pass
through the day, we age and gain experience. When
we tire at day's end, we 'die' and take our rest.
That one arc justly serves as a miniature of
our entire life."
- ZEN 24/7
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Added by Michael Grove at 17:14 on September 19, 2012
than other elements of nature.
This 'spiritual ego' has led to dramatic conflicts for generations, not only between human beings, but inadvertently between us and the environment itself.
However, as time has moved forward, Science has shown how human beings are subject to the exact same forces of nature as everything else. We have learned that we all share the same atomic substructure as trees, birds and all other forms of life. We have learned that we cannot live without nature's elements... we need clean air to breathe, food to eat, energy from the sun, etc.
When we understand this Symbiotic relationship of life, we begin to see that as far as 'relationships' are concerned, our relationship to the planet is the most profound and important. The medium by which this is expressed, is Science, for the Scientific Method has allowed us insight into these natural process, so we can better understand how we 'fit' into this life system as a whole.
This could be called a 'spiritual' awakening.
This realization, which has been proven by science, is that humans are no different from any other form of nature, while our integrity is only as good as the integrity of our environment, to which we are a part. This understanding presents an entirely different 'spiritual' worldview, for it forces the idea of interdependence and connection, at its core.
The interconnection of the whole of life is undeniable in the most basic sense, and it is this perpetual 'relationship' of total interconnectivity that is not fully realized by society overall.
Thus, our modes of conduct and perception are largely out of line with nature itself... and hence destructive.
Nature itself is our teacher, and our social institutions and philosophies should be derived from this foundational and, invariably, 'spiritual' understanding.
The faster this spiritual awakening spreads, the more sane, peaceful and productive society will become.
Zeitgeist Movement…
ynthesize and flourish. It is this body, this muscled flesh that rests in intimate relationship with the tree-trunk I’m now sitting on. From walking barefoot in the garden or wandering through all these arroyos, my toes are well acquainted with the life and texture of the soil. But we don't live our body's life anymore. We live a life of abstractions, of mental cogitations massively influenced by all of the human-made artifacts and signals that surround us. We're incessantly reflecting off of our own reflections. We have been taught not to trust our senses, and our direct sensory experience. The senses, which are our most instinctive animal access to the world -- our eyes, our ears, our tongue, our nostrils - these magic organs open us directly onto the more-than-human field! Yet we’ve been taught not to trust any of these powers; we're told that the senses lie, we're taught in school that the senses are deceptive.
David Abram during an interview with Derrick Jensen entitled ...
Alliance for Wild Ethics || The Perceptual Implications of GAIA
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