What is enough? Enough is different for everyone. Most of us in the Western world do want some luxuries and modern commodities and some of these can be supported by Mother Nature (if we are wise in our choices), but many of us have gone overboard and are unnecessarily taxing our Planet – and its inhabitants.
Read Part 1 . And at the end, you will find links to a few more associated blog posts.
In The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight Thom Hartmann reminds us that our current society lives under the myth that “if some stuff will make you happy, then twice as much stuff will make you twice as happy, and ten times as much will make you ten times as happy, and so on, into infinity.” (1)
And although greed has been around for eons, it has only recently extended to such abusive actions towards our Planet as to threaten her (and thereby humanity’s) very survival. Where did this current greed come from?
In his essay, “The World of Wonder” in Spiritual Ecology, Thomas Berry explains that in North America this attitude of acquiring grew as a result of our lack of embracing or understanding the concept of “Earth-based spirituality” that the Indigenous people held when we first came here from Europe.
Berry reminds us that not only did the Indigenous people understand the relationship between heaven, earth, and its people – evidenced by their rituals and ceremonies to evoke the powers of the Universe, so did most ancient cultures.
He tells us that the huge pillars in India, China, Greece, Egypt, and Rome “were established to delineate a sacred center which provided a point of reference for human affairs and bound Heaven and Earth together.” (2)
Barry explains that we came to America from Europe believing we were religious, educated, scientifically advanced, and able to create our own political organizations. We “saw ourselves as a divine blessing on this continent. In reality, we were a predator people on an innocent continent”(3)
“We saw a land that could allow us to break away from the “monarchical governments and their world of royalty and subservience,” but rather than be in awe of the grandness and beauty of this land, we saw it as a “continent available for exploitation.”(3)
Although it is likely that at least some of those who felt inspired to break free of Europe’s leaders’ controlling, cruel, and greedy ways and were searching for a place to create new values, the individuals who came brought the old attitudes and behaviors with them – values that did not reflect those of the native people already here.
These articles are all based on Chapter 9, “The Planet and Abundance” from my book Your Journey to Peace …
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The Indigenous peoples were actually the more spiritually advanced ones. They revered the land and adhered to a reciprocal relationship to it,t – believing they are its stewards.
We have hurt ourselves – and our future by overlooking what the Indigenous peoples inherently knew.
And in our ignorant attempts to colonize them, we destroyed their way of life. And so, we are also now having to deal with our shame about how we treated them in the past, and make restitution to the generations that followed who suffered the repercussions of our actions.
In large part, except for the few who have rejected commercialism, such as the Mennonites, Indigenous peoples, and certain rural tribes, having lost the connection to the concept of enough and respect for our Planet – and the sense of spirituality this brings with it, most societies have fallen under the spell of acquiring and greed.
Our Planet is meant to support us. If we return to a reciprocal relationship with Mother Earth we will all have access to its life-affirming energy: we will all have enough. Returning to the wisdom of nature at this juncture in our evolution and with our growing population is vital!
As I was exploring various subjects when researching for my book Your Journey to Peace …, (whose concepts this article is based on) a notion was growing in me that the Indigenous peoples’ gentle nature and connection to the earth were somehow connected to the healing of Humanity, and I was directed to various answers.
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Read Part 1. Read my associated article “We are at the Pinnacle of Our Personal, Collective, and Planetary Evolution.
Read another associated message from my July Newsletter: “Feeding Our Soul and the Concept of Enough,” You can sign up for – and read my previous messages on the same link.
Rosemary McCarthy© from 2018, updated July 30th, 2021
About by books: Your Journey to Peace … and Why We Are the Way We Are – Book 1 in my new ‘Our Journeys to Peace’ Series
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Notations
(1) Thom Hartmann, The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight: Waking Up to Personal and Global Transformation (Northfield, VT: Mythical Books, 1998), 235.
(2) Thomas Berry, “The World of Wonder” in Spiritual Ecology, The Cry of the Earth, a collection of essays edited by Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, (Pointe Reyes, CA: The Golden Sufi Center), 15-17.
(3) Ibid.
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Original copyright © 2018 by Rosemary McCarthy updated July 30, 2021. All rights Reserved. To copy, share, or distribute this post simply ensure the content is copied in its entirety, is unaltered, and is distributed freely and for no monetary or personal gain, and that this copyright notice and the link for the article and the website: www.spiritedfawnpublications.com/ are included. You can contact me at:rosemary@yourjourneytopeace.com. Blessings and thank you kindly. Rosemary.?