The proposed reopening of the Idaho Maryland Mine

I am opposed to proposed reopening of the Idaho Maryland Mine not only for many good reasons enumerated in the draft environmental impact report, some of which are significant and cannot be mitigated, but because consideration of its reopening is not based on the deep listening necessary to know the truth in the moment. I oppose the reopening of the mine because it does not consider the long past nor the far future but is instead content to look at things in terms of an economically expedient and sociopathic world view. Our dominanation world view does not extend our spiritual and emotional feelings to the earth or teach us to consider earth herself or the flora and fauna who inhabit her as living beings as precious to the spirit of life as we humans are. We have been taught to regard earth as raw material, resource to be fashioned into whatever we desire. She is not seen as sacred and many have lost their sense of connection to her.

But in all times and places there remain some among humans who see all life as sacred. These are always being born to her. These are people, children and grown-ups who are conscious of an intimate interconnection with the whole web of life. Violence and genocide have been unable to rid the earth of these people though the powerful have tried. These continue to be born into every time and place for they are called into being by the presence of Great Spirit’s infinite compassion and untiring patience.

Indigenous people of many places have been harmed by the forces of greed and the cultures of dominance. But it is not only indigenous humans who are harmed but earth, air and water and all the relations. We have all been subjected to fear before we awakened to unconditional love and compassion. But once we are awakened there is no way to return to ignorance and the dispensation of the old gods and idols with their numberless names, excuses and rationalizations.

We stand as we are in the great mystery surrounded by choice, seemingly adrift in a universe greater than our comprehension. Slowly we discern the way weaving like a bright thread in the tapestry of reality. We begin to see what we are unable to imagine or create and yet is right before our senses. From here we can see what makes for healing and wholeness. From here we begin to understand the nature of our relationship to everything we consider to be other than ourselves.

Exploiting earth and her creatures, so that some people become rich while others suffer, is not part of the healing way, the beauty way. What is good for the whole is what we are guided to do by future generations and the spirit of our ancestors. We cannot compromise the well being of the whole community of life. We are called to be faithful to the way regardless of personal consequence. Neither birth nor death separates us from the one whose love and compassion set the whole creation free and whose way we travel. It is the right time for us to take a stand and be willing to be faithful to that which creates us, gave us consciousness and set us free. We feel the call at the core of ourselves and respond to the love and compassion which is with us from the beginning of all that is. There are many forms of right livelihood we can pursue as individuals and as a community which are considerate of the common good. Reopening the mine is not one of them.

On This Earth Day

Every day we learn again to live in peace.
We recall how to live in love
through the ceremony each does for Earth
not once in a lifetime but continuously.

We know deep inside we cannot heal the Earth
if we hate ourselves or others.
Earth heals when we heal.
Healing is slow, one moment at a time
each new wound a setback.
Earth is not surprised, she has grown
accustomed to our injurious ways.
She endures as mother of life.

Stunted within the prisons of our minds
we destroy our place within her.
Not seeing her as mother of life
she becomes barren, shrinking
from our touch as though abused.
But here we are, perhaps only a few,
or perhaps a multitude, intending healing,
intending love and compassion.

Intent upon healing and love
we let down the walls, let go the fear,
embracing life and its awareness
choosing to listen to the spirit of life
so the mother of flesh may be healed
and future generations may grow in diversity
consciousness and compassion

So it is in this moment, on this day, this Earth day.
She rises within our spirits to greet and embrace
the beloved flesh of her flesh, children of life.

Not Our Mind’s Creation

For our own sake, we follow the way.
We see it, wake in it and sleep in it.
It is the way she is healed,
sister Earth, grandmother Gaia,
revolving, evolving, Atabey,
mother spirit of life.

The way she becomes her own again
and not any man’s property
or subject to rule,
is for us to find the way and live it
through the seasons and days of our lives
regardless of culture or tradition.

Thinking why yields no answer.
This is the way we come to you, Beloved,
following your spirit scent, feeling you nearby,
watering your seeds of compassion and love.

We know why in the living of it
now and then feeling its fullness and emptiness
reassuring us it is you love
who makes it so.

We have been ourselves long enough to know
it is not us drawing forth life’s consciousness
blessing the way with intent and purpose.
It is beyond our wisdom.

We look in mirrors to see the way
that is before we know the way.
The way runs through us and begins here.
It is like that for each of us.

The Spirit of life lives in all that lives
and guides us when we let go the illusions
and shed the protective shells
slowly removing the armor.

The way stands open.
It travels through every being
and naked each chooses
to know it or not.