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“Distinct from metamorphosis, where a butterfly emerges from a cocoon suddenly and magically, the pearl is conceived first in pain, laboriously worked on, and results unexpectedly in a jewel.” – Jeanne Chiang
Outside the window here in Pennsylvania, migratory birds are making a beautiful racket as they fuel up for their collective journey south. At the same time, thousands of birds are falling from US southwestern skies. Forced to skirt the smoke from wildfires, they have detoured into desert territories without food or water to sustain their journeys. They fly until they perish.
Do all birds somehow feel this collective loss, this avian holocaust that began decades ago as the forests and insect populations steeply declined? Do birds have collective awareness, memory of wildly vibrant woodlands and pristine waters teeming with life? It’s almost too painful to contemplate. We have lost nearly a third of our birds in fifty years.
Such difficult truths are painful, and we are hardwired to avoid discomfort. But if our first reaction is to run away, we never learn the deeper truth beyond the thing we fear. When we push away the pain of loss – birds, rainforests, human life – we push away the complexity and beauty too. Life on Earth developed only once and all organisms are interrelated. Because birds exist, we exist. And the same goes for fish and trees and bacteria. We inter-are. To reach this insight we have to be willing to let some of the pain in, and to see our part in it.
Alnoor Ladha, activist, writer and friend, collaborated on this edition of Kosmos. As a guest editor, he curated several features under the hashtag #CuraDaTerra, (Cure of the Earth), and offers this:
As we start to see how all oppression is connected, we can also start to see glimpses of how all healing is connected. And that our own liberation is not only bound up with that of others but that our collective future is dependent on it.
We are a young species with everything yet to learn. The well-loved writers, speakers and artists in these pages – Vandana Shiva, Charles Eisenstein and others – are shining light into our shadows. They help us feel the pain in order to gain the pearl. The pearl is purpose.
Humans may not be the highest purpose of Life, but Life must be the highest purpose of humans.
Understanding purpose requires conscious alignment with an evolving, living Earth. We don’t invent purpose, we find it, we stand in its light. When we allow Earth’s purpose to guide us, we know how to act in harmony with Life. Purpose drives our positive activism, our adaptive capacities, innovation, and faith. It feeds our resilience to change and our resistance to injustice. Choosing to consciously serve Life, purpose is our raft on the rapids of change.
