Evolving Planetary Consciousness

Metapsychosis journal
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Although I might have titled this, Evolving Human Consciousness, I decided to go for the vaster concept. My sense is that in order for human consciousness to evolve, the most productive way for this to happen is for us, for people, to develop a greater sense of planetary consciousness. In short, we are part of the planet, and part of its evolution. So I’ve been engaging in what I consider telepathic conversations with the planet. In fact, this has been going on for years, and I now feel as though I am friends with Terra Gaia, the name I have given, in my own thoughts, to the spirit of the Earth. In many dreams over the years, I have moved in spirit far out in space, and looked at our planet from a distance. So even if Terra Gaia is so much greater than I am, I still have a sense of friendship with her.

What do we talk about? Is anyone curious? For the most part, these conversations happen when I am out in nature somewhere, admiring the beauty, and most of what I think/say is thank you, and how much I appreciate all I sense. Honoring the spirit of the mountains, the clouds, the desert, the beach… it’s a beginning. Confession time. I’ve been a tree worshipper for many years. There’s something about trees that is so sacred to me. It’s almost as though the trees are a way of communicating with the earth. And they’re pretty much everywhere, even in the Sonora desert where I’m presently living.

So I have this sense of Terra Gaia as a friend, a mother, a part of me as much as any lover could possibly be. She breathes through me, she breathes through the trees. And when I am in distress, I turn to her. I call on her as the Goddess who gives meaning to everything I experience.

My capacity for love has expanded greatly through opening my heart to Terra Gaia. It leads me out of despair, and the blessings that I experience from this wonderful friendship are too many to list. I consider the evolution of planetary consciousness demands a spiritual journey for each of us far greater than most of us have attempted so far. However, it’salways possible, and it gives me reverence for each and every person who may take this journey in their lifetime, and add their experience, their evolved beingness, to this unified field of energy that connects us with each other, with all living beings, and with our planet.

This perspective, I believe, gives meaning to every life. If we are embarked on an evolutionary path of consciousness, whatever happens contributes to this. If we can shift our consciousness to encompass this greater sense of ourselves as part of the planet, it will change our reality more drastically than any political or social movement. We are part of the planet’s evolution, of the evolution of consciousness itself. The seeds of greatness lie dormant in each of us.

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Hello Ariel, thanks for sharing this. I feel sympathetic with your ecological perspective. So often, I feel alienated from Terra Gaia—especially living as I do in small city, working in front of screens of various sizes most of the time. There is a great hunger (in me—and I think general) for communion with the natural world. As close as she is—as close as our breath—she seems so far away, so often! The vastness and solitude of the desert has its own peculiar intimacy…its own voices and language, as you evoke so well…that many of us lack (and hear not) in our urban existence.

I’m curious what you think of technology and how it relates to nature. It seems “planetary consciousness,” between humans at least, requires a vast technological infrastructure. Do you think an ecologically harmonious technological world is possible? Can we let the wild be wild, cultivating a mystical relationship with the natural world, at the same time that we network our minds technologically?

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Try Jennifer Morgan’s Trilogy! Deeptime Journey network. She writes in the voice of the Universe!

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I resonate in every way to this declaration. When I was almost destroyed I was quite literally nursed back to sanity by a tree, a particular copper beech in whose enfolding arms I spent long nights. I do believe that trees are the single embodiment of what love is, endlessly giving, endlessly rejuvenating, asking nothing, and in that sense Terra Gaia is manifest for undeserving humanity. Think what wood produces from mine shafts to violins! The tree of life is not a metaphor.

I also believe that consciousness is finding porous recipients to its nature. There is evidence everywhere, from the hunger for spiritual certainty, the sexual ambiguity of gender ( memory of past lives?) as well as the bestial resistance to surrender by those with vested interests in partial reality whether corporate business, or Jihadis- two sides of the same coin. We are all being pulled into the flow of Gaia’s increasing demands for saving what our intellectual arrogance threatens. Every call to consider is important.

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Madrush,

My experience has been that there is no dichotomy between technology and nature. I love both! I think the Internet is magic, maybe not quite the same as earth magic, but quite magical all the same. How else would we have come to interact with each other in this forum?

I have copied in a paeon to the Internet which I wrote and posted on my Facebook yesterday, but first, before you read it, I would like to address your alienation to nature.

It is time for you to adopt a tree. Choose a tree that you see every day. Choose your favorite one. Whenever you get a chance, notice that tree, the shape of its leaves, the shape of the tree, the texture of its bark, and its flowers, fruit, or nuts by season.

Take photos of the tree at different times of the year. Stand under it and see what the tree sees. Breathe with the tree. Look up into it. Calculate its height.

Imagine its roots. Meditate on this tree, and go down into the roots, and imagine the life of the tree under ground. Go up into its branches to the very top, and feel the wind. Be the tree, and see what happens.

Then tell me after a year of communing with your favorite tree, if you have any feelings of alienation remaining, and I will give you another exercise, if necessary.

Every once in a while, I am overwhelmed with gratitude for the Internet, especially now that I have a really great Internet connection. I love the way it allows me to communicate so freely with so many people through Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, Youtube, Gmail, Slack, and various forums.

I enjoy being able to research information, which was a major passion of mine even before the Internet. I used to indulge this interest in libraries.

I really like Youtube as a way to listen to music from all over the world, and especially to see performances from the 60’s of music that I only knew by listening to the radio. I also enjoy watching old movies. And lately, I’ve been getting into watching different kinds of dancing. I’m even considering offering a 60’s dance class.

From time to time, I’ve used the Internet to study other languages. (I can count to 10 in a dozen languages… it’s a wonderful parlor game with other people while traveling on a bus or train.) And I’ve used Skype to teach English to private students.

And, I enjoy viewing art and photography, which abounds on the Internet. How exciting it all is, the opportunities for exploring and learning, entertainment, communication, all of it so wonderfully at our fingertips. What a marvelous technology for all of us.

When I was in my twenties, naively I believed, if we could just talk to each other freely in different countries, if it were free or cheap, than we could enjoy world peace. Well, just talking to each other is not enough, obviously.

Now we have this awesome technology that makes so much possible, but it seems as though we are stuck in this horrible reality, where our differences are being exploited to separate us, and create more and more warfare all the time.

I want to see us celebrate our differences as so many ways of being that we can readily borrow from each other. If the only culture you know is the one that you were born in, then you’ll never learn how much we can really experiment with how we do things. You’ll just think this is the way it’s done, whether it’s how to cook rice or conserve resources, and it won’t even occur to you that there might be another perspective, another way to do something.

Humanity must evolve, otherwise we will perish as a race. I am convinced of that. We are presently despoiling our planet at an ever increasing rate. We must evolve more complex, more responsive systems of caring for each other, of sharing what we have, of making decisions, of education, trade and manufacturing, of government and how we structure our societies.

We must come together in stewardship of our planet, of planning for future generations. We must open our hearts and learn to love more. We must choose love over fear because then we stand in our power and can not be manipulated. Only through loving can we overcome fear; only through loving can we evolve; only through loving can we move out of the mess we’re in.

If we are not putting our attention to these matters, we are wasting our time on trivialities.

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Thank you for the suggestion. I am always opening to guidance in my reading selections, as I am a voracious reader and always have been. I look forward to reading the voice of the universe.

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Philippa,
What a delight to read your message. It is so wonderful to have someone read something that I have written, and resonate with it so fully. Thank you for sharing your healing with the copper beech tree. As I am now fighting for my life with cancer, it is a good reminder to find a healing tree to work with. I like the way you phrase things, and appreciate your level of awareness. How happy I am to have found you here!

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The titles are Born with a Bang, From Lava to Life, Mammals who Morph. Beautifully told and with excellent illustration as well as scientific factuality. Have fun reading and sharing! Sending good vibes for your day!

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Thank you for your clear instruction and perspectives, Ariel!

I have decided on a tree to adopt.

It is an apple tree my wife @kayla planted next to the compost pile, outside my studio.

It’s a young tree, 2 or 3 years old, but it survived an early frost which killed off the plum tree next to it.

It’s given a few apples; it’s not yet much bigger than me.

It will be a good tree to meditate on because I pee in the compost pile and so I’ll see it every time I’m out back and have to pee.

(I’ve read, somewhere on the Internet, that pee is good for compost, fwiw :frog:)

In any event, it sounds like a great practice and I will let you know how it goes.

Thanks for your thoughts on technology. Like many, I suppose, I feel conflicted about it—for good reasons, I know—but it’s helpful and refreshing to be reminded of the magic and wonder of it, and I, too, feel that technology and nature don’t have to be in conflict, necessarily.

It’s really we who are in conflict, after all, and even that, in some sense, is only “in our minds.”

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I’ve found listening to trees a great exercise and an invaluable experience. I can engage in conversations with Birches. And Juniper bushes. They’re very different and not all of them are interested in talking. They’ve clued me in on a lot of things.

They understand more than most people would think. They’re very slow though, their responding saying “hello” back to me, takes quite a long time.

That said, I usually find it relaxing to slow myself down.

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Tolkien’s ‘Ents’? Slow talking, long memories. This seems an appropriate discussion in which to mention the completion of a new novella. A sort of modern myth of healing. If anyone would like to read ‘Acer’ and offer a critique let me know.

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