All that exists lives

All that lives is worthy of respect

You don’t have to like what you respect

Not liking someone is no reason for not respecting them

Respecting someone is no reason for not eating them

Reasons are best worked out in relationship – especially if you are looking for reasons to eat someone – or if you are looking for reasons not to be eaten

If you agree that all that exists is alive and worthy of respect, it is best to talk about ‘persons’ or ‘people’ rather than ‘beings’ or ‘spirits’, let alone ‘biomechanisms’, ‘resources’, ‘possessions’, and ‘things’

The world is full of persons (people if you prefer), but few of them are human

The world is full of other-than-human persons Continue reading this post…

Check it out….it’s in Second Creation magazine out of Australia.
You can download it in PDF form here:
www.tortuga.com/portal/node/1925

2 words: friggin’ sweetness.

[Originally posted: www.podcollective.com/fora/viewtopic.php]

i am air.

i speak for all gasseous combinations of hydrogen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, oxygen and other small amounts of different gasses in the form of what humans call “air”, which exist within the gaian sphere, not including steam.

i am an ancient being, born in my first form as hydrogen, at the beginning of all things, and i contain a great looong memory, which i wish to share with other life forms in gaia. i encourage you to remember your long lineage as one with me. i am a contact dancer, in continual, flowing, creative union with all around me. every subtle twitch of a body, or diaphragm, or blade of grass, i respond to immediately by gently contouring myself around, and lovingly penetrating into it. “other” is only a word to help you humans understand me, for i am in a constant joining and integrating with all life. to know me, you must know my three companions, as i am one of the four cornerstones of life in gaia. i am in a constant breathing exchange with my sister, the water, who joins with me as mist, clouds, rain and snow, and who i join with in life forms and water bodies. Continue reading this post…

In Denali NP, I was in a region known as the eco-tone- the boundary between the taiga (a Russian word for Northern Forest) and the arctic tundra.
The only trees that grow there are Black Spruce. They are very small in comparison to the trees here in the Pacific NW due to the very short growing season. When I was able to get away from the groups of tourists there, and able to just sit with the trees, the peaceful whispers from the trees could be heard.

I felt my crown chakra light up, and fell into a meditative state. In my mind’s eye it felt like the trees were in constant prayers to the sky, whispering gently- sounding like the wind. It felt that that regional forest was pulling in a lot of “white” from the sky and anchoring it into our planet. A very, very pure feeling.

We all know of GW Carver….the peanut dude, chemist, master agriculturalist. There’s a side to his story that many of us never hear- that of his deep connection and reverance for the plants he worked with.

As a child, local farmer’s wives brought him their sick houseplants for Carver to revive. He quickly became famous for his ability to bring these plants back to health. When asked how he worked such “miracles”, Carver replied:
“All flowers talk to me and so do hundreds of little living things in the woods. I learn what I know by watching and loving everything.” Continue reading this post…

This last week, I was having some conversations here and there regarding plant-people relationships. Some responses I recieved were something to the effect of: well, shouldn’t we going beyond this? Plant intelligence is inferior, and less-evolved.
And this troubled me a little bit.This rolled around for a while in my head. And then I was camping near Mt. Rainier in the Wenatchee forest. Laying in my tent, I noticed a large tree right next to me. I started talking with him about it. Expressing my doubts, trying to think of logical and linear arguments to points such as this. And the tree replied so calmly:

“We are meant to evolve together” Trees, as well as all beings, are constantly growing, evolving too. Not just humans. And by communicating with them and sharing information we help them understand humans, and help them grow too.

It left a smile on my face that endures to this day. It conveyed a peace to me that I haven’t felt in a long time.

I’ll be the first to relay my experience with talking with my orchid. She appeared to me to be a female energy, very delicate, talking mostly in whispers. After some discussion about plant medicines, I noticed she seemed sad.

She really wanted to convey that plants just want to be heard and acknowledged.

She also said that she could translate for the other orchids in the house because they have difficulty communicating at times, and that other plants could also act as intermediaries if in the same species or genus.

Introduction to the Project
The Earth’s Voices are Heard is a collaborative project that explores the meanings in inter-species communication. This project aims to collect as many experiences of this type of communications as possible. From there, we can then see the commonalities that emerge in the messages.

Background Theories and Key Ideas

-Inter-Species Communication-
It is not my intention to prove or persuade the reader of the existence of this type of communication in this document. That being said, the key assumption made here is that non-human beings can communicate with humans. This communication takes place telepathically or psychically, although new technologies are being developed that takes inter-species communication to different levels . Research in the last few decades regarding plant communication shows that plants have intelligence, emotions, and memory in their response to non-physical human stimuli . Many people experience telepathic communication with non-human beings, and these interactions can have an affect the person on many different levels. For this we must recognize that all living things have an inner nature.
Humans can communication with other beings because we share a common origin- that of Earth herself. The great amount of similarities shared between all forms of life on Earth allow for complex communication and interaction.

-The World Unconscious-
When people communicate with non-human beings, we are connecting with a previously dormant aspect of the World Unconscious. Just as Carl Jung brought forth the concept of the Collective Unconscious of the human psyche, Depth Psychologists today are expanding on the idea to include all living beings. Attempts are being made today to understand how the collective experiences of all living beings on Earth affect humans psychically.
There is a tendency to consciously disregard or suppress the inner nature of non-human beings. This suppression has led to the shutting off of this aspect of the World Unconscious. This directly affects humans and results in psychical stress and alienation. Humans are not only individuals. Humans are holons, both a whole and part of a larger whole. The undeniable fact is that we are very closely bound to and dependent on the health of the entire planet and its ecosystems.

-The Importance of a Shift in Perspective-
A shift in how we see ourselves as humans in relation to the rest of the planet is long overdue. It is time for us to see ourselves as partners co-evolving with all beings on this planet. When we experience ourselves as separate from the world around us or see ourselves as owners of another living thing instead of partners, our actions are that of domination and exploitation. I feel little need to convey the massive ecological mess created by centuries of this type of approach to the natural world, and why this shift in perspective needs to take place as swiftly as possible.
Another interesting idea to bring up here is that of how we identify ourselves through our worldviews. How do we determine the “we/us” group? Over the course of human history, this has shifted quite a bit. Our “we” group, once our tribe or family, expands over time to include our social group, ethnic race, country, etc. But now, more than ever, we need a definition of “we” that includes our entire planet and all living things on it. We need this because of the massive ecological problems and Earth changes we now face. The evolution into a worldcentric worldview will only happen if we acknowledge and validate that all living things on Earth have intelligence, feelings, and purpose on this planet. This will also give more dimension and “value” to non-human forms of life, strengthening the case for conservation and restoration efforts.

How the Project Will Manifest
Though sometimes these inter-species discussions may be of a personal nature, many times issues regarding the planet/species as a whole are discussed. Often the person is encouraged or asked to bring this message to more people. This project provides an outlet for exactly that purpose. By us all contributing to this, we can see if there is a general message that is trying to be conveyed to humans from other areas of the biosphere.
Anyone who is willing to share his or her experiences, insights, and revelations in working with the plant, animal, or mineral world is welcome to participate. They may post to an online forum on tribe.net (https://www.tribes.tribe.net/tevah) to share their contributions with others. In this forum, you can also discuss and comment on other’s insights.
The main body of the project is a blog (http://bioregionalanimism.org/earthsvoice) where people can post their contributions. This way, everybody will be able to view contributions and participate in an active discussion on the implications of the messages.
By including information about the plant, animal, or other being with the submission, we can in time examine the similarities in messages between members of a genus or species. There are infinite amounts of ways we can make connections. The possibilities are endless.

The Importance of Recognizing Inter-Species Communication
This sharing of messages from communication with non-human forms of life is vitally important now. By sharing these messages and insights, we can begin to examine them and look for common themes and meanings. From that we can begin to sculpt a larger picture of where humanity is at, what it is doing, and where to go from here. But for this we need the input and perspective of beings from other areas of the biosphere.
Efforts like this will open doors for greater inter-species partnerships by validating this connection and giving it an outlet. This is but one step among many that need to be taken. By providing an opportunity for these delicate voices to be heard, we will also expand our own linguistic and psychic capacities to communicate with other-than-human life forms.
The earth changes and vast ecological destruction we now face presses us to do this work. To help shift the underlying patterns behind the actions that cause this destruction, we need:
1. communication between humans and other species,
2. discussion and integration of these insights, and
3. social support and validation of this type of work.

You can contribute directly to the project by posting to the forum or blog to share your insights, revelations, and messages received. You can also help spread the word by letting people who might be interested know about this collaborative project.