Those who see all creatures in themselves
and themselves in all creatures know no fear
Those who see all creatures in themselves
and themselves in all creatures know no grief
How can the multiplicity of life
Delude the one who sees its unity?
Thus, it appears that eternal life is not in seeing one's self as apart from Nature, but as a part of Her!
Forever we live, even in death.
What have we lost in losing this connection that Robert so well knows? Many psychologists feel that a sense of belonging is fundamental to a healthy psyche. Indeed, according to James Gilmore, a sense of belonging is the feeling of connection and acceptance within one's family and community. In accordance to the above, then perhaps the community to which we belong is the entire planet and, indeed, this entire universe? Belonging is important in healthy human development and combating behavior problems and depression. Indeed, according to some developmental psychologists, the sense of belonging develops soon after birth at the mother's breast.
This brings up the important research of experimental psychologist on monkeys regarding attachment by Harry Harlow. He did these experiments by having them raised on wire meshed mothers. He then compared the behavioral health of the monkeys raised on the wire meshed mothers vs the ones raised on the mothers that had terry cloths. What he found was the monkeys that were raised on the wire meshed monkeys (without the softeness of the terry cloths) became horribly neurotic and maladapted.
The link is below. I personally sit in horror at the treatment of the monkeys. Yet, when we think of our children being raised in cages (cribs and playpens) on "boob tubes" (television), computers, and bottles, and farmed out to "daycare" and the corporate school systems, then we must ask what are we nursing into existence? What are we denying when we deny the natural for our children and in our children? Are we denying our children nothing less than their Self, their Nature? Or is it that like us their Self is a corporate, mechanical and behaviorally manipulated machine? Which would you rather nurse you, a non-thinking corporate machine or a real living woman containing a heart beat mirroring the rythmns of Heaven and Earth?
Our divorce from Nature is a divorce from our Self. And it all starts right from birth. Instead of being raised into a state of belonging, we are raised into a state of alienation. Robert realizes this when he states:
"Wake up, people, we are not who and what you think. We are an integral part of All That Is, we are part of the great complex that is our planet...We may think we are not a part of Nature, but of course we cannot not be. We can put chemicals and batteries and metal bones in, or attached to, our organic bodies, but the essence of what we are is that we are part of Nature. We, and our works, are interwoven in the All of the planet. The one great ecology of the earth must include our plastic and other invented materials; even our invented ideas must be part of the All. Our man-made world cannot be other than a part of the planetary ecology...In the end, survival of our species trumps even the overwhelming power of corporations. We can find our ancient root- assumption again; it is still inside us. Accept that we are not exceptional, we don't own this planet but were born of this planet as one of the millions of other species. We are part of all Life.
Externally, our divorce from Nature has had major consequences. It has resulted in global warming, overpopulation, and shortages of critical resources like food and water. We are progressively desertifying the Earth. The more people do, the more they destroy. We have poisoned the atmosphere and are sitting back watching as several thousand species go extinct each year. Furthermore, as we burn coal and oil, which poisons our air, land and waters, the Earth talks back through hot summers, wet winters, frost, and droughts.
We reap what we sow. If we poison our lungs with smoke from cigarettes, we run a serious risk of lung cancer. Can we expect the Earth not to have as serious a reaction to our spouting poisons into Her atmosphere (lungs), bloodstream (waters) and body (land).
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