Making Peace in the Garden of Eden
If we think of the world as the Garden of Eden, our task right now is to restore peace to the garden so life can flourish for us and for all living beings.
Helping Humans Find Balance
My interest in this began as a desire to help humans create in balance with nature. Humans are largely to blame for the destruction and disorder we currently find in our Garden of Eden. We are able to do that destruction because we forget we are nature. You could say this trouble started when Adam ate the forbidden fruit of knowledge. This led humans on a path of separation from nature and from the source of life which unites us all.
Separation as a Coming of Age
This path of separation could be characterized as a coming of age. We were like infants in the Garden of Eden. We had no sense of identity outside of our mother. The apple was eaten and we began to see ourselves from outside ourselves as separate entities. We began to test our limits as individuals and created wonders, some extremely destructive because we lost sight of the fact that when we harm nature, we harm ourselves.
Self-awareness now allows us to see the consequences of our actions. Our own health suffers as nature is undermined and we see we must make a change to restore vitality. We must grow up. Our adolescence is over and we must take responsibility for the consequences of our actions.
Getting Back Down to Earth
Taking responsibility can be difficult since we are operating in a culture fully formed from a default identity of humans as separate from nature. To make the changes we need, we have to go beyond what exists and find foothold in a new reality where we can be reunited. This requires us to step from our pedestal down to earth. Once we stand eye-to-eye and heart-to-heart with other living beings, we can begin reconciling our relationships. As we reconcile our relationships we come to peace with ourselves.
Maturing Consciousness
Our maturing consciousness is here to direct us in this process. It has learned a great deal about itself from travels down the path of separation and is ready to come full circle and reunite for the sake of peace and continuation of this beautiful adventure called life.
Elemental Activist Journey
Using the metaphor of the Garden of Eden, I am turning to my own little garden to explore my relationships with nature and develop my capacity to love nature as myself. This is easy with elements, plants and animals, but when it comes to humans, forget it; I want them out of my garden. All of the messed up stuff they’ve done scares me.
The problem is, I can’t get in the garden until I let them in. In the Elemental Activist perspective we are all one, so it follows that my hard feelings toward other humans are really hard feelings I have towards myself. Other humans are just aspects of the bigger me. I need to come to terms with all the parts of me, even if they’re really messed up.
Unconditional Love
It’s time for me to grow. The thing about unconditional love is that I can’t ask someone to become more lovable before I love them; that’s conditional. I have to open my heart and love them just as they are. Since we are one, this means learning to love all aspects of myself unconditionally.
Help from the Bible
I am turning to the bible for help. It contains seeds from the original Eden and of our separation. I will use it to interpret the present moment in my own little garden and hopefully grow my capacity to love other humans (a.k.a. myself) unconditionally. My goal is to make peace in the world through love of nature.