REJOINING THE GREAT CONVERSATION: Reconnecting with the Soul of the World

LLEWELLYN VAUGHAN-LEE delivers a heartfelt plea to all of us to open our hearts and care for our Mother Earth, value her sacredness, and reconnect with her soul.

- LLEWELLYN VAUGHAN-LEE

We are present at a moment in our shared destiny when the Earth is crying out to us to help her in this time of crisis that is destroying her ecosystem, the fragile web of life that supports her multihued unity. All around us are what Thich Nhat Hanh calls the “bells of mindfulness” – we can hear them ringing in the unprecedented species depletion (such as the recent awareness of what is called the ‘insect Armageddon’, with a 45-75% loss of insect biomass), the oceans filling with plastic at a rate unfathomable a few decades ago, and accelerating climate change; all with unforeseen consequences. And, on a different level, though just as painful, is the loss of wildness and wonder, a diminishing sense of the sacred that nourishes our souls.

Many of us are responding with action and ideas, even as our governments and corporations – with their focus on economic growth and materialism – are unable or unwilling to make this a real priority. This was forcefully articulated at the recent UN Climate Change COP24 Conference by the 15-year-old activist Greta Thunberg, who spoke truth to power when she said: “We have not come here to beg world leaders to care. You have ignored us in the past and you will ignore us again.

You only speak of green eternal economic growth because you are too scared of being unpopular. You only talk about moving forward with the same bad ideas that got us into this mess, even when the only sensible thing to do is pull the emergency brake. You are not mature enough to tell it like it is. Even that burden you leave to us children. But I don't care about being popular. I care about climate justice and the living planet. … (https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=VFkQSGyeCWg)