What if we did not separate ourselves from the natural world?

Good morning,
​Do you have your tea? I have some thing I hope you will take some time to read.

Are you freaked out by what is going on in the world? or numb? or angry? or sad? or just not sure what to do and if there is anything you can do?

I am. All of the above. 

There are big and scary things happening to our world because of the way we, humans, have lived on this earth. And how we continue to live on this earth.

Yes,  many of us are trying to do right.  We work to be good stewards, champions for the care of the natural world, activists in stopping global warming, and so many other heartfelt ways of trying to be in right relationship. We are inspired and nourished by soaking up the beauty and we want to give back.

But we also separate ourselves from the natural world, in the stories we tell, as if we are not built of the same stuff, as if we are not also part of the living skin of the earth.

​We have all sorts of ways that we see ourselves as better than, smarter, more important. Other animals and plants have a ton more ecological intelligence than we do and if we could get off our collective ego trip, we could learn a lot about living in right relationship to all things. 

We own the land very much like we used to own women or slaves, which gives us the right to use it as we see fit. Our mining practices, agribusiness practices, transportation practices, consumer practices and living environments are all devastating to the ecosystems of the natural world. When I look at it like this, I feel profoundly uncomfortable- knowing that I am in the class of oppressors.

I know it takes a lot to shift this way of understanding our place in the world. It takes humility and vulnerability, it takes a willingness to recognize the privilege that we have assumed, and acknowledge the harm we have done, both to the natural world and to the poorer human communities around the world who still suffer in service to our consumer needs. 

Making the shift takes being in the grief and finding ways to move forward with love, compassion and togetherness. 

One of the great skills that we have as humans is denial. We are able to live in a partial truth, in only the part that feels good to us, and ignore the parts that feel crappy as if they do not exist. It is this denial that makes continuing to live in the spoils of oppression possible. If we kept it front and center, we would not survive.

But there is a gnawing from underneath this partial awareness. Is that what causes depression and the internal imbalance that makes it so hard to take care of ourselves? That drives so many of us towards addictive behaviors and lascivious life styles? That fuels the capitalist machine and lines the pockets of the wealthy few? The gnawing creates a craving for anything that will muffle the pain of our own place in the oppressive and abusive reality of our cultural imbalance. 

The way out of the denial is to attend to our grief. This is not easy work. It is slow and iterative. We need to be in community and let ourselves feel the pain of it, register the loss, and hold ourselves and each other in compassion and love. In this way we can begin to heal and bring forth our will towards greater wholeness and healing.


​What would happen if we could really embrace the idea of being part of the ecosystems?

• Would we be able to take care of ourselves with more ease because we would be tapped into the same kind of deep knowing of how to live that it seems that all the creatures and plants have?
• Would we make decisions about how much and what to consume based not just on our own desires, but on an awareness of the balance of all things? 
• Would we have a greater sense of balance and health in our selves and our communities?
• Would the cancer of our consumer and capitalist greed stop growing?

I do not know the answers, and I have only just barely started to articulate the questions for myself. 

The thing that gives me hope is that there are so many people in so many fields who are asking similar questions and dreaming into how we might shift our paradigms, mindsets, ways of being. 

And as artists, we have such important roles to play in this process.

• We ask question,
• We bring awareness,
• We challenge assumptions,
• We envision possibilities,
• We express healing qualities of being,
• We engage paradox,
• We tap into the creative and collective unconscious to express the things that are at the edge of our own learning, growth and healing.

I do not know all the roles of the creatives, but I know that for me it begins with letting my animal body love what it loves as I feel into being part of the skin of the earth.  (thank you Mary Oliver for your Wild Geese poem!)

I want to invite you to my spring workshops so we can

• feel into the community of creatives who care
• tap into our connection with the earth and all living things
• realign ourselves with the good of the whole as part of the skin of the earth
• gain a sense of the value of each of our particular creative work
• relish in the diversity of our roles

Culturally the arts are often seen as frivolous, relegated to diversion, entertainment and decoration.

As artists we often struggle with an internalized judgment that says that we are not doing real work. Lets untangle those judgements and energize our focus with integrity, honesty and community!

Spring workshops 2025