Wishing You a Contemplative Earth Week

How are we recognizing Earth Week this year?

A US Senator from my home state of Wisconsin organized the first Earth Day, in April, 1970. Rallies took place across the country to raise awareness about environmental issues. The US government had established the Environmental Protection Agency by the end of that year.

The efforts and concerns which sparked the first Earth Day spread around the world. Volunteer and organizing opportunities grew to encompass the week leading up to Earth Day, April 22.

Now, after more than 50 years, people around the world share a passion for facing the planet’s challenges. There are ways for each of us to be involved during Earth Week no matter where we live.

We share a commitment to the place we call home.

Everything we, and everyone we know, has ever tasted or smelled came from it. Every vehicle, every computer, and every phone ever made was made of part of it.

Our own bodies come from it, and to it they shall return. We depend on the planet’s air, water, and other resources to stay alive.

Everything we have ever discarded returns to it.

It is our home planet. We were born here and almost all of us have lived our entire lives here. It is familiar, it is everything we know.

Some of us do not think of the Earth as spiritual, but as its opposite. They see a dichotomy between either earthly or sacred. We need to look more deeply to see the balance, the unity, the spiritual life of the earth.

The Spiritual Life of the Earth

It begins with breathing. Breathing is the earliest form, the first step, of meditation and reflection. When we get carried away with everything else, we pause to remember to breathe.

We forget, and the earth draws us back and takes our breath away. The trees, the sky, the plants which cover our planet fill us with life. We breathe in all the aromas of life, even spiritual life. Not merely the smells of candles or incense, but all the flavors of spiritual life. The smell of freshly turned soil or recently mown grass, certain flowers or a new book.

We may find spiritual life in the smells of our favorite foods or baking bread. The smoke of a campfire or cold, fresh air. The way the ocean smells, or the people we love the most.

We breathe in the spiritual life of earth, then breathe out the same life. It surrounds us and fills us. We become immersed in the spiritual life of earth and forget, because it pervades our experience.

Praying for Our Home

We pray for the earth. Some of us pray with words and some pray beyond words.

It may seem somewhat selfish for us to pray for the earth since we are so completely dependent on it. We pray it will be sustained and continue to sustain us. Many of us pray for and in the sacred places with which the earth is filled.

We may pray for rain, or for safety in storms. Some of us stand in awe of the beauty we find on the earth. Many of us pray with our feet and our bodies as well as with our hearts and minds. Our walking prayers take us from person to person and place to place.

We pray for the earth with our eyes opened in new ways.

There are times when we ned to pray for forgiveness. We see how we have torn and injured the earth seeking resources we could sell. Some of us experience the devastating ways the earth feels conflict and combat, and we pray.

We confess and plead. We intercede and express our awe and delight. The whole earth is in our prayers.

Putting Spiritual Life Into Practice

Our relationship to the earth is full of mutual respect and protection.

Its atmosphere protects us from radiation and other extreme conditions around us. It nurtures and strengthens us, teaching us what we need to know. Like a loving parent, it feeds us and gives us shelter, fresh air, and clean water.

It is our haven in the universe, our home.

We, in turn, protect the earth. Like people for generations before us, we work to protect its beauty and its balance. We take responsibility for defending the trees, the water, the air, and the other sacred places. When necessary, we take action to prevent the destruction of its diversity and power. We care for the earth so the generations coming after us will see wilderness with their own eyes.

It has been good to us, and we want to be good to it in return.

We are each drawn into our own ways of practicing its spiritual life.

Some people change the way they buy and eat food, while others begin to grow their own. There are people who recycle very intentionally. Others focus on buying less. We may be drawn to change public policy, or help other individuals and families change their habits. There are people who drive less and people who go on road trips to national parks. The diversity of our practice reflects the diversity of our planet. We are all on it together.

Our unique actions are not as essential as the fact we all put our values into practice. None of us can do everything, but we can each do something.

Contemplation on the Earth

One way we can celebrate a contemplative Earth Week is choosing some time to spend with our planet this week.

We do not need to travel great distance or spend a large amount of money to contemplate our planet this week. All we need is to take a walk, or visit a park, or look closely at a tree or a flower.

None of us would be here without our home planet.

How will we celebrate a contemplative Earth Week today?

When will we take the opportunity to spend some time with our planet this week?

[Image by Bluedharma]

Greg Richardson is a spiritual director in Southern California. He is a recovering assistant district attorney and associate university professor, and is a lay Oblate with New Camaldoli Hermitage near Big Sur, California. Greg’s email address is StrategicMonk@gmail.com.