Listening from beyond our Ears
Listening from beyond our Ears 12/23/2019
The urgency required for dealing with our climate crisis and with all that is being done, e.g. calling for leaving fossil fuels in the ground, ending the use of plastics, and recycling, actions that are undeniably important, there is yet a deeper change that is more important. The change that needs to be made is to relearn how to live in oneness with all that is of the Earth, when for the last four millennia our religious belief have told us that we have dominion over the Earth, a belief that has led us to take from the Earth anything that would increase our financial wealth. This deeper change is understood by our indigenous brethren.
Living in oneness with the Earth is to listen to and following the voices of the spirits of the Earth, of again being one with all life, of understanding what each species has to say and teach. To listen in this way goes beyond using our ears but requires us to listen from a deeper level. One clue for knowing how to listen is to listen to and understand our nighttime dreams, dreams that have much to teach us. From this deeper state of consciousness, whether a dream state or trance state, we can sit quietly with our animal and plant spirit guides to hear what they have to teach us. This is hearing from beyond what is heard with our ears. There are many who have learned to listen in this way and there are many different ways of opening ourselves to listening in this way. One way is the way of Ecstatic Trance, a shamanic form of trance that I practice, teach and write about. Our hunting and gathering ancestors listened to the Earth’s flora and learned what each plant has to offer them for their health. They listened to the Earth’s fauna and learned the skills that each animal, bird, fish, and insect has to teach them. In this way all flora and fauna are their teachers, are looked to with respect, and not looked down upon with an attitude of superiority. We need to return to this way of listening, a skill that is available to us if we open ourselves to it.
The urgency required for dealing with our climate crisis and with all that is being done, e.g. calling for leaving fossil fuels in the ground, ending the use of plastics, and recycling, actions that are undeniably important, there is yet a deeper change that is more important. The change that needs to be made is to relearn how to live in oneness with all that is of the Earth, when for the last four millennia our religious belief have told us that we have dominion over the Earth, a belief that has led us to take from the Earth anything that would increase our financial wealth. This deeper change is understood by our indigenous brethren.
Living in oneness with the Earth is to listen to and following the voices of the spirits of the Earth, of again being one with all life, of understanding what each species has to say and teach. To listen in this way goes beyond using our ears but requires us to listen from a deeper level. One clue for knowing how to listen is to listen to and understand our nighttime dreams, dreams that have much to teach us. From this deeper state of consciousness, whether a dream state or trance state, we can sit quietly with our animal and plant spirit guides to hear what they have to teach us. This is hearing from beyond what is heard with our ears. There are many who have learned to listen in this way and there are many different ways of opening ourselves to listening in this way. One way is the way of Ecstatic Trance, a shamanic form of trance that I practice, teach and write about. Our hunting and gathering ancestors listened to the Earth’s flora and learned what each plant has to offer them for their health. They listened to the Earth’s fauna and learned the skills that each animal, bird, fish, and insect has to teach them. In this way all flora and fauna are their teachers, are looked to with respect, and not looked down upon with an attitude of superiority. We need to return to this way of listening, a skill that is available to us if we open ourselves to it.
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