All of us live microcosmic lives in relation to the macrocosmic life of the Planet, the Universe, Divinity, or all that IS. We live in times when it is very important to acknowledge our systemic interconnectedness, not only with each other but with the Macrosphere. The health of the Planet, for instance, affects the health of all its denizens—from minerals through plants and animals, including humans. We are learning more and more about the reciprocity between our own actions and actions of the planet. We frack, yet each drill pad uses over 5 million gallons of water and potentially contaminates ground water through seepage, while fresh water is already being rationed in many parts of the world and is swiftly becoming an endangered resource (for more information, see the documentary Last Call at the Oasis). We destroy forests at the rate of a football field or more per minute, yet trees produce oxygen we all need for survival. Our unhealthy behaviors threaten the health of the Planet that bore us and gives us nurturance—Gaia, Mother Earth.
So consider our own health and wellness, and behaviors we can adopt to sustain these, in relation to the health and wellness of the Planet. If nothing else this sort of awareness might lead us to consider how toxins we allow into our bodily ecosystems through processed foods and alcohol or drugs mirror the contaminants we allow to engulf the ecosphere. Of course we must each make our own choices that affect our individual states of wellness. Planetary health is our combined responsibility, and its wellness is the legacy we aim to leave to future generations. The Canadian documentary Surviving the Future is an excellent reminder of where we could be headed, or alternately where we might arrive if we will focus positive energy on sustaining the health of the planet.
We appear to be at a vital tipping point, right now, globally, with regard to the interaction between our own healthful behavior (or, dearth thereof) and the wellness of the global environment that is needed to sustain life. Perhaps if we can heal the microcosm, first, with a heavy dose of positive self-esteem and wellness-building, person by person and in relation to those other animals we tend and the ecosystems which nurture our wellness, then the repercussions will reach to the Planet herself with collective choices that replenish rather than deplete resources, that clean rather than pollute, and that build instead of destroy. The macrocosm is a mirror for and of the microcosm. May we accept the interrelatedness and live individually in the collective synergy of our shared affirmations of health and wellness-building, for all.
“Humankind has not woven the web of life.
We are but one thread within it.
Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves.
All things are bound together. All things connect.” ― Chief Seattle
Better Endings 