Soul
Work
“Every
moment and every event of every man's life on earth plants something
in his soul.” Thomas Merton
I
met my friends, Dottie and Anna, for lunch one day last week. We had
business to conduct, but we also had time to catch up. We are always
hungry to talk about things that rarely come up in other social
settings. This day, we began speaking about the polarities that exist
in the world today. We, as a species, are more polarized than we have
been at any point in my lifetime. We have extremes in
everything—politics, religion, society, ecology—and very little
middle ground. We take one side and defend against all notions that
might persuade us there is another point of view. It's a hard-edged
place to be, hostile and difficult to maneuver through.
One
of the conclusions we came to in our conversation was that as we have
moved away from rural areas and into the cities, we have become less
and less connected to the earth, and to the earth's soul. When I was
growing up, my mother and grandmother made our clothes. They grew and
cooked or preserved much of our food. Their hands and minds were
involved in creative work, in my case, out of necessity. Today,
instead of that, people shop for everything. There's an unconscious
detachment between what we eat and where it came from, or even how
to prepare it. We are willing to turn our eyes away from difficult
working conditions in other countries so that our clothing is
inexpensive. All of these things have created a culture of excess and
disconnection.
I
am encouraged by the Slow Movement, and by the recent reports that
show we must change our way of life, now rather than later, if we
want to continue to live as we do on this planet. It goes without
saying that we must create less trash, recycle and reuse. Another way
of contributing to change is to do more ourselves, instead of
simply hiring it out or buying it. Do things that put us into contact
with the earth. Even if we live in a city, we can grow tomatoes or
strawberries in a pot on the porch. Learn to cook. There is something about the
creative process that connects one to one's own soul, and to that of
the earth. These things seem small, but every positive action we take
makes a difference.
In
the Spirit,
Jane
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