The following thoughts surfaced as Arrow and I hiked along a country canal this morning, in glorious 85 degree sunshine, and stood on a small dam listening to the water cascade.
The things we make and interact with—money, vehicles, furniture—are not alive in the sense that plants, animals and humans are alive. We give so much time to these “inanimate” objects while lessening or even loosing our connections to living things.
Children that play outside with nature, interacting with the grass, plants, and animals are learning about life with living things: the living universe. Can these lessons be learned by kids who play mainly inside with plastic toys? Watching nature shows on tv is still a far cry from having hands on experience. It seems to me all the best lessons of life come from come from the give and take of life itself.
Ancient man held an intimate relationship with not only plants and animals, but also with the more subtle energies such as the weather, the earth, and the energies from the universe itself. He recognized the active interconnectedness of all life. In our growing preoccupation with organized religion, politics, and industrialization, we left our ancient heritage to embrace inanimate things.
Yet inside our hearts we remember. Perhaps we are ready to reclaim these ancient connections, and honor ourselves as well as the universe that has cradled us for so long.