During the past week I heard two statements that caught my attention. They both touched on the same topic. “Listen to your heart before you listen to your mind for your heart points the way!”, Wald Wassermann. And, paraphrased, “When you start something new, the first lessons are the heart lessons on generosity and sharing, then use the head to pass on the experience.”, Four Arrows aka Don Jacobs.
These declarations were answers to a question that I have been struggling to answer. That question is, how do we as a culture begin to see our relationship and dependence on the natural world, then respond with respect, and cherish that natural world and all life? I imagine that if this happened, every aspect of how we live our lives, what we eat, how we build our homes, how we conduct business, how we travel, everything would transform. Maybe that is wishful thinking. But we must begin to acknowledge how totally dependent and truly of or in nature we are, or we may face environmental collapse or at least some degree of catastrophic environmental destruction.
This may sound revolutionary. But that is, I think, only because western culture has, for roughly three hundred plus years operated under the philosophical structure of “I think, therefore I am.” René Descartes, the well-known French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist stated this. He gave us the idea that the mind and body are separate but connected. This began the idea of detached entities. And also provided the foundation for the belief that humans are the most important beings because of their ‘unique’ (or so it was believed) capacity to think!
Here is what I propose. First, start with noticing your life-world. Each day be aware of seeing, hearing, touching, even smelling aspects of the world around you. Next, reflect on the origin of these many aspects of your life, for example, the ingredients in your meals, materials used to shelter you and clothe you, methods of travel, and so on. Then, appreciate the blessings of food, clothing, shelter, commerce and much more. And finally, act on this appreciation and love with heart wisdom. How do we cherish, support, and preserve these gifts? This exercise will hopefully establish a new philosophical structure for seeing the world, with heart wisdom first.
This perspective could be extended to all living creatures, all peoples, all fellow travelers on this small planet. Some of the Apollo photographs remind us that we exist on one planet together. Let us be mindful and cherish it in every way.