This beautiful, bounteous, life-giving planet we call Earth has given birth to each one of us, and each one of us carries the Earth within every cell of our body.
The Earth is our mother,nourishing and protecting us in every moment — giving us air to breathe, fresh water to drink, food to eat and healing herbs to cure us when we are sick. Every breath we inhale contains our planet’s nitrogen, oxygen, water vapour and trace elements.When we breathe with mindfulness,we can experience our interbeing with the Earth’s delicate atmosphere, with all the plants, and even with the sun, whose light makes possible the miracle of photosynthesis. With every breath we can experience communion. With every breath we can savour the wonders of life.
We need to change our way of thinking and seeing things.We need to realise that the Earth is not just our environment.The Earth is not something outside of us. Breathing with mindfulness and contemplating your body, you realise that you are the Earth.You realise that your consciousness is also the consciousness of the Earth. Look around you — what you see is not your environment, it is you.
Whatever nationality or culture we belong to, whatever religion we follow, we can all see that the Earth is not inert matter. She is a great being, who has herself given birth to many other great beings — including buddhas and bodhisattvas, prophets and saints, sons and daughters of God and humankind. The Earth is a loving mother, nurturing and protecting all people and species without discrimination.
When you realise the Earth is so much more than simply your environment, you’ll be moved to protect her in the same way as you would yourself.This is the kind of awareness, the kind of awakening that we need, and the future of the planet depends on whether we’re able to cultivate this insight or not. The Earth and all species on Earth are in real danger.Yet if we can develop a deep relationship with the Earth, we’ll have enough love, strength and awakening in order to change our way of life.
We can all experience a feeling of deep admiration and love when we see the great harmony, elegance and beauty of the Earth. A simple branch of cherry blossom, the shell of a snail or the wing of a bat — all bear witness to the Earth’s masterful creativity. Every advance in our scientific understanding deepens our admiration and love for this wondrous planet. When we can truly see and understand the Earth, love is born in our hearts.We feel connected.That is the meaning of love: to be at one.
Only when we’ve truly fallen back in love with the Earth will our actions spring from reverence and the insight of our interconnectedness.Yet many of us have become alienated from the Earth.We are lost, isolated and lonely.We work too hard, our lives are too busy, and we are restless and distracted, losing ourselves in consumption. But the Earth is always there for us, offering us everything we need for our nourishment and healing: the miraculous grain of corn, the refreshing stream, the fragrant forest, the majestic snow-capped mountain peak,and the joyful birdsong at dawn. Abridged from Thich Nhat Hanh’s statement on Climate Change for the United Nations, 2015.
Writer/Seeker, Thich Nhat Hanh. Nhat Hanh is a Buddhist monk, teacher, author, poet and peace activist now based in France.
