“I am a living member of the great family of all souls; and I cannot improve or suffer myself, without diffusing good or evil around me through an ever-enlarging sphere. I belong to this family. I am bound to it by vital bonds. I am always exerting influence on it. I can hardly perform an act that is confined in its consequences to myself. Others are affected by what I am and say and do, so a single act of mine may spread and spread in widening circles, through a nation or humanity.”
American Unitarian minister William Ellery Channing (1780 – 1842), born on this day
“For nothing is fixed, forever, forever, forever, it is not fixed; the earth is always shifting, the light is always changing, the sea does not cease to grind down rock. Generations do not cease to be born, and we are responsible to them because we are the only witnesses they have. The sea rises, the light fails, lovers cling to each other, and children cling to us. The moment we cease to hold each other, the moment we break faith with one another, the sea engulfs us and the light goes out.”
“The grass does not refuse to flourish in the spring wind. The leaves are not angry at falling through the autumn sky. Who, with whip or spur. can quicken the feet of time? The things of this world flourish and decay, each at their own hour.”
The Old Wisdom by environmentalist Jane Goodall, born on this day in 1934,
“When the night wind makes the pine trees creak And the pale clouds glide across the dark sky, Go out my child, go out and seek Your soul: The Eternal I.
For all the grasses rustling at your feet And every flaming star that glitters high Above you, close up and meet In you: The Eternal I.
Yes, my child, go out into the world; walk slow And silent, comprehending all, and by and by Your soul, the Universe, will know Itself: the Eternal I.”
Stars emerge in the night sky above an ancient Bristlecone pine tree in this twilight view at Great Basin National Park, Nevada.
“When one becomes worthy to hear the song of plants, how each plant speaks its song to God, how beautiful and sweet it is to hear the singing! It is good indeed to serve God in the middle of them all, wandering alone over the fields between growing things. All the speech of the fields then enters into your own and intensifies its strength. With every breath you drink in the air of paradise, and when you return home the world is renewed in your eyes.”
“Today we are faced with a challenge that calls for a shift in our thinking, so that humanity stops threatening its life-support system. We are called to assist the Earth to heal her wounds and in the process heal our own – indeed to embrace the whole of creation in all its diversity, beauty and wonder. Recognizing that sustainable development, democracy and peace are indivisible is an idea whose time has come…
In trying to explain this linkage, I was inspired by a traditional African tool that has three legs and a basin to sit on. To me the three legs represent three critical pillars of just and stable societies. The first leg stands for democratic space, where rights are respected, whether they are human rights, women’s rights, children’s rights, or environmental rights. The second represents sustainable and equitable management and resources. And the third stands for cultures of peace that are deliberately cultivated within communities and nations. The basin, or seat, represents society and its prospects for development. Unless all three legs are in place, supporting the seat, no society can thrive. Neither can its citizens develop their skills and creativity. When one leg is missing, the seat is unstable; when two legs are missing, it is impossible to keep any state alive; and when no legs are available, the state is as good as a failed state. No development can take place in such a state either. Instead, conflict ensues.”
Wangari Maathai, Kenyan environmentalist, born on this day in 1940
“One moment I saw a river flowing gently. The next, all bridges washed away. One moment I saw a bush flowering. The next I saw no rose or thorn – just branches. One moment I saw a cooking fire blazing. The next just ashes, no fire or smoke. Pleasures spread like poppies. You seize the flower, the blossom drops. We are like snow falling in a river – a moment white, then melted forever. I don’t trust what is being said through me – not for a moment! Still I drink the wine of my own words, then I seize the darkness that arises and tear it into little pieces. As the moon wanes, I find a mad person roaming inside, longing for the Beloved. I call out to soothe her pain – ‘It is I, Lalla, … I!’ The Beloved appears, and all further sensing and doing disappear.”
From The Celtic Spirit: Daily Meditations for the Turning Year by Caitlin Matthews,
“Birds and other animals begin to choose their mates as the growing year burgeons strongly in the strengthening sunlight. The green fire that runs all over the earth is sparked by this very sunlight and the deep germinating power of the earth. When plants reach toward the sunlight, the red, violet and blue bands of the spectrum activate the chlorophyll pigment within each leaf so that it reflects green…
This green fire is also within us – not in our physical bodies, as it is in plants, but in our emotional and creative lives. Spring fever has many manifestations. The creative urge of spring brings into being much verse, for example, as our emotional upheavals reach out for fresh life and vigour.
Where is the green fire in your own life at this time? Take your emotional and creative temperature; then give yourself over to something pleasurable and enlivening this week.”
Mettika from the Therigatha (Songs of the Nuns), poems composed by early female followers of the Buddha,
“Though I am weak and tired now, And my youthful step long gone, Leaning on this staff, I climb the mountain peak. My cloak cast off, my bowl overturned, I sit here on this rock. And over my spirit blows The breath Of liberty.”
King Edward Street Chapel 