Sky, Mountain, Forest

 

How many fish can you find in this crayon piece called Finding Nemo?

Clear blue sky in Wuhan and snowy Himalayan mountain tops have been seen for the first time in decades. Hopefully these lockdown experiences have awakened millions of us to the beauty and wonder of a world without coal and petroleum. Along with wealth, the industrial revolution brought destruction to the planet that sustains us. Stopping the world of industrial work to deal with the coronavirus pandemic could be a portal that opens us to a new realization that humanity has long been a pandemic for many of earth’s living beings and they are fighting back.

During a recent Re-Imagine the Future zoom workshop with Amrita Bhohi, she gave us six minutes to write stories of the new reality we are experiencing. Here is my story.

Once upon a time the whole of humanity forged a new relationship with each other and the earth. A new social contract was forged in simple, profound phrases such as Stay home. Save lives and Flatten the curve. A simple mask became a symbol of that contract, I wear my mask to protect you. You wear your mask to protect me. Genuine leaders spoke truth to power and those who recognized grief and suffering formed new coalitions to support one another and the people to whom they were responsible. 

A young man from Ireland's story was a recent dream he had. I found it prophetic.

An old woman with a tall walking stick beckoned me to come with her behind an old shed. When I did, I was startled and frightened by finding a large bull with enormous horns. The old woman told me not to be afraid; the bull was in service to her and would not harm me. Beyond the land where we stood was an infinite virgin forest. The old woman said that she and the bull were responsible to care for trees and animals there. If I were inclined, I could join them in this life-giving responsibility.

To me, the bull represents the aggressive masculine energy that has driven the industrial era. The shed could be the current social order that we need to 'shed'. Forest is a place of continuous cycles of life, death, and regeneration. Old woman seems to be hearkening him/us back to the bond with nature that was forged during the hunter/gatherer and agricultural periods of human history, before obsession with minerals and ores took hold. The walking stick signifies that only when we walk again – foot to earth – will we be in sync with that which sustains us. 

We saw planet Earth from outer space over fifty years ago but humanity, and particularly those of us in western industrialized countries, was not ready then to embrace a new understanding of our role as a partner, not a conqueror, with all living beings on this marvelous blue marble. 

In this time of radical precariousness, we stand on a threshold into a new society. Kahlil Gibran describes it well.

It is said that before entering the sea, a river trembles with fear. She looks back at the path she has traveled, from the peaks of the mountains, the long winding road crossing forests and villages. And in front of her, she sees an ocean so vast, that to enter there seems nothing more than to disappear forever. But there is no other way. The river cannot go back. Nobody can go back. To go back is impossible in existence. The river needs to take the risk of entering the ocean, because only then will fear disappear, because that's where the river will know -- it's not about disappearing into the ocean, but of becoming the ocean.

Let us enter the portal and bring with us all of the vulnerable and downtrodden, truly the salt of the earth.