Spiritual Ecology Archives
Just a year and a half ago, this wedge of waterfront was a dumping ground and a "heroin shantytown." But today, James has single handedly removed hundreds of pounds of garbage and made it a remarkable refuge for hundreds of birds. "I was a Wall Street guy. I was heavily into math," Mr. Cataldi says. "But this is my calling."
A 4 min video clip.
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In the northeast of India, the roots of fig trees have been trained for centuries to provide safe passage over dangerous flash flood areas during Monsoon season.
A 4 min video clip.
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To commemorate 2011 as the International Year of Forests, the United Nations appointed Yann Arthus-Bertrand to create a short video to raise consciousness about forests using stunning aerial photography and video footage.
An 8 min video clip.
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Don't trees only talk to each other in the movies? Professor Suzanne Simard shares her latest research regarding forest ecosystems here. Amazingly, we find that in a forest, 1+1 equals more than 2, as all trees are interconnected with the largest, oldest, "mother trees" serving as hubs. The underground exchange of nutrients increases the survival of younger trees linked into the network of old trees in this fascinating, real-life model of forest resilience and regeneration.
An 5 minute video clip.
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Articles
A Conversation with Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee
Published online at Works & Conversations
Most of us in the west take clean water for granted. And generally we're equally asleep to the profound role water plays in our lives... (Full Article)
Published online at www.ecobuddhism.org.
Part 1 of the edited transcripts of the
January 2011 London Talks: "When the Light Goes Out."
When we talk about ecological crisis, be it climate change or depletion of species or sustainability, we know as mystics that the outer world is a reflection of the inner. This is something people don’t like to face or own. We generally prefer to think of the inner or spiritual world as separate and unpolluted—an untouched place we can go to in meditation. But this is naïve: what happens in the inner is a prelude to what will happen in the outer. (Full Article)
Published online at www.ecobuddhism.org.
Part 2 of the edited transcripts of the
January 2011 London Talks: "When the Light Goes Out."
At various periods, different light has come through in our Western civilization that gave it meaning and purpose. That light has disappeared because this civilization, with its ego-centred dynamic has destroyed the light and passed the point of regeneration, just as an individual might do to the light of his or her own soul. If you don’t live the destiny of your soul, but follow the desires of your ego, you lose the light and eventually you can become a lost soul. You can’t find your way either in this world or the other world. The light that belonged to the last era is not going to come back because the era is over. (Full Article)
Extract from Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee's chapter “A Prophecy and a Prayer”
in 2013! The Beginning is Here, ed. Jim Young
Are we facing a global catastrophe or a golden age, or both? As 2012 comes closer with its Mayan prophecies of the end of time, we are being forced to face the realities of an ecological disaster on a global level. There are also signs of a shift in consciousness away from a culture steeped in materialism towards values that reflect a more holistic understanding of life. The year 2012 has been given to us as a watershed, the moment in which our civilization could either collapse or transform. What does this mean, and what does this mean to us now, in this present moment of time?. (Full Article)
In recent years Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee has pointed out that the pyramids, the Stonehenges, the Gothic cathedrals, are no longer the vehicles to bring a certain spiritual energy to the earth. That task has fallen to the human beings themselves—us. Only through our willingness and attention can this responsibility be fulfilled. The heart of the world cannot receive these energies fully without our participation. (Full Article)
Recently I wrote about the coming dawn and our need to be fully present to welcome the sunrise. But I also wrote about the darkness before the dawn, and it is this darkness that I am now drawn to articulate more fully, to explore its meaning and the story it is telling us. (Full Article...)
Whatever names we use to describe our hope for the future, for real change in our world, we are together waiting for a dawn, for a new light. But we have been standing on the edge of this dawn for so long now, our souls dreaming of its coming, that when the dawn does finally come, will we notice it? There is a danger that our eyes have become so accustomed to the present darkness, to its attractions and distortions, that the dawn could easily pass us by. That our patterns of avoidance are so entrenched, our pursuit of self centered pleasures or problems so pervasive, that we will not be able to see something as simple as sunlight? Or we will see something, but because our attention has been for so long in the half light and shadows we will pass it over, presuming it is just another mirage, another false dawn.(Full Article...)
This short article continues the theme of previous pieces, expanding on the importance of learning to read the book of life and glimpse the real story that life is telling us at this critical moment in time.
If we look around with open eyes it is apparent that globally we are caught in the darkness of forgetfulness, obsessed with a dream of material accumulation. In the midst of this nightmare we are gradually becoming conscious of the horrors of ecological devastation caused by this dream, and the recent disastrous oil spill in the Gulf has heightened this awareness. As well as the discussion of climate change and primary ecological concerns, there is talk of a need for a “paradigm shift,” for “global consciousness,” or “awakening into oneness.” And yet these ideas about a shift in our collective consciousness also belong to the dream of humanity. They are based upon self-created images of our own existence. At this moment in time, in what we call a crisis in our global dream, there is a pressing need to glimpse the deeper purpose of life, to tear apart the veils that hide humanity from what is really present... (Full Article)
Published online at The Huffington Post
The realities explored in science and spirituality are often assumed to be unrelated to one another. Both find their basis in a spirit of inquiry. Modern science is objective analysis, while spirituality is subjective understanding. Science explores the outer world with a series of questions beginning with the basic query, "What is this? What is this world all about?" while spirituality begins with the question, "Who am I?" (Full Article)
Published online at The Huffington Post
Earlier in the year I posted a series of articles about the need to regain a symbolic consciousness, the need to see the symbolic meaning of events that happen in our inner and outer lives. Recently we have been witnessing the worst ecological disaster in North America with the oil gushing from the depths of the Gulf. We have heard the anger of politicians, the fear of fishermen and others for their livelihood, and the futility of BP to stem this ecological disaster, to stop the oil from polluting the shoreline and the sea. But have we been able to look beyond this tragic play of events to recognize the symbolic story that is being told: can we learn what life is telling us before it is too late? What is the deeper meaning of this disaster as the flow of oil meets the flow of the water, as our ecology is destroyed by our need or greed for oil?...(Full Article)
We Are All Accountable for Ignoring the Global Consequences of Environmental Exploitation
Published online at The Huffington Post
Once again, in a matter only of a few years, the eyes of the world are turned with suspense toward the Gulf Coast. Sadly, the oil spill is following a path similar to Hurricane Katrina and threatening the coast of Louisiana as well as neighboring states.
As citizens of God's creation, we perceive this monumental spill of crude oil in the oceans of our planet as a sign of how far we have moved from the purpose of God's creation. (Full Article)
19th generation keeper of the White Buffalo Calf Pipe Bundle, www.wolakota.org
Published online at The Huffington Post
My Relatives,
Time has come to speak to the hearts of our Nations and their Leaders. I ask you this from the bottom of my heart, to come together from the Spirit of your Nations in prayer.
We, from the heart of Turtle Island, have a great message for the World; we are guided to speak from all the White Animals showing their sacred color, which have been signs for us to pray for the sacred life of all things. As I am sending this message to you, many Animal Nations are being threatened, those that swim, those that crawl, those that fly, and the plant Nations. Eventually all will be affected by the oil disaster in the Gulf.
The dangers we are faced with at this time are not of spirit. The catastrophe that has happened with the oil spill which looks like the bleeding of Grandmother Earth, is made by human mistakes, mistakes that we cannot afford to continue to make..... (Full Article)
Published online at The Huffington Post
We live in a culture of religious diversity that is at present experiencing a reawakening of interest in spirituality. If we are to more fully understand what this reawakening might mean, it seems to me that we need to clarify the traditional difference between religion and spirituality, between the exoteric and the esoteric. (Full Article)
Published online at The Huffington Post
The valuable and varied responses to my recent blog about the Internet as a living symbol of global oneness made me aware of a need to explain more fully the nature and purpose of symbolic consciousness: how to access the meaning and power of symbols. (Full Article)
The River of Life and the Need for a Symbolic Consciousness
Published online at www.sevenpillarshouse.org/article/
A Frozen Surface
While in deep meditation I am drawn into awareness. Rather than dissolving deeper into the emptiness of inner silence I am asked to listen for a sound, the specific sound of ice cracking. But I can hear nothing, no sound of ice cracking. Then I am shown the image of a river which has been frozen so deeply that it is like solid ground, and it has been frozen for so long that it has been forgotten that it is a river of water. On the banks of the river there is a village or town and I am left with the thought of what would happen to this town if the ice melted. Would the river rise and flood the houses?...(Full Article)
©2007 ÛFÛDÛ Medicinal Arts, David Catherine
Having worked in environmental support and observed the wanton destruction of nature and its associated ecosytems (intricate feed-back systems integral to human survival on earth), I am undoubtedly concerned as to the future of all things natural on this planet. However, I am equally concerned about human perception, the paradigms or technologies that shape our perception, and the degree to which this perception impinges upon the outer world. Like many others I have come to realize that an ecologically "sustainable" future cannot be achieved merely through Environmental Law, Protected-Area Management and the rehabilitation of degraded ecosystems. Parallel to these undeniably important and laudable disciplines, it is essential that we move towards an understanding and rehabilitation of consciousness... (Full Article: PDF download 1MB)
