Imprinting Joy on the Earth

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We have inflicted a great deal of damage on the earth. The planet’s biosphere is the only one we know of that supports reflexively self-aware life forms. There may well be more, but for the moment this is it. 

Clearly we inter-are with the earth; we are made of the same elements. When we harm the planet, when we poison our environment, they harm and poison us in turn, along with every other species with which we share the biosphere.

This calls for mindfulness of consumption and of disposal. We send energy and support to our Mother Earth who sustains us each time we mindfully recycle, reuse and repurpose the material things we use. When we walk gently, in awareness of the contact between the soles of our feet and the earth, we can imagine ourselves imprinting happiness and healing upon it with each step. The act of walking mindfully -- to walk in full awareness of the fact that you’re walking -- confers a sense of being tethered to the earth as if by an invisible cord. It’s a powerful way to meditate. 

In Epicurean philosophy, the goals the practitioner seek are ataraxia (the tranquil, imperturbable mind) and aponia (freedom from anxiety and pain). This they do by distinguishing between necessary and unnecessary desires, adjusting their habits of craving, and taking positive energy from life’s natural pleasures in moderation. Like the Buddhist practitioner, the followers of this ancient ethical philosophy work to broaden the breadth of their awareness and widen their circles of compassion to encompass all conscious creatures; indeed, all sentient beings.

The earth wants to heal us, to reach us with the truths of nondiscrimination, impermanence and compassion. In order to receive these wise messages, we have to turn down the noise in our minds. A regular mindfulness meditation practice is one of the most effective tools at our disposal to achieve and sustain a receptive, tranquil and unfettered mind. Let’s walk gently on the earth, imprinting joy, happiness and peace with every step we take.

Stewardship or Dominion?

     Image from permaculture

It is an unfortunate truth that some people can't be happy if their ability to threaten or harm other conscious beings is in any way abridged. Of course, the notion that harm or threats of harm will make us happy is an illusion; what actually fulfills us as human beings is empowering and nurturing other beings-- both humans and other species.

Looking deeply, we see that causing harm to another conscious being is tantamount to harming ourselves.The Buddhist teachings on no-self, nondiscrimination and impermanence come to our aid here. As humans we are composed of nonhuman elements, just as dogs and cats are composed of non-dog-and-cat elements. All three species are made from their ancestors, the air, the water, their food and their environments generally. Remove any of those common elements, and they would cease to manifest as discrete beings. The boundary line between one conscious being and another is largely imaginary. We are all defined by interbeing: what benefits me also benefits you; what does you harm does the same to me.

In the Bible (still an authoritative text for some people), one translation has the deity giving humanity a mandate to exercise stewardship of nature, while another reads dominion over same. The former suggests working to protect natural habitats for other species; the other implies dominance and exploitation. Which of the two translations believers read and believe renders predictable outcomes in the ways they interact with the natural world. For us humanists, there has been copious, often brilliant, speculation among contemporary philosophers on this issue over the past several decades. One of them, Australian ethicist Peter Singer, has distinguished himself as a true champion of nonhuman animal species. His books Animal Liberation and Writings on an Ethical Life are well worth reading for anyone interested in the fascinating field of bioethics.

If we decide we have the inalienable right to mindlessly slaughter other species or render their natural habitats unlivable, we wreak real havoc not only on them but on humanity as well. Poison the environment, and the environment will poison you; it really is that simple. The way we choose to interact with the earth, the biosphere, and other species has profound implications for them and for us. Will we choose sustainability and responsible stewardship over reckless domination? The answer will largely determine how long the earth’s biosphere will remain habitable for us and the countless other species with which we share it.

Thoughts from a Meditation Cushion

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I’m a humanist who engages in a spiritual practice based on meditation, self-care and the compassionate nurture of human and other sentient beings. I was thinking earlier today after meditating about the ways humanistic philosophy and holistic spirituality complement one another. That in turn led to some other thoughts.

We've inherited the full range of emotions, thoughts and behaviors that our Paleolithic ancestors had. We have a well-developed prefrontal cortex that enables cognition, language and cooperation. We also have active adrenal glands that enabled our ancient ancestors to flee or fight in threatening circumstances. That can get us into trouble if we don’t evolve strategies for keeping the flow of adrenaline under control. (In my own practice, mindfulness meditation -- both sitting and walking -- is key in this context.) 

Because belonging to a tribe was key to survival in the ancestral environment, we still retain a powerful tribal instinct. That's why we square off so readily as groups: theist against atheist, conservative against liberal, and so on. When it comes to morality, we are actually much more "groupish" than we are selfish. We’re wired to deal with threats to the tribe quickly and efficiently. That explains the fact that we often feel compelled to step in and “set people straight” when we feel our group identity is being treated unfairly or mischaracterized.

The human moral code is a natural product of primate evolution; it comes from the same cooperative reciprocity observable in our closest cousins, the chimpanzee and the bonobo. Of course our cognitive advantage and creative potential have enabled us to go farther than they, both for better and for worse.

Humanism doesn't fail to account for the fact that all humans are torn between doing what's best for the collective and doing only what benefits themselves. That's what lies at the heart of human ethics in my view: are we in it for the good of all, or just looking for ways of bettering our own fortunes?

Ours is a fundamentally optimistic view of humanity despite its individual and collective failures. It's not a belief that human beings are essentially selfless or unflawed (a quick glance at history cures that fantasy), but it doesn’t take a gloomy, dim view of the species, either. We assert that our collective love, our ability to nurture conscious beings, and our creative cognition all have remarkable, perhaps largely untapped, potential.

Summer's End

And you find yourself on a deck in the midst of the Autumn chill, aware of things you’ve seen many times before, yet apprehending them now as if for the first time. Trees surround you; the specificity of their leaves and their growth patterns are a source of never-ending fascination. 

A natural soundtrack plays: the sound of the distant highway breathing dances with late afternoon birdsong, the trilling of insects. You look about and you realize you are in paradise. Both within and without, your bliss is endless. This is indeed a joyous time: the air is cold and crisp; the pale orb is on the rise as the brighter one descends, painting the sky a riot of pastels. 

This is the heart of mindfulness, you realize. There is no craving in this moment, no aversion, none of the tyranny of the urgent. Here, now, you are aware of your deep connection to every spiritual and physical ancestor that has led you to become the discrete conscious entity you are. Your chair is like a lotus flower, and you sit beautifully in it; there is no agenda to follow and no task to complete. 

Winter is on its way; woodsmoke and peace are in the air. You know there are those whose great wish is to turn the world into a charred shell of itself, but you smile in the realization that they have no chance against the innumerable enlightened spirits meditating in this moment. We are intent on creating a beautiful garden that nourishes life of every kind. It is our intention to liberate suffering sentient beings everywhere, to achieve and sustain deep enlightenment, to send waves of compassion further and further into the realms of conscious beings. Without distinction, we offer our benediction, a world of happiness and contentment for every sentient creature on the earth. 

Welcome to a time of deep mindfulness of the fall of the year. It is Samhain, the summer’s end.