elder
"I thank you god for most this amazing day
for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes."
ee cummings
In reading the Report of the ACORN Wholesale Collaborative Pilot Project to create an online platform where institutional food buyers can order produce and value added ag products and be able to pay and arrange delivery in one place, I learned that Addison County leads Vermont (and no doubt the nation) in the per capita direct sales (producer direct to consumer) of food. Bodes well for the Transition.Speaking of Spirit in Nature, Dan Shea from Massachusetts has taken many photos over the years of the SpIN paths and a selection is on display at Carol's Hungry Mind Coffee House during June and July. Meet Dan at Carol's during the Middlebury July Art Walk, Friday the 13th, 5 to 7. A new Druid Path at SpIN will be dedicated on Saturday June 16 in a ceremony at 2:00 (following a work day starting at 10:00 with a picnic at noon in the Sacred Circle). All are welcome!
One more local good work is Dorothy Maclean's book, Call of the Trees, published locally. What might we hear from nature's elders if we were able to listen to them? A good resource for, to use Thomas Berry's words, "foster[ing] a mutually enhancing human-earth relationship."
