Earth Spirit Rising

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Earth Spirit Rising

By Barry Fraser

Norine Cardea and Barry Fraser at the Earth Spirit Rising conference in Louisville, Ky.

"There is now only one issue before us, the issue of survival, not merely physical survival, but survival in a world of fulfillment, survival in a living world, where the violets bloom and the birds sing in the springtime, where the stars shine down in all their mystery, survival in a world of meaning. [We must recognize] that the well-being of the Earth is primary and that human well-being is derivative. Once again the universe will stand there before us as manifestation of the primordial wonder, the entrancing beauty, and the overwhelming mystery of Existence itself."
Thomas Berry
May 14, 2001

These words, written by internationally known speaker, author, and cultural historian Thomas Berry, opened the Earth Spirit Rising conference in Louisville, Kentucky this spring. Norine Cardea and I represented Heart of the Earth at this historic gathering. Over 1100 scientists, spiritual leaders, artists and environmental activists from all over the world came together for the purpose of exploring what Berry has termed the "Great Work"; that is, humanity's transition from a disruptive force on the earth to a benign presence. In his view, we must replace the Old Story with a New Story that re-establishes our connection to the unfolding universe

The Old Story

The ecological crisis of our time is something which can no longer be denied, and demands deep and lasting solutions. In order to reverse our destructive course, the will to change must come from within each of us. Nurturing and protecting the earth should come to us as naturally as nurturing and protecting our families and loved ones.

But our dominant cultural myth, the Old Story, says that we are separate from the natural world, and teaches us that nature is simply an object for our use. It has shaped our ideas, institutions and culture for thousands of years, and has led us to the environmental crisis we see today. This Old Story, has put our very survival at risk.

The New Story

"We are stardust, we are golden. And we've got to get ourselves back to the garden."
Joni Mitchell

We are told that the Universe flashed into existence some 15 billion years ago, and from this primordial fire was born time, space, and energy, the gifts of our existence.

"The light is everywhere and everything. Its heat is incredible - perhaps a trillion degrees centigrade at first. A heat such as this cannot be maintained for long. This ball of fire begins creating and filling space as it expands into the creation of the Universe. The heat is so intense that nothing can hold its shape. Each point in the universe is on fire. In this first second, there are no laws and nothing is permanent. Everywhere there is light bumping into itself, jostling, cracking its own particles out of existence only to draw others back in through some invisible line of primordial attraction.

As the Universe expands, space is created and for the first time there is room to create new forms and to bond together in the first enduring relationships. Shadows become possible. Light can dance. Particles of light, photons, emerge into being. The total number of particles declines at an incredible rate until only one billionth of the original matter remains. The rest have vanished forever. As space unfurls, energy begins to pack itself more and more tightly. Density gives shape to matter and gradually, mysteriously grows. When the Universe cools sufficiently, a single electron and proton can join to create hydrogen, the simplest and most abundant element in the Universe. Hydrogen is an energy that creates change and causes the Universe to adapt in new orderly patterns. Eventually, as hydrogen fuses with other nuclei, helium is formed.

A billion years later, the Universe continues to expand and cool. Now light can pass through and form completely new patterns. As the small bodies of helium grow, clouds are formed and billions of enormous structures, galaxies, come forth. Stars are born, live and die. Many of these stars die and cool slowly to become dark tombs. But the larger stars in their death throes explode, become supernovas, blasting out to the cosmos their precious gifts of selenium, boron, lithium, iron. Supernovas are the mothers of the Universe, creating in their wombs the elements of life. Birth, death and resurrection are the ancient themes of the Universe." (1)

We now know that, from one of these supernovas that exploded in our galaxy some five billion years ago, every element on the earth and in our bodies was created. In reality, the cells in our bodies contain the same elements that existed from the beginning of time. We are indeed cosmically connected to all of existence.

This is the message of the New Story. It is the story of the Universe and of the Earth, and of the evolution of humanity. It is our sacred story. Through the Universe Story, we can no longer deny our connection and oneness with all of life and all of creation. We must accept that what we do to planet Earth we do to ourselves. The environment is us and we are the environment. And if we accept this fact, then we can no longer continue to perpetuate the harm that we do to our planet from the worldview of separation. The New Story worldview demands that we treat the earth and all of its inhabitants as we treat ourselves. Because, in essence, all is us.

This is the power and potential of the New Story. It creates a new context for our connection to all of life, and provides us with a moral basis for action. It not only acts as a basis for promoting a profound respect between ourselves and the earth, but also offers us hope for a world that we would wish for future generations. As Thomas Berry puts it: "If the dynamics of the universe from the beginning shaped the course of the heavens, lighted the sun and formed the earth, if this same dynamism brought forth the continents and seas and atmosphere; if it awakened life in the primordial cell and then brought into being the unnumbered variety of living beings, and finally brought us into being and guided us safely through the turbulent centuries, there is reason to believe that this same guiding process is precisely what has awakened in us our present understanding of ourselves and our relation to this stupendous process. Sensitized to such guidance from the very structure and functioning of the universe, we can have confidence in the future that awaits the human venture."

(1) From The Cosmic Walk; Developed by Sister Miriam Therese McGillis http://forests.org/ric/deep-eco/cosmic.htm#Version two

Please join Heart of the Earth for an introductory session to learn more about a self-facilitated discussion course which explores DEEP ECOLOGY and other perspectives on our relationship with the earth. We will be using materials developed by the Northwest Earth Institute in Portland, Oregon.

Published in Alternatives Magazine, August, 2001.