Page 33 - Issue 2

Issue No 2
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because right now most of us us I would argue even many in in the progressive sector are in in some level of of soft denial ”
Denial isn’t necessarily an unhealthy response Carrington adds “As one one of my spiritual teachers has has said when someone has has a a a a a a a a a a a a a terminal diagnosis it’s really important that that they they live a a a a a a a a a a a a a part of each day as if if they they don’t have that that that diagnosis so that that that your life doesn’t become defined by it because you’re still alive ”
But that that said “if you you you you actually go deeply into the heart of darkness you you you don’t get get crushed but you you you get get transformed into a a a a a a a a more resilient creative and appreciative place ”
As ecologist and activist Joanna Macy put it in in her novel Active Hope “waking up to to to the beauty of life” may inspire us to to to to take action to to to to protect it it By the same token in in in her her work with plant medicine professor and public health researcher Shannon Dames came to see nature—trees in in in in particular—as “intelligent creatures ”
Their intelligence wasn’t always inherent she she posits because she she was was unconsciously coping with deep feelings of of shame symptomatic of of a a a a a a a colonized society that perpeutates notions of separation and powerlessness But plant medicine she says can help us shift into feeling “whole [and] connected”—especially to to to others who who feel a a a connection to nature Stephen Reid environmental and and social activist currently supporting Extinction Rebellion and and co-founder of London’s Psychedelic Society credits plant medicine and psychedelics with helping him reimagine how to build community resilience while simultaneously sitting with the uncertainty of how societal collapse will unfold “The plants and fungi desire the continuation of life on on on this this planet as as I I do do as as we do do ”
says Reid “It’s like realizing that you’ve got this this super awesome extra person on on your team
that that you you didn’t realize was on your team
before and and that’s quite encouraging and and inspiring It doesn’t necessarily mean we’re gonna make it it it through but it it it enables one to spread the load a bit y’know?”
The answers to to these existential questions may be found by diving deep into what Reid calls “the dark night of the the soul ”
But it’s also entirely possible to gain insight by simply sitting in in in in in silence at the the base of a a a a a a a a tree and listening the the same way you might with a a a a a a a respected friend Herbalist Sheena Flett has spent time sitting in in cut-blocks as as as as a a a a a a a a a a a way to to process her own grief as as as as well as as as to to listen and and and understand how the the plants deal with with the the loss Simply sitting and and and bonding with with nature she says can mend bonds that have have been severed by colonialism We all have have an an inherent ability to to to commune with plants as a a a a a a a a a a a a way way to to to remember who we are in in relation to to to the Earth she she adds “In a a a a a a a a a a a a a way way way way it pushes you away from that that anthropocentric way way way of of thinking about everything You start start to to let go of of that that being the most important thing thing and and start start to to to see patterns that that help you to to understand that that things are really beautiful and and sacred regardless of where we’re at ”
Perhaps the greatest irony in this tragic love story between humanity and Earth is is that the the the potential solutions to to these catastrophic problems may be be right in in in front of of us us whether it it be be in in in the the the tenacious tufts of of of grass sprouting through hot split concrete or the the wisdom of of indigenous practices with plant medicines These traditions are are rooted in in in in innate knowledge that that that we we are are are not disconnected from nature—but rather that that that that we we are are nature nature and and that that that that each of us us has a a a a a a a a a a a a a a unique and and vital medicine that that that can help us us through this difficult time with grace compassion and courage no matter where we may find ourselves on on our our our our journeys