We are the sum of our ancestors
Our roots stretch back to blue-green algae
They stretch to the stars
They ultimately reach the void
This history is inscribed in our psyches
Silence and solitude enjoin us to remember
Our whole and great body.
~ Joan Halifax
Listen to the audio…
Our whole and great body. The sum of everything that has existed is within us, each of us and every one of us.
We cannot escape this earth. She is our home, our mother, our world. No matter how hard we try to escape, with thoughts of heaven, realms of light, any place other than here, this place is we are born, it is where we live out our lives, and it is where we will die. Our bodies are made up of her. The food we eat comes from her. Our lives are spent here on her. No matter how smart we think we are, how much we believe we can control her forces, or how much we attempt to destroy her, she remains our generous mother.
Roots that stretch deep down into the humus, the incredibly rich, humus, deep earth of the ages… all the way through the center of the earth to the stars, to the void of creation.
Perhaps the way to the stars is not by escaping earth in rocket ships of metal technology…perhaps the way to the stars is through this deep rich humus, the matter that is this human earthly existence. How different is our earth from the stars? Our flesh is made of stardust. Our bones are ancient sacred sites. Our blood is liquid light.
Perhaps it is only by becoming fully human that we find the place of wholeness, the place of everything, where starlight infuses flesh, and love for everything embraces our fears. If we become quiet enough, and maybe even alone enough, we finally settle into our bones, into the depth of gravity that allows us to understand that we are part of something so much greater than our fear of ourselves…and each other.
Do we dare open our arms and hearts wider when there is so much violence and greed?
Do we dare live joy when there is so much suffering?
Do we dare feel the depth of love that is available for all of life when so many of us generate hate?
Do we dare remember our flesh is made of stardust and our blood is liquid light?
Do we dare settle all the way down into our flesh and bones, giving ourselves over to this one precious life?
Do we dare be here, all the way here, no longer trying to escape to somewhere else?
Do we dare plant ourselves, here, in this deep-of-the-ages dirt, paws, claws, and all?
Do we dare be fully human, infused with liquid light?
Do we dare be fully human, living our sacred humanity?
I say Yes.
It is our sacred humanity that will heal us back into wholeness, heal us back into earth’s family, heal us back into this web of life that stretches back to the ancestors, back to the stars, back to that from which everything is born.
It is by living our sacred humanity, here, right here, rooted in the earth, that we will remember what we truly are.
Image is ‘Starlight Under Olive Tree’, by MgPixel  under creative commons 2.0
to live, to really live is to embrace our rootedness, our shadow and our magnificence… being able to hold it all is the essence and deepest gift of life… how dare we not unwrap it? Fear is such a feeble excuse.
Oh, Julie, I love this. The notion that the way to the stars is not up, into the abstract ether but down, through our very own roots – that made me gasp out loud. oxo
I say ‘yes’ too. And, i think you’re right about the stars – the quickest way to the stars is in and down, not up and out. Such beautiful writing!