Questions
and Answers
“Sometimes,
when a bird cries out,
or the
wind sweeps through a tree,
or a dog
howls in a far-off farm,
I hold
still and listen a long time.
My world
turns and goes back to the place
where, a
thousand forgotten years ago,
the bird
and the blowing wind
were like
me, and were my brothers.
My soul
turns into a tree,
and an
animal, and a cloud bank
then
changed and odd it comes home
and asks
me questions. What should I reply?”
Hermann
Hesse (Earth Prayers, The Ecological Self, p.7)
My heart is touched when
it comes to the animals in our world today—especially those in Australia who are being decimated by wild fires. The estimate is a
billion creatures at this point. Americans are finding ways to
help those who are valiantly attempting to rescue and rehabilitate
everything from kangaroos and koalas to nesting birds. I saw a post
on Facebook yesterday asking knitters and crocheters to make nests
for the birds and line them with soft cotton. And, there are so many
species that cannot be rescued—ones we don't find appealing,
like snakes, spiders and amphibians—that will simply be lost. It's
heartbreaking.
The human toll is also devastating in these fires. Homes lost, lives forever
changed. It's interesting to me, however, that we respond from our
hearts more to the animals than to the humans. Perhaps that is
because we, like Hermann Hesse, remember a time when we were like
them—innocent, and vulnerable to the whims of nature. It would be a
trace memory, of course—thousands of years and generations ago,
when we were more in touch with the wild in us. When we knew at our core that
nature had the upper hand here on earth and therefore deserved our respect.
The entire state of
Alabama is under a tornado watch today. We are battened down in
preparation for severe weather. Shelters are open for people who need
them. Outside my window, I watch fast-moving clouds sprinting across a glowering gray sky, driven by the strengthening winds of an over-heated
earth. It's sixty-eight degrees at seven o'clock in the morning in
January. I am reminded that Mother Nature is still in charge here. As
she is everywhere. Our souls are asking us questions. How should we
reply?
In the Spirit,
Jane
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