Utopian dream?

Unable to get my car out of the drive today because of the snow, I walked across the common to the local shop - a wonderful community venture by the way, but that is another story - and was totally struck by the sheer beauty of this white winter wonderland. I had time to stop and say hello and chat to other walkers, some with dogs, others just enjoying the views and the exercise like myself. And I thought, how can any one not be moved by such natural beauty?

But sadly many cannot or do not find time for such indulgence. And our profligate life styles threaten the natural world around us as we choose to ignore the fine balance of the ecosystem we are a part of.

And I thought as I walked, no amount of government legislation can help to save our planet unless we change our own behaviour, see things differently, respect nature with a reverence and awe, and that must begin within our own hearts and minds, it must reach out from our own souls. And nature itself can be a part of that healing process, if only we are prepared to listen to the natural world around us and let it speak to us through the silence of the snow or the anger of the blizzard. We can nurture a reverence, a love and respect for this world, and be open to its healing powers.


Then we will no longer want to destroy it. We will no longer want to defile it with our gas guzzling cars, our litter and filth, our plastics, our bottles and our cans. We will regain our spirituality and seek a simpler life. We will discover humility and vulnerability and a compassion for all living beings. We may even walk barefoot upon the earth, because, as Alastair McIntosh has said, we “tread on the earth so much more gently barefoot.” Then we will experience a harmony of body, soil and soul and we may even become Wounded Healers for a fractured world.