It is May in Minnesota - the month of spring, where life literally explodes in just a few weeks. After a brutally cold winter with five months of ice and snow and subzero temperatures, every new green leaf and flower strikes me as a miracle. I think spring has never moved me quite as much as this year, and I can't quite explain why. Perhaps I am catching on to the viewpoint of the Ancients, to whom every new day and certainly the springtime season was a gift of renewed life and of divine benevolence. In any case, this year it strikes me more than before just how much we as a culture have become alienated and disconnected from the rhythms of nature. Who among us walks through nature with an open heart, truly watching the miracle of life unfold? (IF we walk in nature at all! Chances are people will walk on a treadmill rather than out in nature. Modern life has all but trapped us in a never ending list of things to do and electronic gadgets to keep our attention away from the wonder that is in every breath and cloud and beam of sunlight). A good example is my habit of walking barefeet whenever the weather and the ground permits it - it is just one of those simple pleasures I can't wait to do after a long winter. However, it does draw stares from others. People may walk or jog, yes, but in sneakers, certainly NOT barefeet. We have forgotten that it is important for our feet to connect to the energies of the Earth, and shoes in general keep us from this connection. Most children know this intuitively and will take their shoes off whenever given the chance!
We have become isolated from important knowledge that has traditionally been part of other cultures, but is considered "unscientific" by the West. Things such as the existence of nature devas, communications with plants and animals, crystal energies, or that the Earth is alive in itself, are concepts that are at best found in New Age communities, and at worst discredited and laughed at. Maybe western mainstream society came so far as to consider the Soul of humans and animals (to be symantically correct, I should say, we are Soul. We don't have a Soul, Soul is what we are - rather than the body, or the emotions, or the mind). However, plants and minerals (crystals, gemstones, etc) and the soil itself are all alive, too. They, too, are "Souls incarnate", and they too, follow a divine plan and serve a greater whole, and as such deserve our love and respect. If as a culture we would remember and accept this, all our values and our technology would likely be very different. If we would truly honor the "Web of Life", it is unlikely that there would be any of the environmental pollution as we see it today. Not to mention warfare!
If I may quote Yoda from Star Wars as he said:
"Luminous beings are we, not just this crude matter."
This is so very true. Sometimes it takes popular movies to bring back a truth that was known in all ages prior. I believe springtime is a wonderful opportunity to "tune in" and reconnect with nature: in the end, it will be a reconnecting with ourselves.
