↟☾↟
(note: this is part two of my little “children of the earth” series. To read part one, please take a look here)
a strange experience
I worked in the mall for only one time in my life, and I am not sure if I can bear the idea of ever doing so again. The time I spent working there was when I saw from first hand what exaggerated consumerism means. It was insane to see how much trash this store produced in only one hour, and suddenly I understood how the enormous isle of plastic in the ocean had become a very real thing. But the worst was to see that nobody seemed to be aware of this, and I bet if I had warned them about the consequences of their actions, they would have shrugged it off indifferently.
the situation
Like so many other self-proclaimed “Earth Warriors” I am watching the countless crimes humanity convicts against the planet. And also, I am watching so many of us feeling desperate. It seems like there are two types of people right now: The ones who deeply cherish and love nature – and the ones who just don’t seem to care. And it’s not only that mainly the latter keeps supporting these crimes by consuming the way they do – the thing is that by now, everybody should know what kind of consequences that has. And the others, well, they genuinely do not care.
To them, the living and breathing planet is basically non existent, something so easily forgotten in their industrial worlds of consumerism and luxury. We, on the other hand, tend to become desperate, because we identify so deeply with nature that watching these crimes hurts us as if we were the target. So many of us are trying to open people’s eyes so they will understand what they are doing. But neither logic nor catastrophic foreshadowing do any good. It’s like talking against a wall of stone.
questioning
But how is this possible? Why do some people care so much and so deeply about the planet while others manage to shrug it off so indifferently? And why, for some reason, do both parties not seem to be able to bridge the gap by understanding each other? Instead, “Earth Warriors” very often become moralizing and hateful towards the people who don’t think and feel the same as they do, and “normal” people tend to look down on what they judge to be ridiculous Hippies, feeling as if they are forced aggressively into something they do not want.
The result is that nobody ever listens to anyone, and that we do not get so much further with our desire to heal the planet. I firmly believe that in order to fulfill our dream for a peaceful Earth, it is crucial to find ways to understand and listen to each other. And it is on us, the “Earth Warriors”, to transform our mission and essentially become “Earth Healers”. The Earth doesn’t need any more aggressive fighting. The Earth doesn’t need any more antagonism, not even against the people who are harming her. So today I am here to help bridge the gap of misunderstanding.
but wait a minute
With that said, I need to make a firm distinction between something. When I say that we should stop fighting aggressively, I don’t mean that we should not take a stand against the crimes that are happening. Because that is important. What I am trying to get across is that we should stand up for the beauty we want to preserve, but from a different mindset. A mindset that will help us to make sense of the other peoples behaviour, an insight that will help us to let go of desperation, hate and spitefulness. One that will create compassion instead. Got it? Okay, then let’s move on.
answering
There is a wide population of people who do not love the planet. Their lives are centered around their jobs, their daily life and social media. They seem to live cut off from the mystic green, with no interest in it whatsoever. But what is the reason? What is lacking? I think the answer lies in a simple yet powerful concept:
connection.
The need for connection is a basic human need. It is crucial for our well-being and happiness. It is In connection with others that we explore ourself and find out who we are. Connection enables us to feel empathy for someone, because we learn to feel and see ourselves in them. If the other hurts, we feel empathy, and we feel their pain as if it was our own. Connection creates an understanding.
~So, in order to feel connected to the Planet, we need to have empathy for her – we need to understand and recognize ourselves in her, we need to feel that she is alive, that trees are alive, that animals feel pain and joy just like we do.~
the problem
But we live in a society where everything is explained from a purely materialistic standpoint. We are taught that there are no ethereal dimensions, that there is no soul, no unity, no original source/God that we came from. We are taught that we are biorobots, and that we are nothing more than our physical manifestation, the body. We learn to view everything else as flat, without emotion and, therefore, as unaccessable. We have been taught that animals have a primitive mind compared to ours and that the world of plants is nothing more than an anonymous sequence of chemical reactions. The outside world may look pretty, but to the average person in today’s world, behind the facade, there simply is nothing. So why bother?
an undiscovered land
How are you supposed to experience a connection with something that you have been denied access to? That you have been told to think less of? How can you feel love or empathy for a sequence of chemical reactions? How can you appreciate something that has been portrayed as unaware and stupid? We have become estranged from nature, and nature has become estranged from us. You may have heard once or twice that trees produce the oxygen we all need to live, and you may know that the plant world supplies us with food and cloth, but that creates a similar emotional reaction like the realization how your air conditioning works.
what goes beyond
~ To a normal person, an emotional connection with nature simply is not possible, because their ideology has told them that there is nothing behind the facade – and with that, no way to form a bond. The ability to really connect with nature needs a bigger amount of empathy, sensitivity, patience and quietness than the average human had time to develop in this generation.~
The average person has literally not learned to understand life beyond the structures of the system we live in, has never developed any traits or skills that help him connect with the natural, spiritual world. Concerning these facts, does it still surprise anyone that so many people don’t even flinch at the terrible pictures of animal abuse and polluted forests?
finding empathy with “the others”
The average person is taught to forget their soul and live meaningless lives in a materialistic illusion, trying to make it more exciting and comfortable by buying and consuming, trained to stay hypnotized and blind, a mere shadow of what they truly could be. And that is the exact same programming that we also went through at the beginning of our experience! Yes, we have been there, too!
Do you remember the time before you decided to never eat meat again? When you would go to a store and buy useless little things of plastic because you thought you needed them? When it was much more important to get the latest fashion collection because you weren’t aware that the resources for so many items must come from somewhere? And all of that even though there were people warning you about the consequences? Do you remember why the information didn’t sink in back then? And how did you feel? Can you now have empathy for the ones that are still at this point in their life?
compassion and understanding
If we want to change the world, if we want to help nature, we need people to wake up from the illusion that the world is purely materialistic, that there is no greater purpose and that their lives are meaningless. We need them to feel their hearts again, to feel the beauty of life inside and out. Again, I’m not saying we should stop sharing the information anymore, because there are some people who will start to question their own behaviour.
~But if we look at the wider population of humans who stumble hypnotized through the world, whose mind doesn’t even cross the idea of becoming more than a consumer, then we see that this is clearly not enough. And hating those people won’t get us anywhere.~
And while doing our work to preserve what is good and beautiful, we should have compassion. We should wish for every single human to wake up from their social conditioning and join us in our desire to heal ourselves and the Planet. I personally decided that I don’t want the others to be the “bad ones” that I can frown upon to feel more virtuous and important. I decided that I want everyone else to wake up and feel the wonders that I have woken up to. Because wouldn’t it be so much more beautiful if we could share the magic of this world with each other? I certainly think so.
What about you?
↟☾↟
And here you can find an artistic protest which portrays so strongly what I wanted to say about waking up from hypnosis. 1000 Gestalten. Watch this until the end.
Also, todays musical inspiration: The Constant by Mogli
If you want to share your thoughts on the subject, feel free to leave a comment below. I will read and answer them all.
Promised! <3