Long after we had retired from the Central Intelligence Agency, one of my mentors - a very senior and storied officer - asked me what it was about Americans that caused us to never feel like we had enough, never feel satisfied. It's a question I ponder often. Business as usual is indeed killing us. I hope we can learn new ways and teach new ways. Thank you for your beautiful thoughts, Leah.
I might suggest it's because of the stories we've been telling ourselves since we landed here, first in the Jamestown settlement (after the 2 previous failed as permanent settlements), then in Plymouth. The purpose (story) in the former was to establish a profitable colony for its investors; and at least part of the latter (in addition to their usually thought search for religious freedom), reflected the Puritans' acceptance that wealth was a blessing from their creator. Both stories eventually initiated a "culture of growth," and off everything went.
This is a very simplistic take on a lengthier story, but given that this country, for all intents and purposes, was started as a business (i.e., profit for the few); and given that the de-sacralization of life had already begun millennia earlier and was then cemented even more with the beginning of the Enlightenment in Europe later, in the same century as the founding of the colonies; and finally, the beginning of the current rate of expansion and growth following WW2, leading the U.S. to consume at such a rate that if everyone in the world lived as we now do, we would need 5 planets--all of these things, I believe, follow "naturally" from our attempts (some say when we first changed from being wanderers to being settled) to control the rest of our environment, removing ourselves from it at every turn to increase our safety, initiated by our fear of scarcity, by, of course, attacking our own and other species, and telling ourselves we are not dependent on everything else for our very survival.
By repeating these stories to ourselves until they become unquestioned (and unquestionable), I wonder if there would be any other possible outcome other than feeling like we don't belong--that very feeling which I think makes us want to consume more and more, feeling like, as you say, there is never enough. And of course, that, quite "naturally," would be what we would feel, precisely because we've yanked ourselves out of the only thing that can give us the ultimate sense of belonging we seek: the more-than-human world, Earth, and the Cosmos.
The work that Leah and many others have been doing to help guide us to reestablish our connections with our true home, is foundational and of utter significance to what I believe is the only path to any kind of survival (no matter what MIT might say in the latest reporting on their predicting the collapse by 2040): a radical shift in consciousness.
So thanks, Leah, as always for your work, and I'll leave this with one of my favorite poems, by Derek Walcott, that I feel speaks to that sense of belonging that might turn us away from trying to find it in overconsumption, overpopulation, and incessant growth:
Thank you, Carrie. Well said. I think you and I are on the same page. I’ve been influenced by Amitav Ghosh and The Nutmeg’s Curse. If you haven’t read it , I think you’d appreciate it. A big yes to a radical shift in consciousness. And soul work. I think Bill Plotkin and Animas Valley contribute much. I love the poem. Thank you for sharing it. Again, thank you. 🩷🙏
Thank you for the recommendations, Leah. I'm aware of both of those men, especially Bill Plotkin, but I'll look into them more deeply. Blessings to you for what you're doing and how much devoted time you spend doing it.
Will do. I'm about to have lots of time to read while rehab-ing from a very difficult knee replacement, so if you have any more recommendations, I'll take those, as well. 😊
Go gosh, I’m sorry. Ghosh and Plotkin can fill a lot of time. Reading Carbon by Paul Hawkin now. Not long, but illuminating. Light Eaters. Will think about others.
Beautiful, Leah ... and wow, are you a busy woman! So many wonderful tree-centered events. Thank you for taking that crucial message out into our hurting world.
Long after we had retired from the Central Intelligence Agency, one of my mentors - a very senior and storied officer - asked me what it was about Americans that caused us to never feel like we had enough, never feel satisfied. It's a question I ponder often. Business as usual is indeed killing us. I hope we can learn new ways and teach new ways. Thank you for your beautiful thoughts, Leah.
Thank you, Diane. It’s a journey, isn’t it?
I might suggest it's because of the stories we've been telling ourselves since we landed here, first in the Jamestown settlement (after the 2 previous failed as permanent settlements), then in Plymouth. The purpose (story) in the former was to establish a profitable colony for its investors; and at least part of the latter (in addition to their usually thought search for religious freedom), reflected the Puritans' acceptance that wealth was a blessing from their creator. Both stories eventually initiated a "culture of growth," and off everything went.
This is a very simplistic take on a lengthier story, but given that this country, for all intents and purposes, was started as a business (i.e., profit for the few); and given that the de-sacralization of life had already begun millennia earlier and was then cemented even more with the beginning of the Enlightenment in Europe later, in the same century as the founding of the colonies; and finally, the beginning of the current rate of expansion and growth following WW2, leading the U.S. to consume at such a rate that if everyone in the world lived as we now do, we would need 5 planets--all of these things, I believe, follow "naturally" from our attempts (some say when we first changed from being wanderers to being settled) to control the rest of our environment, removing ourselves from it at every turn to increase our safety, initiated by our fear of scarcity, by, of course, attacking our own and other species, and telling ourselves we are not dependent on everything else for our very survival.
By repeating these stories to ourselves until they become unquestioned (and unquestionable), I wonder if there would be any other possible outcome other than feeling like we don't belong--that very feeling which I think makes us want to consume more and more, feeling like, as you say, there is never enough. And of course, that, quite "naturally," would be what we would feel, precisely because we've yanked ourselves out of the only thing that can give us the ultimate sense of belonging we seek: the more-than-human world, Earth, and the Cosmos.
The work that Leah and many others have been doing to help guide us to reestablish our connections with our true home, is foundational and of utter significance to what I believe is the only path to any kind of survival (no matter what MIT might say in the latest reporting on their predicting the collapse by 2040): a radical shift in consciousness.
So thanks, Leah, as always for your work, and I'll leave this with one of my favorite poems, by Derek Walcott, that I feel speaks to that sense of belonging that might turn us away from trying to find it in overconsumption, overpopulation, and incessant growth:
"Earth"
Let the day grow on you upward
through your feet,
the vegetal knuckles,
to your knees of stone,
until by evening you are a black tree;
feel, with evening
the swifts thicken your hair,
the new moon rising out of your forehead,
and the moonlit veins of silver
running from your armpits
like rivulets under white leaves.
Sleep, as ants
cross over your eyelids.
You have never possessed anything
as deeply as this.
This is all you have owned
from the first outcry
through forever;
you can never be dispossessed.
Thank you, Carrie. Well said. I think you and I are on the same page. I’ve been influenced by Amitav Ghosh and The Nutmeg’s Curse. If you haven’t read it , I think you’d appreciate it. A big yes to a radical shift in consciousness. And soul work. I think Bill Plotkin and Animas Valley contribute much. I love the poem. Thank you for sharing it. Again, thank you. 🩷🙏
Thank you for the recommendations, Leah. I'm aware of both of those men, especially Bill Plotkin, but I'll look into them more deeply. Blessings to you for what you're doing and how much devoted time you spend doing it.
🙏 Let me know what you think.
Will do. I'm about to have lots of time to read while rehab-ing from a very difficult knee replacement, so if you have any more recommendations, I'll take those, as well. 😊
Go gosh, I’m sorry. Ghosh and Plotkin can fill a lot of time. Reading Carbon by Paul Hawkin now. Not long, but illuminating. Light Eaters. Will think about others.
So beautiful and heart wrenching This is why I’m studying the way of the Druid focusing on the divine in every being and all around me
Thank you. Glad you’ve found a path that invites you to this way of seeing.
Beautifully said, absolutely true.
Wow! I love this! Just what I needed to hear
Thank you, Claudia. Much appreciated. 🩷
Unquestioned, unchecked,
“business as usual” breaks world.
Earth’s heart, she knows best.
🩷🙏🩷
YES. YES...AND MORE YES ! Thank you Leah. Your words are healing medicine !
Thank you so much, Hillary. I know that you live this.
Beautiful, Leah ... and wow, are you a busy woman! So many wonderful tree-centered events. Thank you for taking that crucial message out into our hurting world.
Thank you, Jeanne.
No more business as usual. I'm trying to wash that stuff right out of my hair! It's time to return to our roots and shift.
Yes! Not easy - and so important!