25 | October | 2012 | idealisticrebel

Our beloved Mother Earth

” I’m going to plant a heart in the earth
Water it with love from a vein
I’m going to praise it with the push of muscle
And care for it in the sound of all dimensions.
I’m going to leave a heart in the earth
So it may grow and flower
A heart that throbs with longing
That adores everything green
That will be strength and nourishment for birds
That will be the sap of plants and mountains.

—-Rosario Murillo

We have a great gift from the Universe. It is the planet upon which we stand. The crust of our earth is full of rich metals that formed billions of years ago. Is there a directive to use every single molecule for our own needs? I think not. I also realize that we have already injured Mother Earth with our mining, and stripping and building.

There is much discussion these days about drilling more, mining more, electing someone will allow everyone to do anything they want to get energy out of our planet. It is a temptation to want to create jobs and provide cheaper energy. So what is the problem?

Fracking, drilling, mining, and all of the methods used to procure the energy, do just that: give us accessible energy. So, energy voters and neighbors on Mother Earth, why do some abhor this use of Mother Earth? It is because we are harming this beautiful planet which sustains us. Earth is a living entity. She is as alive as you and I are. We cause her pain and injure her ability to heal herself. Some day we may do more damage than she is able to repair and in the future she will die.

If Mother Earth turns from a living breathing planet to a dead cold planet, what will that mean to the sentient beings who live here? We will all die with our planet. I see no benefits to this.

In the book Earth Prayers: The Passion of the Earth, Editors Elizabeth Roberts and Elias Amidon remind us:

“While many of us are aware of the destruction taking place on our planet, it is difficult to integrate this knowledge into our daily life. What do we do when it is not a war that is killing us, but progress? When the problem is not the actions of an evil “other,” but ourselves? We fear the despair such information provokes. We don’t want to feel the grief over all that is lost, nor our own complicity in the damage. This denial of feeling takes a heave toll on us, impoverishing our sensory and emotional lives. Ultimately, it puts us out of touch with reality.

There is an historical tradition of prayer that foresees the ruination of the world because of human transgression. We find it in the Torah, we find it again in the prayers of Native Americans as they witnessed the destruction of their way of life by the European conquerors.

We are hearing it again now, as citizens from around the world express their fears and their grief at what is happening to the Earth.”

We have forgotten who we are.

We have sought only our own security

We have exploited simply for our own ends

We have distorted our knowledge

We have abused our power.

——-Aaron Kramer; U.N. Environmental Sabbath Program