My Attachment to Country and Belonging to Land - Contemplative questions
Dear Friend: Please take a little time this week answer
these questions in your own way - photo, poem, song, writing about your
attachment to country. Please bring this to the workshop at AYM. Thank you
kindly. Please use your understanding of God.
1. Find a place to sit outside. ...
2. Breathe deeply and let your body
relax.
3. Use your five senses: ...
4. Sit in silence for a while,
soaking in God's presence in nature.
5. Ask God what They want to reveal
to you.
Your Spirituality
Have you ever been awakened
spiritually to wonder, astonishment, comfort, truth or joy in Nature? Describe it?
How has Earth consciousness awoken
your conscience?
What are the spiritual qualities
that our engagement adds to deepen our faith?
What is the most beautiful and
unforgettable thing you have seen in Nature?
What is the most terrible?
What created the most awe in you?
How did these experiences change
you or deepen your spiritual life?
https://www.xavier.edu/jesuitresource/online-resources/prayer-index/sustainabilityprayers#:~:text=Lord%2C%20grant%20us%20the%20wisdom,the%20covenant%20 of%20your%20love
What is Eco-Spirituality?
Eco-spirituality is an approach to faith that celebrates
humanity’s connection to the natural world. Eco-spirituality can manifest in
any world religion, and usually seeks to link the tenets of a specific belief
system to the sacredness of the earth.
Those who practice eco-spirituality are compelled by their faith to care for other living things, respect the earth and its resources, consider their own role in the wider universe, and connect ecological issues to issues of faith.
Much like St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of ecology, people who hold eco-spiritual beliefs see evidence of
the Divine creator in the material world and understand their responsibility to
celebrate creation in all its forms.
For many Indigenous people various aspects of Nature are
imbued with spirit. They are 'soul mates' and inextricably linked with
humanity. Their 'god/s' are embodied in Nature and from it they draw their
laws, ethics and practices.
Many humans are recognizing the spiritual gifts of Nature
and need for paramount respect and for the continuation of Life as we know
it. We protect that which we love and we
need to love the natural world in all its manifestations for its great gifts to
us.
For some, God is completely embedded in Nature for there,
is the face/reflexion of God.
Principles of Eco-Spirituality
For the purpose of their study, they defined ecospiritual consciousness as "accessing a deep awareness of one's ecospiritual relationships." They then narrowed down their findings to the five principles of ecospiritual consciousness, which are: tending,dwelling, reverence, connectedness, and sentience
s.
Eco-spirituality promotes the following beliefs:
•
Humans
are not separate from nature.
•
Humans
do not own nature exclusively for our own gain.
•
Humans
must act as wise stewards of the natural world.
•
We
must demonstrate a love of creation through caring acts. The Divine is the source of
creation and an ongoing part of it.
•
We
can interact with the Divine daily through the natural world.
•
https://onlinedegrees.sandiego.edu/what-isecospirituality/#:~:text=Eco%2Dspirituality%20is%20an%20approach,the%20sac
redness%20of%20the%20earth.
THE PLACE
1. The place where I feel I most belong - overall description including its long history......................................................................................................................................... .
2. Where
I would like to be buried and my spirit would rest.
.............................................................................................................................................
3. Qualities
of this place where I feel I most belong (please describe as clearly as you
can Air - warmth, humidity, clarity, colours, smells, tastes, feelings. How I respond?
................................................................................................................
4. Ecosystem
- large, small, distinctive features including trees, fungi, birds, insects,
seasonal changes, animals, soils, rocks...and more? Your relationship to any of these?
4a.
About green plants, who lives in the canopy and who lives in the bark? When are they most active? Do you have favourites? What are they doing there?
................................................................................................................
5. What
do you notice about the water - rain, springs, run-off, rivers, creeks,
waterfalls?
............................................................................................................................................
Speak of, or draw, their qualities of clarity, purity,
ecosystems, life-giving properties, pollutants?
6. Now
look at the soil? Who lives there? How long?
What do they do? Are they being
harmed?
....................................................................................................................................................
7. Look
up at the sky? What constellation were
you born under? What is your favourite
star? Do you have a relationship with
the moon? The sun? What is it?
....................................................................................................................................................
8. Can
you read the weather from the sky? Do
you know the clouds? Do you watch a
sunrise or sunset? What feelings does
the sky evoke in you? Awe, love,
astonishment, wonder, fear?
ATTACHMENT AND IDENTITY
1.
How
are you attached to this place? Do you
feel you have a right to belong here?
............................................................................................................................................
2.
How
does it form/add to your identity to who you are and being a Quaker?
............................................................................................................................................
3.
What
are the spiritual qualities that it evokes in you?
............................................................................................................................................
4.
If
you don't see or visit this place for a while, how do you feel?
............................................................................................................................................
TOTEM - Having
a totem teaches us ethics of care and love and bring us into relationships and
protection.
1.
My
totem in this place. If you don't
know, then sit and observe until it speaks to you - it may be an ant or wind.
.......................................................................................................................................
2.
What
is associated with your totem? Day,
night, canopy, soil, rocks, seasons, temperature and what other species in
particular that it helps give life and which help it live? What season is the best for your totem?
...........................................................................................................................................
3.
If
your totem were to disappear, how would it affect you?
....................................................................................................................................................
.............................................................................................................................................
4.
Put yourself in the place of your
totem, how do you feel about the world?
What do you need humans to do to assist you?
....................................................................................................................................................
5. What
are you doing, or prepared to do to ensure it exists for-ever?
Who would help you? What
resources would you need?
What would you tell children? How can you start?
Now please consider how much of your
Quaker spirituality comes from association with the Earth in all its forms and
networks, its wonder and its beauty?
As a Quaker is it easy to integrate Earth spirituality?
IMPLICATIONS FOR OUR FAITH AND LIVES
|
Indigenous lore doesn't
change. It is eternal and feels and heals the land Unless we |
|
|
learn new practices, ethics
and attitudes we have no future. |
|
Unlearning western law
We must critique and unlearn western law because
it is control based on ownership and transgressions.
Developing relationships with all Life
Relationships are real things and requires all senses. Relationships are big work. Indigenous knowledges form a profoundly networked web of links and nodes of which humans are a part. Boundaries are where we welcome people in.
How can we, Australian Quakers, grow in spirituality and our practices to
authentically belong, and let it be a distinctive part of our Quaker Life and Meetings?
INDIGENOUS
PRAYERS FOR THE EARTH
Our
Sister Water Opening Prayer:
Praised be You my Lord for Sister Water, who
is useful, humble, precious and pure Creator God, whose Spirit moved over the
face of the waters, who gathers the seas into their places and directs the
courses of the rivers, who sends rain upon the earth that it should bring forth
life:
we praise you for the gift of water.
Create in us such a sense of wonder and delight in this and all your gifts,
that we might receive them with gratitude, care for them with love, and
generously share them with all your creatures, to the honour and glory of your
holy name.
(Psalm 65)
Native American Prayers for the Earth Earth, Teach Me Earth teach me quiet ~
as the grasses are still with new light.
Earth teach me suffering ~ as old
stones suffer with memory.
Earth teach me humility ~ as blossoms
are humble with beginning.
Earth teach me caring ~ as mothers
nurture their young.
Earth teach me courage ~ as the tree
that stands alone.
Earth teach me limitation ~ as the
ant that crawls on the ground.
Earth teach me freedom ~ as the eagle
that soars in the sky.
Earth teach me acceptance ~ as the
leaves that die each fall.
Earth teach me renewal ~ as the seed
that rises in the spring.
Earth teach me to forget myself ~ as
melted snow forgets its life.
Earth teach me to remember kindness ~ as dry fields weep with rain.
An Ute Prayer
Thanksgiving
We return thanks to our mother, the
earth, which sustains us.
We return thanks to the rivers and
streams, which supply us with water.
We return thanks to all herbs, which
furnish medicines for the cure of our diseases.
We return thanks to the moon and stars, which have given to us their
light when the sun was gone.
We return thanks to the sun, that has
looked upon the earth with a beneficent eye. Lastly, we return thanks to the
Great Spirit, in Whom is embodied all goodness, and Who directs all things for
the good of Her children.
Iroquois
READINGS AND RESOURCES - for when you have time.
Quaker thinkers and writers: Write your own list
1. Nature
is one facet of spirituality, as seen in the definition of spirituality
provided by Puchalski et al. (2009), who consider
spirituality as “an essential element
of humanity. It encompasses individuals’ search for meaning and purpose; it
includes connection with others, with oneself, with nature, and with what is
significant or sacred; and encompasses secular and philosophical, as well as
religious and cultural, beliefs and practices.” Therefore, it is necessary to
put into practice a spirituality that takes nature into account to seek the
strategies and skills necessary to take care of each other and survive in the
best possible conditions (Silva-de-laRosa, 2022).ty with more traditional forms?
2. Ecospirituality and
Health: A Systematic Review.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10943-023-01994-2
Eco-spirituality is an approach to faith that celebrates
humanity’s connection to the natural world. Eco-spirituality can manifest in
any world religion, and usually seeks to link the tenets of a specific belief
system to the sacredness of the earth.
•
Intro: Franciscan Eco-Spirituality
•
Principles of Eco-Spirituality
•
What is Catholic Eco-Spirituality?
•
Careers Related to Eco-Spirituality
•
FAQs
3. The
Role of Indigenous and Traditional Knowledge in Ecosystem-Based Adaptation: A
Review of the Literature and Case Studies from the Pacific
Islands
https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/wcas/10/4/wcas-d-18-0032_1.xm
4 The
Voice and our Inauthentic Heart
https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2023/july/richard-flanagan/voice-and-ourinauthentic-heart?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Sunday
Reads June 2
2024&utm_content=Sunday Reads
June 2
2024+CID_4b864552f9fefee46090d05368882238&utm_source=EDM&utm_term=Ri
chard Flanagan on the Voice and our
inauthentic heart&cid=4b864552f9fefee46090d05368882238#mtr
5.
https://medium.com/counterarts/scarred-trees-and-ancient-knowledgeb2d2b21f392c
6.
7. Thomas Berry's work
“How do we understand the Great Work of humanity in an era of
ecological crisis?
