Natural Beauty

Body and Soul

“...an en-souled body takes it's life from the world's body, as Ficino said, 'The world lives and breathes, and we can draw its spirit into us.' What we do to the world's body, we do to our own. We are not master's of this world, we participate in its life.”

                                  Thomas Moore (Care of the Soul)

I walked the north end of Jemison Park yesterday; a dirt and pebble path under an arbor of oaks, birches, sycamores, and dogwood, with Cahaba creek running along side. Even though it is in the middle of a busy crossroad, as soon as I stepped off the street and onto the dirt path, the sounds changed. The noise of traffic became muted; birdsong and squirrel chatter took its place. Herons peddled the creek bed and called to one another, a pair of hawks screed overhead, and the ubiquitous mocking birds and jays sang as though there was no tomorrow. Jemison is one of several precious green spaces that a cooperation among business, government and philanthropy preserved. It's the sort of thing that happens when people work together for the good of the whole—a novel concept in today's world.

I heard on the radio yesterday that a massive protest is underway in Istanbul over plans to cut down the trees in that city's very last green space to make way for—you guessed it—a shopping center. I wondered whether people there took a page from our playbook and chained themselves to those few remaining trees. I like to think that as we're moving beyond the industrial revolution, we will also move away from a mechanized view of the world and ourselves. Whatever we do to make money, we are still animals in need of a clean, safe habitat—as are the other creatures that have adapted to life among us. Machines are soulless; we are not. We draw our life's energy from that of the world around us. Look around you and ask yourself whether your environment is a good source of lifeblood. If it isn't, get on board with changing it.

The critical factor in preserving a healthy biosphere here on earth is raising awareness of our dependence on it. We must see ourselves as part of a whole earth, and not as masters of it, who can do whatever we please for as long as we want. As stewards, and for the good of our souls, we must embody the change we want to see.

                                       In the spirit,

                                          Jane