Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Aurora Leigh

As we move toward more and more enlightenment, we become more and more aware that Mother Earth and heaven are the same: sacredness incarnate all around us and between us all.  "Us" is every piece of creation.  The mystics of every religious tradition speak of this truth.

It is not just the burning bush that was before Moses, but "every common bush" that is afire with the sacredness of its Presence.  The bush by the side of the road, the one outside your home, the one deep in the forest that has never been seen by a human eye.  As with every bush, so as with every being, human or different than human.

Respect, reverence and humility are shown when we take off our shoes. When we tread lightly through the forest, or anywhere on Mother Earth, we show respect, reverence and humility.  

​What a delightful and challenge few lines of poety from Browning.  Now, so to live.
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You have a place in this world, likely in nature somewhere, that brings you to a state of peace.  When you are there in reality, or when you are there in your mind, you relax.  You breathing slows down. Your heart rate slows down. Your life slows down. In your "Happy Place" you are present to Presence Itself.  Spirit. 

Take a walk with me and visit my Happy Place, and while doing so, remind yourself of the place on this earth that is yours.  Your place is where you feel safe and well connected, grounded to the Essence of Life.  Be aware and enjoy the tranquility.

And remember to LOVE MOTHER EARTH for she has provided you with that place.

How important it is, to LOVE MOTHER EARTH.  She supports the existence of everything.  Within her is the energy of the Spirit, the Universal Life Force Energy in Reiki, the Universal Christ in Christianity, Prana in Hinduism, Lung in Tibetan Buddhism, Chi in Chinese, and in the Hebrew Scriptures, it is called Ruach, the breath of God.

This has been a season of enormous change for me personally.  Family and friends are confronted with health challenges.  My wife and I are selling the office space we have shared and enjoyed for 14 years.  Life doesn't stay the same - it is constantly evolving through a cycle of life, death, and resurrection over and over again.

Today, we give special attention to Mother Earth who herself is constantly evolving through cycles of life, death, and resurrection.  I read news this week that fish are migrating away from the equator toward the poles.  It is 27 df outside today here in Michigan.  Change is under way.

There is good news!  Leaders Summit on Climate.
US President Joe Biden has decided to host a meeting with the world's leaders titled the 'Leaders Summit on Climate'. It is a two-day conference and has been in the works since he took office on 20 January. Many say that this summit is a precursor to the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) that will take place later this year in Glasglow. This is supposed to "galvanize efforts by the major economies to tackle the climate crisis" and "to underscore the urgency – and the economic benefits – of stronger climate action."

You Can Watch it Online
The Leaders Summit on Climate is a two-day event that will begin on 22 April and end on 23 April. It will be a virtual event owing to the pandemic making travel impossible. The event will be streamed online and available for the public to watch. The Days events will begin at 5.30 pm IST (8:00 a.m. EDT) and last till 11.00 pm IST (1.30 pm EDT). You can watch the live proceeding here.

Earth Day.  LOVE MOTHER EARTH.

My good friend Tom challenged me to make the integration of environmentalism and spirituality more self-evident.  Here is my response: both involve moving from an I-it relationship with creation, to an I-Thou relationship. I reference Buber and the Hindu religion in this 5:40 video. Come along with me for another walk in the woods.

Here is page 20 from LOVING MOTHER EARTH, which is available on Amazon. We all want her to NOT expel us from this planet, because there is no "Planet B" out there.  Mars won't accommodate enough of us in the time we have.  So we must LOVE MOTHER EARTH right where we are in the most creative ways possible.  Take a look at page 20... and then act lovingly.

Yes, our shared mission is to become Enlightened Lovers. There is our hope. That means growing spiritually by WAKING UP, GROWING UP, OPENING UP, CLEANING UP so we can SHOW UP.  Those five movements are much the subject of my book, LOVING MOTHER EARTH, which is available on Amazon.  The goal is to become an Enlightened Lover.  Not a child. Not a rebel. Not an adult. Not an outlaw. Not even a lover.  The goal is to become an Enlightened Lover.  In that journey there is hope for all of us.

Here is page 18 from LOVING MOTHER EARTH.  The book itself is available on Amazon.  The big message is this: there is a virtuous self-reinforcing feedback loop at play when you become an engaged environmentalist or a spiritually committed evolutionary.  One feeds the other naturally.  Engage intentionally in one, and the other naturally comes to life.  Read on.

One feeds the other in a virtuous cycle... evolve spiritually and you will just naturally  LOVE MOTHER EARTH with more of your heart, and as you engage as an environmentalist more and more, you will discover that you love more and more.

This Amplifying Feedback Loop is the focus of my book LOVING MOTHER EARTH, which is available on Amazon.  Our world needs more evolved Enlightened Lovers.  You know that is true.  In your heart, you know it is true.  Evolve and Engage.

I recently read Bill Gates book How to Avoid a Climate Disaster. It is all about the behavioral changes that we can, and must make. But, and this is a big BUT, it says nothing about where the heart of that change will come from.  How shall we derive the very willpower to be the change we seek?

That question takes us into spiritual realms.  Not just religious, but beyond that to things profoundly spiritual and shared among all peoples.  

Technology integrated with Soul.  That's the sweet spot.  And it will take the most innovative of technologies and the most evolved spirituality, well integrated, to pull it off.

Below is page 16 from my book, LOVING MOTHER EARTH, which is available on Amazon.

To not have a defined position about the single biggest issue threatening life on this planet, is to be in denial.  Now, let it be said that denial is understandable because this is an enormously vexing and wicked problem to address.  It will take all of you - all of your head, your heart, and your body - to be the change we must have.  I'm trying not to be in denial.  Trying. Here, on page 15 of LOVING MOTHER EARTH, is my position.