Earthfire Institute Mission
Deep Ecology, Ethics & Whole Community | June 23, 2010
A video short capturing the mission of Earthfire Institute.
http://www.vimeo.com/3375403Mr. President: The Gulf Tragedy Bigger Picture
Blog, Deep Ecology, Ethics & Whole Community | May 28, 2010
The gulf disaster is tragic. It is hard to grasp all the individual tragedies that go into such a large one…of course the people – our sympathy goes there naturally and easily. But each oil smothered or poisoned or starving bird, dolphin, tortoise is another suffering individual. As we focus on the stress on humans who are losing their livelihood, we should also focus on animals losing their lives, their mates, their babies. We just don’t see as much of that, as the cameras go where the people are. But out of sight, out of mind doesn’t erase the suffering.
I hear the President has asked for a “Listening Tour” of environmental organizations where higher-ups will travel around the country to hear environmentalists talk about how to connect children to nature. Part of that is helping them understand that we need to see, and value, each animal as an individual being with its own passion to live, its own griefs and tragedies that are vividly felt and also count. They are not just a “representative” of a species that we have to save - they are individuals in their own right.
If we truly enlarge our sense of community to include all living beings, and then treat them as members, that single shift in perspective would change many things, solve many “problems” that are a result of seeing only humans as individual beings. I would give a lot to be able to get that perspective across to the President in some emotionally impactful way. It is so easy to get lost in human politics and the need to save humans – but that will not do it. We need to understand that it is not just clean water and clean air…if we don’t learn to come from a place that values all life, we will not thrive in the end anyway because we won’t be attending respectfully to our place in the web of life and that respect is what will save us.
Sensing Life
Animal Tales, Blog | May 28, 2010
Four feet above my head in my writing cabin, on the top sill of the window, a thrush has built her nest in an impossibly tiny shelf. I know she is there. I see her flying up to complete another artistic piece in the nest; I see her flying up after getting herself a bite to eat before she sits again on her precious new life forming inside her eggs. Her mate is always around on one tree or another guarding, chasing away the egg- stealing magpies, aggressive and twice his size. But it is interesting – unless I physically see her she is out of my mind, even as she sits, life growing, 4 feet from me. It is a human and cultural phenomena that things are only “real” and “in existence’ (for us, not for animals) when they are in front of our eyes. There is a burgeoning new field of subtle energies, those not immediately detected by our five senses. A field developing as society slowly digests the implications of Einstein’s work and the continuing new discoveries in physics about how we are all connected; how we are all basically energy beings; energy slowed down enough that it becomes solid, at least to appearances. And I think about sitting in my cabin working on sensing the intense excitement and wondrous life energy that is going just above my head; tuning to it without being able to physically”see” it. It is a richly rewarding effort with the hint of the possibility of infinite expansion of feeling and learning the magic that is around us in nature.
Thank You Flies!
Animal Tales | May 13, 2010
I sit in the warm April sun listening to the magpies, killdeer, robins, ravens, sparrows, blackbirds – to the chittering of the ground squirrels as they run about looking for the very, very, very juiciest blades of young grass. To the call of the geese and sandhill cranes in the distance. To the lazy buzz of flies.
Flies! Food for the birds! Last week there was a blizzard and we worried how they would live in a snow-covered landscape.
Today they fill their bellies as they flit about preparing nests, putting on weight for the siege to come of outrageously demanding babies.
Juicy, Plump and Effervescent
Animal Tales, Blog | May 12, 2010
The ground squirrels are out!
They suddenly moved in about three years ago and apparently found it to their liking because we have several colonies now. There goes all hope of a garden – either they eat the plants above the ground or cut the roots below.
But they are so vibrantly enjoying life!! A fair exchange. I get the pleasure of seeing dozens of plump, furry, effervescent little creatures scurrying about all worked up about Sun! Warmth! Soft Earth for Digging! Fresh Juicy Grass! Babies!
They are only out for a few months before they go back underground in late summer and so far the hollyhocks and lavender have survived.
Perhaps there are more plants I can find that will resist the onslaught. But forget the lettuce …
Did you know that they have their own language?
Energy Healing Wolf
Animal Story, Blog, Earthfire Stories, Wolves | April 27, 2010
Watch this video of amazing healing sessions between humans and a resident wolf with a neurological disorder. One of many interactions at Earthfire Institute that deepens our understanding and connection with wildlife.
A Wildlife Communities Tree
Blog, Deep Ecology, Ethics & Whole Community | April 22, 2010
I look out at the tall pine tree we planted at the corner of the office cabin, struck by all the movement around it. It stands by itself but is rarely alone, being visited constantly by birds. This time of year in particular it is like a way station, filled with comings and goings; with excited twitterings and meetings and courtings and arguments.
It wasn’t going to live. The tap root had been broken. That’s what two tree specialists told us when we asked why it had been cast aside. But seeing it lying there still alive was hard to bear. We got a truck and people to help load it; took it home; dug a hole; tucked it in firmly and cozily; watered it well. Then we braced it against the winter winds until it could stand on its own. It is now a handsome 20 foot tree. Warmed and nourished by the morning suns it is tipped with inches of soft green growth each spring.
I wonder why it is so extraordinarily full of birds. There are practical explanations of course, all probably true. But maybe there’s more. Does it call the birds…”Come visit?” Or do the birds decide to visit it, in a neighborly fashion?
Perhaps there is more poetry in nature and life than the sometimes dreary pragmatic biological explanations. There must be magic because the fact of life itself is magic. Maybe trees enjoy having life come and visit them, they who cannot move. We enjoy the companionship of other life forms – pets, houseplants. Why shouldn’t we accord that possibility to trees? Who says the birds aren’t coming to visits, bringing vitality and friendliness and news? Especially to one that stands alone, without a forest of companions around it.
Wildlife as a Whole
Deep Ecology, Ethics & Whole Community, Earthfire Stories | April 21, 2010
Tashi Wangchuck and David Shlim talk about the “Earthfire Experience”, where one sees wildlife as whole beings rather than just fearful or aggressive creatures.
Changing Perception
Earthfire Stories, Seen Thru New Eyes, Wellness & Spirtuality | April 20, 2010
Phakchok Rinpoche visited Earthfire Institute in October 2009. The visit changed his perception of wildlife as he met some of Earthfire’s residents and saw them as individuals.
Gaia, Dreaming the Earth
Blog, Deep Ecology, Ethics & Whole Community | April 7, 2010
The first step to changing things is to have a dream.
Every Sunday afternoon a group of us meditate at the yurt to do that – dream about how we can bring
the animals’ voices to humans and find a better way for all of us to live together. We usually have Bluebell the buffalo, at the foot of the stairs,
MacDougal the clydesdale and Foffy the mustang running past the window, and Windsong the Elder Wolf inside with us.
Kris spoke into the silence, of a reverie she sometimes has. What would things be like if we lived on another planet where all life was respected;
where animals were treated well; trees revered, and people were kind to each other. How would that play out in day-to-day life? How would
things work; be different? We began imagining then what it might it be like on earth.
Would you join us with your ideas, dreams, pieces of dreams, writings you like? Would you join our meditation circle from afar.
The first step to changing things is to have a dream.
Muskwa-Ketchika wilderness by Wayne Sawchuck
Every Sunday afternoon a group of us meditate at the yurt to do just that — dream about how we can bring the animals’ voices to humans and find a better way for all of us to live together. We usually have Bluebell the buffalo at the foot of the stairs, MacDougal the Clydesdale and Foffy the mustang running past the window, and Windsong the Elder Wolf inside with us.
Kris spoke into the silence, of a reverie she sometimes has. What would things be like if we lived on another planet where all life was respected; where animals were treated well; trees revered, and people were kind to each other? How would that play out in daily life? We began imagining then what it might it be like on our planet if we built in harmony with the land; if subdivisions were almost invisible. If there was a different way of looking at things. If all life was celebrated and people would WANT to protect all living things instead of having to be convinced to. We would like to develop a full Dream of the Earth.
Would you join us with your ideas, dreams, pieces of dreams, writings you like?
Would you join our meditation circle from afar?
Penelope Smith Retreat Comments
Hay House Radio Interview
