New Nature Spirituality is embodied in the child
saddened by the sight of a butterfly bounced off
a windshield onto the shoulder of some numbered road...
and in an old woman finding reason to go on living
in the slow unfolding of a window-box flower. It is
voiced in the sermon-scream of falcons feeding on
pigeons in downtown New York City, in the spontaneous
living prayers of outlaw dandelions erupting in the cracks
of every aging sidewalk, in a liturgy recorded in the spiraling
reggae of the DNA helix and the twisting conga line of ants
ascending a gnarled cottonwood. Its only commandments
are "written in stone" in the many "rocks of ages": a testament
limestone, granite, and quartz; a demonstration of and
demand for authenticity and substance; and the weight
and substance of one's commitment to place. Its message
carried on the lift of robin's songs, and delivered on the backs
and in the hearts of every activist devoted to this Earth's protection.
Spirituality is not just the inspiration and reward. It's part
of the 'great work," The most crucial mode of awareness, perception,
and connection--the means to the fulfillment of our most
meaningful purpose. It is both the literal and liturgical ground
for a new start. It is activism's true heart.
~ Jesse Wolf Hardin, Gaia Eros
