"Bless the Lord, O my soul. My God you are great, You are clothed with the energy of atoms as with a mantle from a cloud of whirling cosmic dust… as on the potter’s wheel you began to tease out the whorls of the galaxies… the gas escaped from your fingers condensing and burning….. you were fashioning the stars. You made a splatter dash of planets like spores or seeds and scattered comets like flowers….." Ernesto Cardenal
Today has been set aside as Blog Action Day….a day when bloggers are encouraged to write about the environment and what threatens it. This is not a new concept. As people, we are fascinated by the idea of what might happen if a really large number of people set an intention toward something…..peace….awareness…..healing…..whatever, and everyone participates at the same time. There have been sit-ins, marches, and now a form of this same kind of action has arisen in the realm of technology, on what is known as the ‘blogisphere’. From the spiritual viewpoint, those who study such things, say there can be actual, measurable shifts in energy when large groups of people pray at the same time. I am sure I have been the recipient of that kind of focused prayer and I am grateful for it. It will be interesting at the end of the day to hear what people will say has shifted, has changed, has been opened as a result of this ‘blogging intention.’ For what it is worth…here are my two cents.
It all begins with awe. That’s how I see it. That’s how the sacred writings begin, isn’t it? This incredible story of God’s creating the Universe…from darkness and chaos….to beauty and light….is where we begin. It is where all human stories begin, Judeo-Christian or not, with a story of awe and amazement. After the act of creating, the Holy One declares the Creation to be very, very good. As a part of that Creation story humans are introduced into the mix and given a responsibility as caretakers…….of plants, animals, things that fly, things that creep, the soil and sand, the air and water….all of it. Not as consumers or rulers but as cosmic parents, if you will…..those who nurture, support, encourage growth, protect, adore, love beyond measure. When we look around, hear and see the impact of global warming, the reality is that we have not been very good parents.We’ve been neglectful, abusive, squandering our inheritance,the gift entrusted into our care. We have closed our eyes, our hearts, our minds to the state of original awe.
I walked into a hospital room this week and witnessed two parents holding a young one only hours new to the world. What look, what emotion, was etched across their face? Awe…amazement. Looking down at this beautiful, unbelievable miracle, their faces were full of deep awe. I came to stand in the circle of that same awe, suspended in the amazing circle of Creation that continues to happen each and every day with newborns, with season changes, with the rising of the Sun.
If this is the place we begin, how can we continue to act as we have been? These invisible lines of connection that hold us together in the great Web of Life ask us to stand in awe….and to then act to preserve, to nurture, to support and to love beyond measure. To do so may very well make all the difference in the world.
"I have come to terms with the future. From this day onward I will walk easy on the earth. Plant trees. Kill no living thing. Live in harmony with all creatures. I will restore the earth where I am. Use no more of its resources than I need. And listen, listen to what it is telling me." M.J.Slim Hooey