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Aug 26, 2013
"People have traditionally turned to ritual to help them frame and acknowledge and ultimately even find joy in just such a paradox of being human -- in the fact that so much of what we desire for our happiness and need for our survival comes at a heavy cost." --Michael Pollan
Rituals for Wastelands
"We shut ourselves away from wounded places, psychologically, emotionally, and communally, but there is a better way to heal ourselves and our world." As earth-bound beings, when we witness the destruction of the natural environment, we find the darker parts of our humanity staring back at us. How do we heal our relationship with the land and with ourselves when such destruction can be so difficult to look at? In this article, Trebbe Johnson offers that the creation of "rituals" may serve as a path to reconciliation, awareness and action. As she says, "We cannot know the effect a ritual will have -- who will be moved to which acts, how the land will change. That is part of the beauty and power of ritual: we do it because we must. We do it out of love."
BE THE CHANGE
What natural place had importance to you growing up? If you're close enough, pay a visit and pay it forward with some gratitude to all the beings in the area. If you're far away, hold that place in your thoughts and send positive wishes out to the natural world.
