All My Relations

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We are losing treasure – species, ecosystems, and the vital fluids of our planet. If we think of these as separate elements – a species of turtle here, a rainforest there – then we are missing the greater loss.

Plants, animals, and minerals are interdependent members of their eco-communities and the family of Life. Everything exists in relationship. This is biology, not just philosophy. And now, biological and quantum theories of consciousness are reinforcing what the mystics have always known. Matter and mind are co-equal sides of the same coin. A new theory of resonance (Tam Hunt, Jonathan Schooler), suggests that vibrational relationships underlie all physical processes, on a continuum of increasing richness, from sub-atomic to complex neural processes, and may be the very basis of consciousness.

We might even say that that consciousness evolves through resonant relationships. That is why, when we lose a species, consciousness itself is diminished. You can feel this reality in your own heart, when you learn that a species is gone. It’s like losing a part of yourself. Imagine the collective and natural wisdom lost with the extinction of the West African black rhinoceros, after 8 million years of evolution. What community of relationships vanished?

When we think about ecocide, we often forget cultural ecocide. When places are poisoned, blasted, clear-cut, or turned to deserts, the people of those places – their stories, language, traditions and intimate knowledge of the land – disappear along with the plants, animals, and minerals. All of that connective tissue, where resonance resides, is obliterated.

These articles speak to the deeper issues of relationship. ‘All My Relations’, or in the Lakota language, Mitákuye Oyás’iŋ, is an important ceremonial prayer of harmony and oneness with all beings. It is a prayer that honors Life.

A common prayer of oneness in Buddhist traditions is, may all beings be happy; may all beings be free; may all being be at peace. It might be useful to add: may all beings be in right relationship. When we are in right relationship with the Earth and all beings, then peace, happiness and freedom are natural outcomes.

Mitákuye Oyás’iŋ! Let us return to right relationship with the Earth. May it be so.

Kosmos Journal Volume 19 Issue 2

Regeneration

The Holy Grail of Restoration

By John D. Liu

Over historical time the vegetative cover and evolutionary biodiversity of the Sinai has been in large part lost. Imagine the importance if it were possible to restore the region to ecological health.

Global Commons

Sacred Headwaters of the Amazon

By Belén Paez and Bill Twist

Bill Twist | What is particularly inspiring about this initiative is that the indigenous groups, although clearly working to protect their territories, also see that this project is for the world and that it is setting a conservation example for the world.

Restoration

Bringing Reefs Back to Life

By Sam Teicher

Two years ago, an “obituary” for the Great Barrier Reef flew across the Internet like grapeshot fired from a cannon. But the pronouncement was premature. Coral reefs are indeed dying, but they are not yet dead.

Book

Farming While Black

By Leah Penniman

I thought that organic farming was invented by white people and worried that my ancestors who fought and died to break away from the land would roll over in their graves to see me stooping. I struggled with the feeling that a life on land would be a betrayal of my people. I could not have been more wrong.

Living Traditions

Sam Lee | Birdsong Hits the Charts

By Sam Lee and Kari Auerbach

Sam Lee is a British singer of traditional folk songs, a collector, an archivist, a conservationist, and a radical re-interpreter of the British folk tradition. He is the driving force behind the eclectic, award-winning folk club 'The Nest Collective', and an emerging figure in the Extinction Rebellion movement.

Mountain-Top Removal

Documenting Land Trauma

By Vivian Stockman

Since the mid-1990s, when I first learned about it, a fervent desire of mine has been for this type of coal mining to be halted and forever banned. If my photos have helped build a movement calling for the abolition of mountain-top removal, then I have accomplished something in my life.