“Captain Tree: ‘Leaf your worries behind.
Climb up high.
Be still and you will find.
See the world as it was meant to be.
Free, free, free.’”
-Ira Scott Levin (Uncle Eye)/ Captain Tree
***
In honor of Earth Day, I humbly suggest that the Earth is here for all of us, regardless of our belief, culture, or point of view. It does not discriminate or judge us. Silently turning, it churns out life in myriad forms.
Throughout history, poets have paused to listen to the Earth’s song whistling through the meadows and mountains. Its verses are endless but the refrain is essentially the same:
“Make of me what you will for you are me and I am you.”
The Earth is modeling a way of being that encourages us to recognize what we have to offer.
If I were to find the cornucopia, the mythical ‘horn of plenty’ that perpetually pours out fruits, nuts and flowers, I would be overcome with wonder. If I thought I was the cornucopia, and could offer beauty and nourishment to everyone I met, it would transform my life. If I lived on the cornucopia and was not aware that I was a part of it, I might not take the time to be still enough to recognize what was at hand.
The famous mythologist, Joseph Campbell, interpreted what the poet T. S. Elliot called the “still point of the turning world” as “The energy of the center. The inexhaustible fountain, of the source.”
He reflects on this “source” further by saying, “The source doesn’t care what happens once it gives into being. It’s the giving and coming into being that counts, and that’s the becoming life point in you…
…I think of grass- you know, every two weeks a chap comes out with a lawnmower and cuts it down. Suppose the grass were to say, ‘Well, for Pete’s sake, what’s the use if you keep getting cut down in this way ?’ Instead, it keeps on growing.”
Think of this within you. How often does life try to beat you down? We are subjected to life’s forest fires, that flare up and claim what we love. There are bitter winters, droughts, floods; we are strip -mined, poisoned, polluted, over-populated and yet…Like the Earth, we can still access “the becoming life point.” We may be broken open but are capable of bestowing beauty and nourishment to ourselves and those that are not even here yet.
So, here’s to the Earth and here’s to you my friend. May you come into the fullness of your splendor.
Originally published at www.streamoflightblog.com on April 20, 2017.
Originally published at medium.com