Growing Earth Literacy
by Bill Cahalan

The Lord will guide you continually,
and satisfy your needs in parched places,
and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water,
whose waters never fail.

—Isaiah 58:11

Remember thy creator in the days of thy youth. Rise free from care before the dawn, and seek adventures. Let the noon find thee by other lakes, and the night overtake thee everywhere at home. There are no larger fields than these, no worthier games than may here be played. Grow wild according to thy nature, like these sedges and brakes, which will never become English hay.

—Henry David Thoreau

In moving toward sustainable ways of living, we are applying (along with the peace, justice, and integrity testimonies) our testimony of simplicity. We must discover the truth that living more simply in terms of our possessions need not be felt as a deprivation if we increasingly ground ourselves in a richer, more complex relationship with the web of life. We may find ourselves called toward a more direct, sensuous, reverent give-and-take relationship with our local landscapes and weather, with our waters, soils, wild lands, and neighbors. Moving step by step into such a life in nature seems to be an essential aspect of a sense of personal “power” and spiritual fulfillment.  It is also what the community of life urgently needs from us now as we re-assume a humbler place as “plain citizens,” rather than primarily as managers or owners, within Earth’s marvelous symphony of living beings.

Science can be a major source of continuing revelation about the nature of reality, including the ways in which the Spirit is present within nature. However, many people still see nature through the eyes of nineteenth century Newtonian science. This world view involves a belief (usually unconscious) in a mechanistic, clocklike (or lately, a computer-like) Universe of inert matter, a collection of objects in which the parts are more basic than the whole. Such “reductionist materialism” makes it hard to imagine or experience divinity as present within nature and to feel the passion and compassion required for deep change. Even many scientists appear to be having a hard time letting go of this mechanistic world view and incorporating the revelations of twentieth century co-evolutionary biology, ecology, quantum physics, and scientific cosmology.

We receive certain revelations when the findings of these sciences are integrated with each other and reflected upon. We discover the Cosmos as more like a living organism than a machine—a communion of subjects, rather than a collection of objects (l). Scientific findings suggest the omni-presence of sentience (the capacity of something to “feel” the presence of other things and thereby be influenced by them) and creative motion (2), of an “organizing and animating intelligence” (3), which permeates and contains all things. Science thus reaffirms and also extends an ancient intuitive, mystical awareness which has existed in many cultures for thousands of years.

Here are some basic patterns in the way of things which seem essential for us to learn as citizens of industrial culture.  These patterns have been eclipsed by our pervasive mechanistic, de-spiritualized world view. The relentless unraveling of Earth’s integrity is being caused by an economic way of life which violates these sacred realities. We must learn, and begin to see and feel, these patterns everywhere in the Creation in order to move toward sustainable lives rooted in a full sense of the Spirit:

l. A central activity of the Universe, since the great Flaring Forth, has been the creation of self-organizing systems.  These include hydrogen atoms, ourselves, the earth, stars such as our Sun, and the Milky Way galaxy. And everything in this expanding, evolving Universe, although actively maintaining itself, is also a manifestation of the unbroken wholeness of the Universe.  This Whole is ultimately beyond our rational analysis or comprehension.

2. All things or events are sensitive and ceaselessly in motion, and have worth or value in and for themselves. Every atom senses and responds to other atoms. Matter has evolved from the light and heat of the Great Flaring Forth about l4 billion years ago to subatomic particles/events, to hydrogen atoms, to stars within billions of galaxies. Later in the hearts of dying stars the rest of the l05 elements evolved and seeded our solar system. On Earth molecules, single-celled and then multi-celled organisms, ecological communities, and the Earth community itself organized themselves. There appears to be an organizing and animating intelligence inherent in matter/energy (and in the fertile emptiness which permeates and contains matter/energy). As everything engages in ceaseless self-organizing, it both differentiates itself from other things and communes with them and with the larger whole of which it is a part.

Such sensitivity, motion, and inherent worth seem self evident when I simply open my senses and extend empathic attentiveness not only to people, but to plants, animals, landscapes, and other events in the more-than-human world.

3. Everything, including each human, is interwoven with everything else, constantly giving to, receiving from, and changing into other elements and beings. On Earth, plants turn water, soil, air, and sunlight into themselves. We then transform plants, and animals which ate them, into ourselves. And we turn back into water, soil, and air, and release heat each day in small ways and completely when we die. Each atom which constitutes us has been part of many living things, and in between has been part of the water, soil, and air countless times for billions of years. So when we pollute our air or water or erode our topsoil, we defile something which has been, and will again become, a living being.

Because of this pervasive interwoveness, every living thing and the elements which compose them not only has inherent worth, but is valuable for its part in supporting other beings and the natural community as a whole. Also, every human action has unavoidable “side” effects besides the intended effect.

4. Through this creative interwoveness, living things have cooperatively evolved into complex natural communities, such as woodlands, which tend toward a mature, stable state. For example, in my Midwestern broadleaf forest region, there are several kinds of mature forests that have evolved over tens of thousands of years. These communities are composed of a high diversity of soil creatures and microbes, shrubs, herbs, ferns, vines, mosses, trees, insects, mammals, and birds which compete with, but especially cooperate with, each other. They recycle elements and nutrients at limited rates. The community tends not to show a net annual growth since the microbes recycle dead organisms as fast as new growth happens. These qualities (in contrast with the quantitative growth-orientation of our industrial economy), which allow the communities to sustain themselves over the long run, also tend to exist in other kinds of mature communities in other regions, such as prairie, desert, chaparral, tundra, and lake ecosystems.

5. The total network of these communities culminates in the whole Earth functioning as a self-regulating being, a vast symphony of life, maintaining balanced states essential for all of our lives. As I stated earlier, the web of life evolved from matter which is “non-living” but which nonetheless embodies organizing intelligence. We are composed of light and the elements within soil, water, and air. We constantly return part of ourselves, and eventually will return all, to these elements.  And miraculously, Earth’s web of life is not only formed from the elements, but also has shaped the composition of soil, water, and air, and actively maintains them in what is actually a state of chemical “disequilibrium”. For example, the oxygen level is kept close to 2l% of the atmosphere. Edward O. Wilson (4) stated that “The biosphere creates our special world anew every day, every minute, and holds it in a unique, shimmering, physical disequilibrium. On that disequilibrium the human species is in total thrall.” Life keeps the elements in the kind of dynamic steady state necessary for life to continue.

To summarize much of the above, the elements which compose us are forms which the original light has taken. We not only evolved from, are composed of, and will return to these ever-cycling elements, forms of light, but also help the web of life to maintain them in a dynamic but steady state. For me, this is a revelation of great beauty and mystery, which has the potential to radically transform how we experience ourselves and our fellow beings within Earth’s body, within the wind, the rain, and the very landscape and sky.

6. Spirit may be thought of (and ecstatically experienced during mystical illumination) as the most basic quality at the heart of reality—the sentient, self-organizing activity of each thing or event as a manifestation of the self-organizing intelligence of the Universe; or, alternatively, as a manifestation of a Creator which both contains and dwells within this Creation. So, although the revelations of science do invite the affirmation of Spirit as present within nature, there are various ways in which a variety of theologies may assert this reality.  

Illustrative Activities

Practicing Earth Awareness

In our effort to become ecologically literate, learning about the realities in the “Earth Awareness” article on a merely intellectual level will make little difference in how we live and in restoring the Earth’s integrity. We must respond to the Spirit’s call to fully awaken to these recognitions, embodying them and living them out in a deep, heart-felt way.  I call such sensuous, whole-hearted recognition and attentiveness “Earth awareness” or “natural awareness”.

What we face in seeking such awareness is that most citizens of industrial-growth culture are now thoroughly armored from nature (and thus from a full sense of the Spirit). In this alienating, armoring process the living Earth is typically seen and spoken of as an “environment” separate from ourselves, a disconnected collection of resources and mere scenery. Our humanly built environment armors us, and we internalize this armoring. This unconscious alienating process involves the activity of chronically “being in our heads” as we deflect our sensing and numb our emotional responding to nature.  We thus screen out nature’s distractions from our addictive, narrowly focused attachment to the built environment with which we have surrounded ourselves. Attempting to fill up our emptiness, we cling to an image of ourselves as owners and consumers (of products, traits, land, entertainment, relationships) rather than as humble members of the natural community who belong to and serve it rather than own it.

I believe that all of us in industrial cultures engage in armoring to some extent. As you read further and try the practices suggested, see if you begin to notice such distancing activity in yourself. The goal I suggest is not to eliminate all armoring, but to gently notice it, engage in it more selectively, and regularly step beyond it through lively attentiveness and deep inward and outward listening.

Earth or natural awareness involves an open-hearted, deep listening attentiveness to the process of Creation (and therefore of the Spirit) ceaselessly unfolding around us and within us. This practice may become an extension of Friends listening or waiting worship practice, which traditionally has tended to be more inwardly focused than natural awareness. Such awareness is enhanced by the recognitions which I listed earlier, and involves a more sensuous, relational, and empathic consciousness of the natural world (which includes our inner creative activity) than is usually present in our culture. It includes a less restricted recognition of the Spirit’s functioning than many are used to. Natural awareness has the potential to support a radical change in world view and in behavior.

As William Penn wrote in l693, “It would go a long way to caution and direct people in their use of the world, that they were better studied and knowing the creation of it. For how could men find the conscience to abuse it, while they could see the great Creator look them in the face, in all and every part thereof?”

George Fox, in his journal, described an awakening to the divine in the creation: “Now was I come up in spirit through the flaming sword into the paradise of God. All things were new, and all the creation gave another smell unto me than before, beyond what words can utter…I was come up into the state of Adam which he was in before he fell. The creation was opened to me…” The Creation may be opened to each of us as well, if we cultivate the appropriate deep and patient attentiveness.

Earth-Body Meditation

Here is one version of a guided experience which I call an “Earth-body meditation”. Try it in a grassy place near trees, and also ideally near a wild area large enough to lose yourself in during a deep listening walk (described later) after the meditation.  It may help you to enter a relational, sensuous experience of membership within the Earth community or body, leaving behind at least temporarily the more common position of spectator in relation to an external “environment”. At first you may want to have someone read the meditation to you, with the indicated pauses, or you can listen to a recording of yourself reading it:

We are members of Earth’s body. We help the web of life to maintain the same ever-cycling elements, forms of light from the Great Flaring Forth, which we evolved from, are composed of, and will return to.

Sit down and settle on the ground, allowing yourself to comfortably adjust to the Earth’s gravitational embrace…  Close your eyes. Maybe you can faintly feel blood pulsing in your neck and fingertips. Enjoy this automatic cycling, knowing that it is actually part of the larger water cycling of this region.  Just as our blood nourishes us, water is the blood of Earth…

Now notice your breathing, and gently follow its rhythm for a few minutes, relaxing any tightening which may be hindering a full, relaxed in-breath and out-breath…….

Like blood pulsing, breathing is mostly automatic, an enjoyable and natural, taken-for-granted life process. Know that all the oxygen you and all animals are taking in at this moment is a gift of green plants, given off by them as they breathe in the carbon dioxide which we and other animals have exhaled.

Open your eyes and slowly scan and take in some of the plants, such as the grasses and trees, which are breathing with you. Feel the temperature and movement of air on your face and hands. As water is Earth’s blood, so air is the breath of our larger Earth body……

Now close your eyes again, scanning your body slowly and savoring your own energy, which may have been rising as your breathing has deepened. This energy may be felt as slight movement, readiness to move, tingling, or warmth. Notice also any stiffening you maybe be doing to interrupt the free movement of energy in yourself. Know and appreciate the source of this energy, which is the Sun……

Open your eyes now and take in the Sunlight. See the contrast of light and shadow. Allow yourself to slowly take in the landscape, plants, any animals, and the sky, rather than quickly skimming over what you see. This sunlight energy in you is released with each heartbeat and each breath, having come to you from plants through your food chains……

Now use this energy to slowly stand up… Begin to walk slowly around, feeling and savoring each step… See the Sunlight, present even if the day is cloudy. Let your breathing regulate its own pace and depth.  Look at the plants and whatever else is here. See each plant, bird, insect and person as a way-station for the cycling elements of soil, water, air, and for the light. See each as a fellow participant within the self-regulating, evolving body of Earth.

Deep Listening Walk

You can now go on a “deep listening walk” if you want, wandering or stalking (moving slowly and silently, pausing a lot, versus “hiking”) for an extended time through the nearby wild areas, being led intuitively by your emotional responses to what you see, hear, or smell. Your only goal is to discover the beings, elements, and places which share the land with you, sensing them as emanations of the Divine, and discovering how they may move you or what they have to teach you.

It is typical at first to experience some boredom or anxiety as you withdraw even for an hour from your attachment to the built environment. If you accept these feelings and continue your opening to the world, compassion, wonder, and even ecstasy may eventually come. Allow yourself to open your senses to the places, animals, plants, and weather, silently scanning with a generalized attentiveness. Notice what moves you emotionally, what calls you out of your more contained self. Attend to living things and places as subjective presences, each with special sensitivities and unique functions within the circle of life. They may become sources of spiritual power and primary teachers of lessons for living.

As you slowly wander, stop and linger often with any place or thing which seems to invite you or speak to you. Allow yourself to imaginatively enter its life for a while. What it is sensing? What is it doing within this community? Take your leave when you feel ready, and move on.

When you eventually circle back to your starting place, you may want to write down, draw, or dance the spirit of a being or place that most stands out in your experience. You may also want to share your experiences with one or more friends, who ideally have taken part in the meditation and the walk (out of view, if possible) with you. This can be done in a worship-sharing format. One query might be “How has the breath of the Spirit, which animates all things, moved you or spoken to you?” You might try empathically assuming the identity of a being or place which moved you on your walk, and describe “yourself” and the special gift or sensitivity you bring to the gathered people. What recognitions and emotions are aroused in you, in the roles of both speaker and listener? Such activities help you carry the life force and lessons of the Spirit’s embodiments in nature back into everyday living.

Everyday Practice

The meditation and walk ideally will suggest activities for a regular practice of natural awareness, extending your current deep listening or waiting worship practice. A compelling reason for engaging in such a practice is that in our industrial culture we are constantly invited by the people and the built environment to reassume our culture’s mechanistic, nature-as separate-environment view, moving back into the stance of armored spectator. it requires regular practice to live in a more richly fulfilling way, grounded in compassionate attentiveness to the movements and patterns of the Divine Presence within Creation. Such a practice may be essential both for informing us and for sustaining us as passionate, compassionate activists for peace on the Earth as well as with the earth.

You may begin walking regularly through or near the wild areas of your neighborhood and home territory, coming to know the landscapes, watercourses, natural communities, plants and animals. Get to know how these function and how they affect you physically and spiritually. How do they speak to you and teach you?

Take time to increase your understanding

Perhaps you can discover how the lay of the land is part of local creek and river watersheds. Book research and consulting with local elders can enrich your sensory discoveries on foot. How were local bedrock, soils, and landscapes formed? What are the common native wildflowers, and edible plants? The major tree and animal species? What were the native old-growth communities, and are any of these left?  What phase is the moon in? When is the next seasonal change day, and how does the angle of the sun hint at this?  Where does your food come from; is any of it local, or only coming from outside your region? Where does your household water come from? Your fuel for home and car?

Perhaps you will find yourself drawn into such an activity as a fascinating, lifelong discovery process.

You may also begin to pause regularly each day from whatever you are doing, noticing and savoring what is happening in the natural world, and how you are participating in and responding to this. Some good times to pause mindfully and gratefully include sunrise and sunset, before, during, and after meals, and when turning on the water tap or shower.

You might pause when you need a break from reading or working indoors, briefly stepping outdoors or gazing from a window into the wider world.

Eventually, as you become aware of ways that your are being sustained and nurtured, follow the naturally resulting urge to give back to the earth and Cosmos. Find ways to begin harmonizing your meeting, household and lifestyle with basic Earth patterns and cycles.

Also, you may find yourself called to help limit suburban sprawl, work for wildlife and wild areas preservation, or to move into any of the myriad forms of activism which our Earth community so badly needs from us now. In following these leadings you move toward becoming a true native, rather than a mere occupant, of your home region, living in harmony with the processes and patterns of the earth, grounded in the Spirit.

We can support each other in our meetings and our neighborhoods by waking up from the trance of consumerism. We can live simply and richly, regularly opening ourselves to a vivid, enlivening sense of the Divine Mystery at the heart of all that is.

This passage from Ecclesiastes seems fitting here:

One generation passes away, and another generation comes: but the earth abides forever. The Sun arises, and the Sun goes down, and hastens to his place where he arose. The wind goes toward the south, and turns about unto the north; it whirls about continually, and the wind returns again according to his circuit. All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, there they return again.

—Ecclesiastes 1:4-7

Further reading

In this section we another article from the QEW book, Earthcare for Friends, a Study Guide for Individuals and Faith Communities:

"Earth Awareness, Earth Activism"