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Back to July 2007
Living Arts - July 2007
Gaia: The Earth As Us
by Jesse Wolf Hardin
"We must not expect that we can simply use the...image of Gaia to meet emotional, religious (or) political needs without allowing it to transform us in unexpected and radical ways." David Spangler
It was said that in the beginning nothing existed but the Great Mother, a dark swirling of the elements in a vast cauldron of time. From this disorder a child of order was born, cast at an ideal temperature at the perfect distance from the sun. The ancients spoke of it as a living entity manifest in intricate patterns that constantly rearranged themselves in service to the whole, a breathing planet delivered into the black sands of a cosmic desert.
The early Greeks proclaimed this geo-biological composite a goddess and named her "Gaia." In Piraeus, Dodona and Delphi they built beautiful marble temples to honor her as the source of life, wisdom and joy. These temples were places where she spoke to and through those able to make out her whispered guidance. Plato described the Earth as "a living creature...containing within itself all living creatures."
It¹s easier to accept the primacy of an inspirited earth when it¹s directly providing one with all the things needed for a healthy life. The model of the world that worked best for early merchants and colonizers of "the age of reason" and later for corporations and developers, however, was no longer that of a living being requiring our respect and forbearance. The new model was one of a planet machine with a giant watch awaiting our enlightened improvements.
While the Greeks long ago abandoned their mythology of an Earth goddess, it is by the name they gave her that the symbol of "Earth Mother" has reemerged in contemporary consciousness. This universal symbol has been powerfully revived thanks to Oberon Ravenheart Zell¹s 1970 paper entitled TheaGenesis: Birth Of A Goddess and the subsequent writings of NASA researchers James Lovelock and Lynn Margulis. Their "Gaia Hypothesis" postulates a self-regulating and intentional living planet. In a synergy of the scientific and the metaphysical, we find an increased recognition of the Goddess. This recognition comes just as humanity needs the wisdom and alliance of the Earth the most.
Lovelock called the Earth¹s regulatory self-controls, including both temperature and the composition of the atmosphere, "the song of life." We participate by co-creating the very air we breathe, in alliance with the volcanoes and microbes, the various plants and our fellow animals. We can think of each individual being as a cell, grouped with others into cohesive organs of the planet body, each with specific innate functions that contribute to the overall balance and health of the whole. In the human body, such a condition of collaborative balance would be called "homeostasis." In the language of song, we refer to it as multi-part harmony. In our spiritual vernacular, we call this state "resonance." It¹s interesting that Lovelock¹s conjectures began with his contemplation of atmosphere, or the "breath of God." The air¹s suspended molecules form the connective tissue between our bodies and the trees as well as the buildings around us and the clouds floating above. The song is the collected vibrations of every Gaian form and process, carried through the air to every willing ear.
Because of the collaborative nature of this song we call Earth, it could be said that we work in concert to maintain the composition of life. Lovelock himself saw no clear distinction between life and non-life. It was "merely a hierarchy of intensity."
Gaia forms a single system that miraculously recycles its resources without depleting its parts. While it lives off the sun, the sun doesn¹t run down any faster as a result of the Earth utilizing more of its available energy. Gaia is an example of non-exploitive partnership that we can learn from.
To the ancient Greeks, human beings were both blessed and cursed with the unique ability to self-reflect and to imagine ourselves distinctly apart from the rest. The great oral tragedies told of the anguish of recognizing the importance of our individual assignments, coupled with a unique awareness of our impending mortal demise. The key to inner peace was always in aligning oneself with the will of Gaia, adapting to its patterns and tapping into its prevalent energetic momentum in the accomplishment of selfhood. Those accepting of the living Earth have always moved close to it to hear.
The Earth is made conscious through the combined complimentary perception of its parts: through the eyes of the hawk, the responses of plant life, and in the hearts of children. Gaia knows the galaxy through the dreams of its seekers. If this exchange of information were between unconnected entities, we would call it "communication.¹ Yet the exchange occurs between constituent elements of a connective whole. Therefore, it is more a matter of "communion"a simultaneous, wordless sharing between living things and with the inclusive All.
One does not have to be a Pantheist or Pagan to understand, honor and receive the blessings of Gaia. No matter what other God or Goddess we may believe in, we would be amiss not to both honor and recognize ourselves in the blossoming Earth.
Jesse Wolfe Hardin is an acclaimed author and teacher of Anima earth-centered practice. He and his partners offer correspondence courses and host retreats, vision quests, and internships in their river canyon, an ancient and authentic place of power. Events include the Wild Women's Gathering June 29-July 4, and the Shaman Path Intensive July 26-29. You can contact Hardin at the Anima Wilderness Retreat Center, Box 688, Reserve, NM, 87830, www.animacenter.org.