Nature uplifts my soul, it inspires me, brings comfort and this week to feel the sap rising as we move through the final weeks of a very long cold wet winter it was so refreshing to walk outside with Jasper a moment ago and see tiny wild pansies growing at the foot of one of the pistachio trees that line the quiet little street in which I live. That really gave me a bit of a burst of good energy today.
I have also been reading a book on animism which is the belief that God as spirit is present in nature and in animals and that in order to care for them we need to experience a natural emotional connection to them. I loved the title of the book when I came across it on the internet earlier in the week researching an older title I read many years ago called Re-Enchantment that title was not available but this one was and it is beautifully called When God Was A Bird : Christianity, Animism and the Re-Enchantment of the World. That appealed to me loving birds as I do and always seeing then as spiritual messengers.
The following two quotes from Mark Wallace’s book inspired me :
The first is from evolutionary biologist, Stephen Jay Gould :
We cannot win this battle to save species and environments without forging an emotional bond between ourselves and nature as well – for we will not fight to save what we do not love (but only appreciate in some abstract sense)… We must have visceral contact in order to love. We really must make room for nature in our hearts.
Which brings up the question can wounded hearts split off from the connection love enough to want to save and help and care for nature? And what happens when we shut that visceral sense down such as happens in childhood when we too, are not attuned to?
The second quote is about the role of the visionary mystic, healer or Shaman :
The Shaman’s overall function is to ensure, maintain and/or restore his/her people’s proper relationship with the natural environment and with the spirit realm as it manifests itself through the environment..
This quote from Michael York bought to mind the idea of a poet or artist as some kind of shamanic reconnector for others.. And that bought to my mind a recent poem my dear blogger friend, Ivor Plumber/Poet shared the other day a reading of on his blog called Silent Sky which deals with us being so disconnected at times from nature we no longer hear the songs of the songs of the birds.
I do believe many of us DO HEAR THOSE SONGS. I heard only this morning while having my breakfast the beautiful song craft of two of our local magpies that sat not very far away on the telegraph wires bestowing the entire neighborhood with their blessing of an early morning call. And then I thought of the song of the whale and of so many other species.
To have a broken emotional bond with nature is a terrible state to fall into. Sadly when most of the human relationships we have known only become a source of pain, it is often to nature that we will turn.. Something in nature may seem to be a vivid reminder of what it may mean for us to bring forth what is at the deep tap root of our own essence. This issue of something springing forth as natural evolutionary essence is addressed in Mark Wallace’s book when he refers to the organic process of natural bringing forth spoke of in the philosophy of Heidegger with the use of the German word : hervorbringen,
Heidegger..
“uses (this term) to translate the Greek term poieses, which means “to make” and is the root of our English word for poetry. His idea is that all things are in different stages of transmogrification and full becoming; all things are being made or formed in biological emergence over time. Life itself has its own transformational rhythm or kinetic artistry.. a milkweed plant pushing forth into full blossom or a Monarch butterfly metamorphosing into a winged insect… a kind of everyday poetry”
Like nature are we not also all spirits and souls involved in the process of emerging and becoming, seeking a way to grow in a flow and keep in tune with natural cycles of evolution and change mirrored in nature and the natural world? To draw close to nature, especially at times of massive global crisis, such as been necessary lately since the fear of Covid seized such a powerful hold of our collective consciousness perhaps best presents our route of salvation. As we learn to grow in understanding of, as well as deep love for these evolutionary processes and commit to the task of strengthening not only our connection to and bond with nature we must also commit ourselves to the protection of it as well, for we are not separate from nature and to separate ourselves out only leads us to become more destructive.
Perhaps as our own bonding with true natural self grows so should our deeper feeling of intrinsic inter-connection and emotional bonding with nature.
Emerging From The Dark Night 