Oh, Julie, sending you big hugs as you mourn those redwoods. 💔😥💔 I've pondered the start of the anthropocene a bit too. It does seem like the neolithic revolution surely played a part. And all those myths from Mesopotamia about the importance of order conquering the chaos of nature. But also, in more recent days (thanks to Renee Eli) I've learned about Jean Gebser's idea of the unfolding of different structures of human consciousness. One of the structures is what he calls the Mental structure, where humans started really having this individual perspective (simplified explanation). And the idea is that we're moving now from the Mental into the Integral. I know you and I are on the same page about this move to a more relational way. To me, the anthropocene really exemplifies the Mental structure. Although it's been rough going, and yes grief is absolutely part of that, I think the anthropocene/mental has been necessary. I love how you found such a beautiful trail of breadcrumbs for this post! That makes me smile!
Thanks Jenna, this post on the anthropocene was a bit outside my wheelhouse, but following the crumbs was an incredible experience of trust and letting go of the outcome. AND Yes I agree with all you stated here! I don't know of Jean Gebser, I will look him up. But there does seem to be a structure in our biology, mental ways, or human consciousness that pushes us toward separation, individual awareness. This incessant striving. And I do hope that we are moving as a species to a more relational, collective, familiar way of being with nature and each other. Bringing in some of that quality we see in ants and bees. Or starlings that gather in a murmuration or geese that fly in a V and take turns leading the flock. To see humans acting this way would be quite beautiful! For we would find ways to heal rather than self-destruct.
will we realise we can not eat money" Cree Indian Proverb
That is what came to me when I read your post...
And yet there are groups of us that know that there is another way...a kinder, simpler, softer way.
We are the leavers.
We are the carers.
We are the ones who will shine a light, share a conversation, encourage change...
We are the ones we have been waiting for,
and in that we are the ones who are standing up...
Thank you Julie.
A sorrowful post and yet a post that made me want to stand taller and taller to protect Mother Earth for the next generations to come...to leave her as best I can...
Thanks Sam! I love this Cree proverb you shared. The line of "Only when the last tree has died..." really touched me. I am still grieving those two redwoods. Looking to the space that is now empty, knowing it once contained two magnificent trees. It is incredibly hard to watch what is "transpiring" in our world. Especially when I know it could be VERY different.
I had to write this piece. It may not be what I typically share but I was guided to follow these crumbs and it supported me through the process. I agree, this made me want to “stand taller” too. I want to be aware of what is happening, I don’t want to go numb. And I don’t want to get caught in the hype, lies, sides, propaganda and deception. I want truth, simple honest truth. And truth can be hard to hear at times. And the circle returns, the spiral continues. Let this truth be the fabric and catalyst of a new epoch of life!
I've been back here a few times Julie, I just needed to sit with it for a while. What comes to mind now is that we have to witness the destruction, to know what we have done (humans), so that we rebuild humanity from the eyes of one that has seen what happens. If all we see is rainbows and unicorns, then where is our drive, where is our sense of urgency, where is our compassion. We'd stay where we are. Like any loss we are grieving what we are letting go of, painful as it is to make way for the new. The more we return to oneness, the more keenly we feel it, so we can, in community move forward in a more positive way.
Louise, I feel you! I understand coming back here a few times. It is a challenging read. And YES to "witnessing the destruction." I feel the need to take it in, but not to the point of overwhelming my nervous system. What good does that do? It is a very delicate balance, and necessary for my intention is to find a way to alchemize all this. That partially means through grief. I am very taken with your final words, "the more ‘keenly’ we feel it..." There is an old custom in the Gaelic Celtic tradition called “keening.” A vocal lament for the dead. Women were the ones who came to wakes to support others grieving. And they would keen! Deep guttural sounds, screams of sorrow. It is very powerful to see. Maybe that is what is needed right now. Not a protest, but to keenly feel the loss in the world, and to keen! Oh, my imagination is reeling right now. All the women in the world keening together. Now that would create change…
Oh that is such a powerful image Julie! It really would create a shift, sometimes I feel like doing just that. I've found a great space at the top of a hill where I'm staying at the minute where the wind just blows right through me. I might start keening there too, until I see a dog walker. xx
The harsh realities of the path we are on makes it hard to keep hope alive for our survival as a species. At the same time traveling most of the year outside the US and spending time with people, especially young people in Airbnbs and hostels hope is stirred by conversations with them. In the places I have lived a few weeks at a time, mostly Europe, the Baltic and Balkan countries, New Zealand and Australia, unlike my experience in my home country, the US, there seem to be more leavers than takers. My personal research is exclusively anecdotal, but I am accepting it as valid reason to hope, because I prefer hope to despair.
Thanks Peter, yes I too prefer hope to despair. I truly love hearing about your travels, coming across all the leavers. That is so promising, even if anecdotal. To me it says that the world is shifting. For us to carry on in a new paradigm this needs to happen. It has to happen. I see this as well with the young people. "They are our future" as the saying goes, what you share here brings so much poignancy to these words.
Thanks Catherine! Sacred Rage... Big topic. Briefly here…Not all anger is toxic and harmful. Yet this is what we mostly see because we as a culture do not know how to be with anger and how to truly use it. So, anger becomes this negative emotion. Especially for women. If a woman gets angry then she is called a "bitch" even "hysterical". Look up all the women in the past who were institutionalized for hysteria, most likely they were women who got angry or pushed for individual expression. Women are conditioned towards being nurturing, anger does not fit that picture. So, what you see in women who suppress their anger is first grief. Grief can hide the anger underneath. Or what is seen is depression or auto immune disorders. Sacred Rage is a natural response to a boundary violation. It is a sane answer to dehumanization, abuse and to what we see happening to our planet and nature. The key is where is the anger coming from and how to express it. Sacred anger is not mental or emotional. It may have facets of that, but it is not confined to them. Sacred rage arises from our vital body, our life force. It is embodied. It protects as the sacred “NO”. It is love in action. Caring, defending, shielding what we love. Oh, my I could go on and on, but here it is for now. If you want to know more look up Maya Luna at deepfemininemysteryschool.com
Thank you! Makes total sense and I will check that link out. And isn't it ironic when it's really men that are allowed to be the outwardly emotional ones? I think about all the tantrums at sports games they throw, road rage, starting literal wars, killing women, etc. But somehow we've gotten labeled as angry and emotional.
Thank you Julie. My practice is to continue to express love and the joy of living and my heart is also breaking when I see and hear about what we are doing to our precious planet and to one another.
I hear you Becca! And why I work in the liminal. For it is a bringing together rather than a tearing apart or polarizing. There is nothing greater than love in creating inclusivity! So, I keep living my best self, while acknowledging the saddness I see and feel. Letting the grief reflect back to me the power of loving deeply.
Oh, Julie, sending you big hugs as you mourn those redwoods. 💔😥💔 I've pondered the start of the anthropocene a bit too. It does seem like the neolithic revolution surely played a part. And all those myths from Mesopotamia about the importance of order conquering the chaos of nature. But also, in more recent days (thanks to Renee Eli) I've learned about Jean Gebser's idea of the unfolding of different structures of human consciousness. One of the structures is what he calls the Mental structure, where humans started really having this individual perspective (simplified explanation). And the idea is that we're moving now from the Mental into the Integral. I know you and I are on the same page about this move to a more relational way. To me, the anthropocene really exemplifies the Mental structure. Although it's been rough going, and yes grief is absolutely part of that, I think the anthropocene/mental has been necessary. I love how you found such a beautiful trail of breadcrumbs for this post! That makes me smile!
Thanks Jenna, this post on the anthropocene was a bit outside my wheelhouse, but following the crumbs was an incredible experience of trust and letting go of the outcome. AND Yes I agree with all you stated here! I don't know of Jean Gebser, I will look him up. But there does seem to be a structure in our biology, mental ways, or human consciousness that pushes us toward separation, individual awareness. This incessant striving. And I do hope that we are moving as a species to a more relational, collective, familiar way of being with nature and each other. Bringing in some of that quality we see in ants and bees. Or starlings that gather in a murmuration or geese that fly in a V and take turns leading the flock. To see humans acting this way would be quite beautiful! For we would find ways to heal rather than self-destruct.
WOW! This is a very powerful post Julie.
"Only when the last tree has died,
and the last river has been poisoned
and the last fish has been caught
will we realise we can not eat money" Cree Indian Proverb
That is what came to me when I read your post...
And yet there are groups of us that know that there is another way...a kinder, simpler, softer way.
We are the leavers.
We are the carers.
We are the ones who will shine a light, share a conversation, encourage change...
We are the ones we have been waiting for,
and in that we are the ones who are standing up...
Thank you Julie.
A sorrowful post and yet a post that made me want to stand taller and taller to protect Mother Earth for the next generations to come...to leave her as best I can...
In honour of the beautiful work you do. 🙏
Thanks Sam! I love this Cree proverb you shared. The line of "Only when the last tree has died..." really touched me. I am still grieving those two redwoods. Looking to the space that is now empty, knowing it once contained two magnificent trees. It is incredibly hard to watch what is "transpiring" in our world. Especially when I know it could be VERY different.
I had to write this piece. It may not be what I typically share but I was guided to follow these crumbs and it supported me through the process. I agree, this made me want to “stand taller” too. I want to be aware of what is happening, I don’t want to go numb. And I don’t want to get caught in the hype, lies, sides, propaganda and deception. I want truth, simple honest truth. And truth can be hard to hear at times. And the circle returns, the spiral continues. Let this truth be the fabric and catalyst of a new epoch of life!
I've been back here a few times Julie, I just needed to sit with it for a while. What comes to mind now is that we have to witness the destruction, to know what we have done (humans), so that we rebuild humanity from the eyes of one that has seen what happens. If all we see is rainbows and unicorns, then where is our drive, where is our sense of urgency, where is our compassion. We'd stay where we are. Like any loss we are grieving what we are letting go of, painful as it is to make way for the new. The more we return to oneness, the more keenly we feel it, so we can, in community move forward in a more positive way.
Louise, I feel you! I understand coming back here a few times. It is a challenging read. And YES to "witnessing the destruction." I feel the need to take it in, but not to the point of overwhelming my nervous system. What good does that do? It is a very delicate balance, and necessary for my intention is to find a way to alchemize all this. That partially means through grief. I am very taken with your final words, "the more ‘keenly’ we feel it..." There is an old custom in the Gaelic Celtic tradition called “keening.” A vocal lament for the dead. Women were the ones who came to wakes to support others grieving. And they would keen! Deep guttural sounds, screams of sorrow. It is very powerful to see. Maybe that is what is needed right now. Not a protest, but to keenly feel the loss in the world, and to keen! Oh, my imagination is reeling right now. All the women in the world keening together. Now that would create change…
Oh that is such a powerful image Julie! It really would create a shift, sometimes I feel like doing just that. I've found a great space at the top of a hill where I'm staying at the minute where the wind just blows right through me. I might start keening there too, until I see a dog walker. xx
The harsh realities of the path we are on makes it hard to keep hope alive for our survival as a species. At the same time traveling most of the year outside the US and spending time with people, especially young people in Airbnbs and hostels hope is stirred by conversations with them. In the places I have lived a few weeks at a time, mostly Europe, the Baltic and Balkan countries, New Zealand and Australia, unlike my experience in my home country, the US, there seem to be more leavers than takers. My personal research is exclusively anecdotal, but I am accepting it as valid reason to hope, because I prefer hope to despair.
Thanks Peter, yes I too prefer hope to despair. I truly love hearing about your travels, coming across all the leavers. That is so promising, even if anecdotal. To me it says that the world is shifting. For us to carry on in a new paradigm this needs to happen. It has to happen. I see this as well with the young people. "They are our future" as the saying goes, what you share here brings so much poignancy to these words.
Love this. I feel a lot of this as well, both for myself and for our planet. Can you talk more about sacred rage?
Thanks Catherine! Sacred Rage... Big topic. Briefly here…Not all anger is toxic and harmful. Yet this is what we mostly see because we as a culture do not know how to be with anger and how to truly use it. So, anger becomes this negative emotion. Especially for women. If a woman gets angry then she is called a "bitch" even "hysterical". Look up all the women in the past who were institutionalized for hysteria, most likely they were women who got angry or pushed for individual expression. Women are conditioned towards being nurturing, anger does not fit that picture. So, what you see in women who suppress their anger is first grief. Grief can hide the anger underneath. Or what is seen is depression or auto immune disorders. Sacred Rage is a natural response to a boundary violation. It is a sane answer to dehumanization, abuse and to what we see happening to our planet and nature. The key is where is the anger coming from and how to express it. Sacred anger is not mental or emotional. It may have facets of that, but it is not confined to them. Sacred rage arises from our vital body, our life force. It is embodied. It protects as the sacred “NO”. It is love in action. Caring, defending, shielding what we love. Oh, my I could go on and on, but here it is for now. If you want to know more look up Maya Luna at deepfemininemysteryschool.com
Thank you! Makes total sense and I will check that link out. And isn't it ironic when it's really men that are allowed to be the outwardly emotional ones? I think about all the tantrums at sports games they throw, road rage, starting literal wars, killing women, etc. But somehow we've gotten labeled as angry and emotional.
Thank you Julie. My practice is to continue to express love and the joy of living and my heart is also breaking when I see and hear about what we are doing to our precious planet and to one another.
I hear you Becca! And why I work in the liminal. For it is a bringing together rather than a tearing apart or polarizing. There is nothing greater than love in creating inclusivity! So, I keep living my best self, while acknowledging the saddness I see and feel. Letting the grief reflect back to me the power of loving deeply.