GAIA IS MY HEART

   A friend asked me what I meant when I said, “Gaia is my    heart.” What is Gaia? To me, Gaia is the word or name for our planet, not just the big piece of rock, but all of the life on it too. 

     Ever since I can remember I have loved the natural world. Some of my first memories are of wanting to go exploring in the woods. I was lucky to grow up with some animals in my life, and in place where I could get outside and “be one with it,” in a very real sense. My family went camping and hiking and we always lived in places where fairly open, unfenced, unpopulated land was nearby. For me, being out “in nature” was the best part of the day. I felt like I was in the presence of something mysterious and magical.

I always feel close to that “something,” and I feel closest to it when I am “out there” in the natural world. It seems like the only time that I can really be myself is when I am out somewhere, away from what humans have built and the places where we have altered what was originally there.  

I also feel very close to animals. It doesn’t really matter what kind of animal. I feel a sense of community with them much more than I do with other people. I say “other people” because I see animals as people, as sentient beings.  The universe has manifested life everywhere. It is irrepressible, abundant, and indomitable. We humans are one life form among many, but from my point of view not necessarily superior.

I say this because of how we treat each other and the other beings that inhabit our planet. Animals mostly suffer in silence, at least to most humans. To me, that suffering comes through loud and clear. I look forward to the day that humans can live in harmony with the other life forms on this planet.  Until that happens, I am not so sure that it is a good idea for us to venture out into space, which I am confident is also filled with life in limitless forms.

Where does all this life originate? That is, to me, what Source is, where all life originates. It is sacred. It is infinite, it is all connected, and yes we are a part of it, not separate from it as most of our religions seem to want us to believe.  So that`s a little about me, and that is why I say that Gaia is my heart. 

 “The Tao is like a well:
used but never used up.
It is like the eternal void:
filled with infinite possibilities

It is hidden but always present.
I don't know who gave birth to it.
It is older than God.”

                            From  the Tao Te Ching, by Lao Tzu.

“Sitting quietly, doing nothing, spring comes, and the grass grows by itself.”

A Zen saying.

“You are not IN the universe, you ARE the universe, an intrinsic part of it. Ultimately you are not a person, but a focal point where the universe is becoming conscious of itself. What an amazing miracle.”
― Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth

Namasté

Carol Mickelsen