Back to Nature – Re-Wilding Ourselves

A friend of mine (in fact my first meditation and consciousness teacher) recently had a conversation about how the world is adapting, and included ourselves in the mix.

We both felt the same thing, that like so many others, the times are about changing our old trajectories in commerce (do we need to say more about plastic pollution?), along with our perpetual and mindless consumption. What about our consciousness? How do we treat each other and the world around us? We talked about that too.

The intuition and instinct we were both getting from our inner knowing is to be still, slow down and listen within for answers and respond to that. Why you may ask?

Our world is traveling so fast – getting faster and faster 

Consequently, in this addiction to speed, we have forgotten the value of retreat and slowing down, and listening to the inner wisdom inside us. No longer is it valued, nor do we think it is important (as a society). Personally, I have already jumped off the juggernaut. To my mind, it was clearly heading for the cliff, and unable or unwilling to stop.

• By juggernaut I mean – society.
• The economics of more and growing bigger.
• Accumulating without taking care of our more vulnerable people.
• Not understanding our impact on the environment and all of life.
• Being successful, in a very narrow way.

Really insane and out of control thinking, based on old stories and concepts that are deeply bedded within our collective psyche, that no longer work. With scientific thinking valued more highly, than creativity or spirituality, (in fact, science despises spirituality as bunkum), we have the trajectory of the juggernaut.

Then we get hit. 

A couple of years ago, it came to light that our antibiotics are beginning not to work as well as they did. I knew that it was only a matter of time before nature threw us a curveball, and she has – big time. Covid-19. A wake-up call.

In a previous post, I mentioned that CoVid19 was a possible ally. 

As out there as that might sound, here is what I know. Nature is all about balance!  Before we interfered with the ecosystem, in our overbearing dominant manner of grab and take, all of nature, including us humans, were in perfect balance together.

I love this quote from David Attenborough, a man whose life work has been uncovering and discovering Nature in all its complexity.

“We have a finite environment – the planet. Anyone who thinks that you can have infinite growth in a finite environment, is either a madman or an economist.” (David Attenborough)

We have forgotten that we too, us humans are a part of nature. This other quote from Mr. Attenborough says it all:

“The fact is that no species has ever had such wholesale control over everything on earth, living or dead, as we now have. That lays upon us, whether we like it or not, an awesome responsibility. In our minds, now lies not only our own future but that of all other living creatures with whom we share the earth.” David Attenborough Life on Earth

We are basically animals. We have a high level of consciousness which gives us choice, but with that choice as Mr. Attenborough says, comes responsibility. We have evolved as the dominant species but, are trashing our planet.

If we shift our awareness from Mindless Consumers to Mindful Guardians. Everything changes.

My belief is this is our next step of evolution on the planet. 

Imagine if we tempered our decisions with concern for the environment

We would no longer be mindless consumers.

Imagine our management of the world could be as mindful Guardians, who understand we are in co-operation with life. We would till the soil and care for it, building businesses, constructing governments and creating a society that is no longer concerned with taking, but also gives back. Being in tune with Nature and the cycles of life, because we know we are part of life. 

This is not far fetched

What is insane is the way we have adhered to old stories western Religious belief, the Age of Reason and the Industrial Revolution. That adherence is reflected in the level of pollution, the lack of care we operate from, the level of greed we inflict on others and ourselves. The denial of our natural place in the order of things. 

Because we are living in a disconnected way

No longer are we capable of seeing that we are a part of the give and take of life. We fear death as a weird thing that happens. People basically disappear, right? But where do they go? At some point – we will follow, and no self-respecting ego wants to know that!

Now we have CoVid19 to test us. If we were living as Guardians. This would immediately alert us to the fact, that something in our methodology as humans was out of balance with the natural world. We would then work to correct that imbalance, whilst dealing with the pandemic. Fear would probably still be there, but we would understand it more and be able to respond better as a result. 

We all have primal fears

That’s natural – it’s a survival mechanism. For a long time, we in the west have lived cushioned from nature’s balancing act and have felt immune.

Well no longer, our immunity is under threat and the reason is that Nature requires balance. This is normal, but we are afraid of the impact, treating the virus as a war to be won. Insisting that we need to be victors. Regain our dominance, so we feel safe. 

We as a species on a live planet, are not Behaving as if the God in all Life Mattered. It’s time that we did.

Links in the text will take you to these wonderful places of refuge, learning and shifting perspectives:

We are guardians – https://embercombe.org/ extraordinary place started by Mac Andrews (very interesting story). “A regeneration of Place and Self.” Been there – it’s a living example of living with the land.

Being in Tune with Nature – https://www.schumachercollege.org.uk/about An Educational college, but in many ways so much more. In these times, like Embercombe – its gold. (I have earmarked some courses I would like to do).

“Schumacher College is a very special place. As we try and figure out what on earth we’re going to do with this unraveling planet, it’s become a thinktank for hope, a battery for positive vision!” Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org

E. F. Schumacher, Small Is Beautiful: A Study of Economics as if People Mattered

Behaving as if the God in all Life Mattered: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/798829.Behaving_as_If_the_God_in_All_Life_Mattered

This book took me on an inspirational journey. It is her autobiography. Extraordinary person. A journey from a difficult childhood to an extraordinary co-operative relationship with nature. Immensely readable.