connection

In my studies over the years, I’ve been so lucky to work with different people, different traditions, indigenous histories and spiritual points of view. I’m preparing now fo a trip to Peru to study with the Q’ero people. I’ve been reading about them, their history and ritual ceremonies.

Their connection to the earth, to nature and to the cosmos feels so familiar to me. I’ve always loved the time I spent cradled in the arms of the big willow trees by the lake where I grew up. I’ve always carried a stone or two home from my adventures as a child and still today. My favorite tree has helped me thru many challenging times. There is such beauty, variety and strength in nature. I’ve always felt like I fit there… like I belong.

On a recent hike, a revelation (to me) arrived. It is our connection to nature and to all beings isbeing  love. It is our path to building or helping Mother Earth birth a new world. This connection to the trees, birds, stones, stars and the moon have always been easy for me. I find my comfort, peace and connection to wisdom on long hikes in the woods.

The big thought that came on my hike is that as a society, especially in the modern West, we aren’t encouraged to connect to the earth as a whole, as one… to feel that connection. Instead, our society hands us a goal of finding the one, one person to love. “Find a mate and raise a family” means love and security to many. Yet putting our faith in another, flawed little human is fraught with challenges, as many of us know. We’re all those little, flawed humans. We fall, we wander , we fail one another. If the one you’ve placed all your hope, all your future in, fails you, then were do you turn? You feel alone or that you have somehow failed, perhaps.

It is said (read this story in a book by Elizabeth B Jenkins, who has worked extensively with this tribe) that a Q’ero traveler noticed in the airport that people he saw there walk thru the world with no connection to one another or to the earth. This connective energy is something they can sense. This astute observer felt that aloneness and thought it sad that we wander thru our world not knowing that it loves us.

Our world fears others. We are raised to be careful of strangers. I often don’t tell people when I’m traveling because they feel free to voice their fears, “Oh, be careful,” “I’d be terrified to do that” “ I’ll be worried sick about you.” We walk thru life, expecting bad from the world out there because… because we don’t know it as family. We walk in fear, rather than love.

I am dedicating the album of music/sound healing that I’m working on, to the idea that we must find our connection to the One, to the All. If you are a religious person, you may feel that I’m talking about a connection to god, and perhaps you’re right. If your god is within you, in the trees, the flowers, the ocean, then yes, that is connection. But if you feel god is far away and you must call to him/her for help, plead for love and approval then that doesn’t feel like connection to me.

Try walking outside today. Take those shoes and socks off (at least in the northern hemisphere where it’s summer) and take a deep breath. Allow your attention to drift down from your busy brain to your heart Imagine you can breathe this world right into your heart, and when you exhale, imagine you can shine out love.

Keep breathing and allow your attention to move to your feel and the rich earth supporting you. This Earth is a provider of our basic needs- food, shelter, storage of water and so much more. All this provision for all the people of the world, all the beings, all the energy. Try visualize the Earth as a being… she is alive. Many indigenous peoples know the Earth as a being who provides, who loves and nurtures… Mother Earth.

Then turn your attention to the sky above and breathe in the light of the sun (or the moon.) What is above? Light, air, wind, weather, space, the sun and moon and for some, a more spiritual realm. Above might be god or spirits of our ancestors, there to love and guide us too. Some people I’ve studied with call the sky Father, watching over us.

If you can imagine an energetic or spiritual Mother below and a spiritual Father above, what are they and all that’s in between? To me, that’s the One The mother is part of me, the father is part of me as is our planet, the trees, all the people, animals, rocks, fishes and bugs. The earth is alive, the wind and light, the water- all alive. If you can just stretch your imagination enough, you might begin getting a glimpse at my sense of Connection. All the beings who dwell here are family with me. I wish to feel a connection, a love for them. They may be different than me in some ways. They may not view me as family but in their spirit, they know. Until the minds catch up with the spirit, I’m going to love them all anyway.

Perhaps when we grasp that the earth isn’t a thing to take from,  the ocean isn’t a resource we can harvest from with no regard for its wellness, then we might begin sensing connection. All that is here for us is  in relationship to us. Our planet isn’t a closet of goodies for us to raid as we wish. Instead, the Earth is a being. I and all others are part of its aliveness, being-ness, value. We are individual beings but in our hearts, we are part of the one.

When that connection is felt, understood and honored, then perhaps when our human mates fail us, we don’t have to feel so lost, so alone. I hope then we begin to see the emptiness of valuing money and things over all the beings of our world. Wr feel alone and insecure, so we pile money and stuff around us as some sort of protection. But there’s no connection there, no love. All people should know real love, unshakeable love and with a deep connection to all you can give and receive that energy.

I will try to care, provide, honor all the beings of our world. To me, this is much less risky and infinitely fuller than wandering along thru this life looking for Mr or Ms Right. Finding a mate is lovely but solo or in pairs, we are all still connected. We can all still be love.

So breathe deep of this world. Dig your toes into the soil and lift your heart to the heavens. See other beings in love whether you speak their language or not. Gaze into the deep eyes of an animal or caress the stone that caught your eye on a hike. Realize we are all connected. We have always been connected. In that connection, is power, love and a future for us all.

❤️
suni