Every Earthen Day

By Jesse Wolf Hardin

Every April the 'powers-that-be ' sanction what sometimes seems like a perfunctory tip of the hat to the living planet we depend on, grow out of, and one day return our blessed bodies to. We call this date 'Earth Day, ' as if we had spent the remaining 364 days any other place! And to some degree many of us have, perhaps caught up in our minds more than our feeling bodies, inhabiting fear, anxiety and ambition rather than the inspirited world around us. For our own sanity, we have to act at times as if the last old growth forests weren 't being cut down even while we speak, or the evolutionary pool being depleted by extinctions caused by lifestyles and political systems that we are all, one way or another, participants in.

The value of these annual commemorations lies not in making us feel guilty for what we have or haven't done, nor in the relief we might feel after a twelve hour show of green solidarity. Rather, its gift lies in the ways it reminds us of the everyday work making us the quiet and persistent heroes of Gaia we are: caring participants in the co-creative world. People fulfilling our talents, assignments and destinies through creative and committed reciprocity. Folks who embrace our intrinsic, evolutionary and moral response-ability to protect, restore and celebrate the world of which we are a part!

As humans we 've evolved to be not only thinkers, workers, mothers and fathers but also feelers, empaths, artists, healers, teachers and perpetually wide-eyed students who inevitably notice the weather, the new buds and blossoms, the differences between the tones and melodies of various neighborhood songbirds. Beings who each play whatever small role we can in repairing watersheds and reweaving community, reaching out to the kids we know with the ethics of balance and the lessons of nature. Making it real by recycling our cans, biking more, or driving less. Savoring every meal, and saving our compost to give back to the providing ground. Planting wholesome and flower-full gardens even if all we have is the tiniest of yards, and getting dirt under our fingernails in the process. In the process we become quieted and grounded enough to hear directly from the living Earth, through the land and through our empathic hearts, who we are and what it is we need to be doing next.

'Next ' may mean the struggle of joining with others in the community to purchase, restore, rewild, and resacrament some rural or semi rural land for its own sake as well as for that of the folks who will then gather, teach and share there. Or it may require taking time off of work in order to drive to a mountainside that 's being clear cut and protest its destruction, or risking income by switching jobs, or starting our own business that better reflects the needs of our spirits and the well being of the land. Or finding new ways to exploit our skills as gardeners, writers, dancers, singers, parents or counselors in the service of the greater whole. It is furthered by the work we do with others of like heart, the gatherings we attend, and the alliances we enjoy. It most certainly begins first and foremost with our willingness to face what 's wrong, share in the pain of what is suffering, share in the joys of conscious life, and take satisfaction in our efforts to make things better.

Only a small population of people live out in the countryside or backwoods, but the agreement, the contract, remains the same. To be taken care of one must take care! As individuals, families and neighborhoods, we take an active interest in the health of the area where we live, taking some responsibility for its problems and credit for its improvement. We can take care of the land we live on whether we own it or not, whether it 's an acre of breathing soil or the patches of green surrounding our apartments. We can adopt and co-caretake any forested areas nearby, and the regional watercourse no matter how far away. The neighborhood park is just that, and its well-being is in the hands of a concerned public... us!

Any realistic hope for cultural, political and environmental relief lies in a radical shift - not in politics so much as in our elemental values and primary modes of perception. And in really fully responding from this place of holistic heartful knowing, walking our talk, fulfilling our most meaningful purpose. It will be voiced in songs cast to the winds, and in shouts of compassionate protest. In guarded groves and intentional community. In intimate personal contract with the forces that made us, and those places that allow us to really be. In our contract, our gifts, and promise. And in the keeping of that promise, the carrying forth of that vision every single Earthen day.

Jesse Wolf Hardin is the acclaimed author of several books including Gaia Eros: Reconnecting To The Magic & Spirit of Nature (New Page 2004) and performs on the GaiaTribe CD 'The Enchantment.'