Let’s take a moment and sit quietly. Let’s close our eyes. Let’s wait for that moment if it arrives, where the voice inside is silent. Let’s hold that space. Let’s be that space. The liminal space of everything and nothing. The silent space where the noise is gone. The chatter is silent. We just are.
In this moment if we can hold it gently in our mind’s eye, let’s imagine the world on a different plane of existence. Where humans are not the central theme in the story of life and are a simply one more strand in the web of life.
What if our story was a story of equality and an equity for all. What if our myopic perspective of an anthropocentric world was false. What if we are not the main characters in the creation myth and just a piece of the puzzle. An integral piece, yet still a piece.
Imagine if you and I were not separated by our thoughts, our beliefs and our dogma, that dance like dervishes in our minds. Our minds that have created a sense of ownership. Entitlement, lust and greed for more. More for me and less for you. Less for everything. Now and future generations of all species.
Less for the plants. Less for the animals. Less for the forests and the oceans. Less for the sky. Less for the dreams of the future generations. Less for the children still to come.
What if we did not see the earth as our resource but saw ourselves as stewards for something profound and miraculous. What if we saw ourselves as a part of this mosaic of life and not apart. What if we were able to break that word into two words instead of one. I imagine that everything might change.
What if we stopped thinking of the earth belonging to anything but the earth. What if we saw ourselves and every living creature on this incredible planet as belonging to itself. The stones belong to the stones. The wind belongs to the wind. The raven belongs to the raven. The cloud belongs to the cloud.
What if we have gotten it wrong right from the beginning. From the start. What if we are not the central characters in the story of life. What if we are only the support crew. What if we were adults on this planet that had a sense of conscience, morality, ethics and responsibility. Not only to ourselves, but to every living organism on this planet.
What if instead of being like petulant children, where often our words and actions are a priority of mine, more for me and less for you. Less for the wolf. Less for the old growth forest. Less for the clear mountain stream. What if we took responsibility and we shared. What if we played well together and did not have to fight to settle arguments and differences.
What if sat down together. What if we reached for one another’s hands instead of arms. What if we opened as an alternative to closing ourselves to one another. What if we felt what it was like for me to be you and you to be me. What if I hugged you, cried with you and felt your pain, as my pain. Would this change my story. Your story. Our story. Would we have a different ending together.
What if we shared love. What if we lent a hand and a heart first to everything and everyone. What if our first thoughts were “What can I do”. “How can I help” What do you need”. “What do I have that would help you, I have enough”.
I have enough food. I have enough space. I have enough because I don’t need as much as I thought I did. I was wrong. My society is wrong. Those with the most do not in fact win. They merely take more, so you have less. The bear has less. The individual that doesn’t look like me or believe like me has less. The dolphin has less. The child of the next generation has less.
If we can change our thoughts, we have a hope of changing our feelings. And if we change our feelings perhaps, we change our actions. And if we change our actions perhaps the first words from our mouths would be love. Service. And we are not different. We all belong. I belong to the earth, as do you, and everything else on this magnificent planet. The earth does not belong to us. We have this wrong. It is a story. It is a myth, and it is hurting us all. Right now, and in the future.
Now take this moment. This moment where there is no noise. No distraction and disruption in your mind. That moment where we no longer believe the false narrative. Where in fact we listen. We listen and we imagine a different voice. A voice that comes from within. A voice that comes from our hearts.
Because our hearts know the truth. They always have and they always will. Imagine a world and a life created from your heart. Imagine what a different life and world that might be.