Cosmology

Step 11: Through our daily spiritual practices we surrender ourselves to be transformed by the Originating Mystery enabling us to nurture the health and healing of all planetary life including ourselves.

Principle: Spirituality

Spirituality provides a way for us to remember who we are and to reconnect with our Source. It teaches us how to build relationship with the Originating Mystery within us and nurtures our interconnectedness with the Originating Mystery in all life.

Text or Verse

The dark wind of my Mother expands and contracts, winding to and from the hub of the spinning wheel, which is everywhere. She spirals, uncoiling and recoiling, leaving and returning to her source; her spirit evolving, involving the entire universe.
Meinrad Craighead

Teach your children that we have taught our children that the Earth is our mother. Whatever befalls the Earth befalls the sons of the Earth. If men spit upon the ground, they spit upon themselves. This we know: the Earth does not belong to man; man belongs to the Earth.
Chief Seattle

And I saw that the sacred hoop of my people was one of many hoops that made one circle, wide as daylight and as starlight, and in the center grew one mighty flowering tree to shelter all the children of one mother and father. And I saw that it was holy.
Black Elk

I am the essence of the waters;
The shining of the moon;
OM in all the Vedas,
The Word that is God.
It is I who resound in the ether
And am potent in man.
I am the sacred smell of the Earth,
The light of the fire,
Life of all that lives,
Austerity of Ascetics.
Bhagavad Gita

One thing we know which the white man may one day discover: Our God is the same God.
Chief Seattle

Practice

This practice comes from Confucius who asks us to look straight into one's heart with these four steps:

Jen - human-heartedness or universal compassion. It requires us to respect, revere and befriend ourselves, humanity, all life, Earth and the Universe.
Chun-Tzu or holism: It requires us to view the world and all that is in it as one interconnected whole and to learn to surrender our desires to the greater good of the whole.
Li or appropriateness: It requires us to see ourselves in relationship and proportion to the whole. This allows us to value the contribution we make without overvaluing or own importance.
Te or spiritual power: It is our ability to listen and respond to the voice of higher authority that resides in us. It requires that we learn to lead from authenticity rather than from force.

Resources

Berry, Thomas. The Great Work and The Sacred Universe. (go to Links menu to connect to the web site)

Cox, Karen, Spiritual Director, is a woman of passion concerning spirituality and the environment. M.A. Education - the Healing Aspects of Gardening (go to Links menu to contact)

Dowd, Michael. Thank God for Evolution. (go to Links menu to connect to the web site)

Fox, Matthew. Creation Spirituality. (go to Links menu to connect to the web site)

LaChance, Albert. Cultural Addiction: Greenspirit Guide to Recovery. (go to Links menu to connect to the web site)

Macy, Joanna. World as Lover, World as Self. (go to Links menu to connect to the web site)