This is a Joy of Life

I am an artist and a writer, so it makes sense to have a blog to offer my voice with. But this site did not begin out of a desire to promote my art especially. I began this site out of sorrow and an agony of sorts; when I learned about the vast and ominous amount of plastic that has been found in the Pacific Ocean, and the effect this has had on sea life, namely albatross, sea turtles, whales, fish and their young. I felt a deep pain. I felt a despair. The news is overwhelming with its implications now, and for the future. All I could do to move forward was to write, as my first post was, “Longing For the Seven Generations Legacy of Hope“.

Sometimes news is stunningly painful. The reality of it juxtaposed with our technologically advanced lifestyle is jarring. I stumbled to the computer with the absolute necessity of doing/saying something to express the importance of the present moment — to express love, compassion and hope for all life; to state how desperately the present moment depends on each of us. I have learned this the hard way.

Big emotions can be useful if they are channeled properly into creative, productive actions. This I have experienced. One of my best paintings, named “The Present Moment” (owned by Viterbo U.) was painted with a tremendous feeling of anger. But the painting itself is not angry, it is beautiful.

It depicts many states of being all at once; prayer, grief, alienation, old selves falling away and the true self being revealed, and nature moving all around and through these states. It felt good to claim the present moment, to claim a truth in the midst of pain. I will never forget that usefulness of taking a difficult feeling and pouring it into the moment in a creative way.

This is a joy of life.

I dreamed about whales last night. Whales who depend on the Pacific Ocean and who live in the Arctic. They were relating to me, asking me a question, a wordless question. My answer to them was, “Yes.”

Whales are perhaps one of the most inspiring animals I have ever seen. They hold such a gentle power of life in them. The Native American teachings hold them as record keepers, holding history of our earth in their very beings, in their ancestry, their language and their breath.

I return to the big emotion that began this blog. It was despair. Grief and sorrow that threaten to overwhelm is what despair is. Despair is also a giving in to a complete loss of faith. It is a tragic state, and helps nothing.

Using my voice and making links to good information on the web about the plastic crisis in the ocean has been productive and helpful. Many people are concerned about this. Thousands visit to learn more. The changes upon us are serious and beg for our attention and energy.

As I mentioned before, I am reading Eckhart Tolle’s book “A New Earth”, which is reminding and re-enforcing good practices within me. He talks so well about the present moment, and how practicing and choosing to be conscious of one’s own presence/awareness in the now, is to have a good and healthy relationship with life. God is in the now. As I reflected on this I came back to a realization I have had about fish/sea life and consciousness.

I have been reading about whales, birds, turtles, fish and polar bears who are starving and/or are dead and filled with plastic particles and plastic parts—water/soda bottles, bags, condoms, packaging.

We cannot afford to disconnect from these facts.

Mighty precious life is filling up with garbage instead of food.

They are not a ‘they’ we are somehow separate from. This precious life that is starving and dying with plastic is us — undeniably connected/linked/part of.

We are inter-connected and this does call for a response. If we are overfishing, if we are polluting to the point of death for countless beings on the planet and their young, then, we and our children face the same dangers. We have a responsibility to respond to the best of our ability. This is a part of the present moment.

Something tragic happened to me when I was not attentive to the present moment. I lost someone close to me in an accident. What a horrible pain it is to lose someone you love because you are not paying attention; because you are not consciously tending to the present moment, but rather ‘lost’ in the thoughts in your head.

I received wise counsel on that painful day. It was this, “Accidents can have devastating results. You must vow to forgive yourself. And realize how even the smallest of moments, how each moment depends on us, depends on us to be aware. Each moment is important.” I learned the hard way.

Now I see beings, family members of this planet whom I love, dying because a lot of us are not aware enough. And when we become aware– the grief of the reality is hard and sharp. Well, there is still time to awaken and ‘make waves’ for the common good. In this moment, in this ‘now’.

This is one voice speaking, seeking the myriad of others/fellow beings who are aware/awakening to also act and respond, however they are able, with peace, compassion and the joy that comes with creative right action.

I seek and request for each of us to take our pain/despair/anger and channel it into productive action for the common good of life. Nature is speaking to us. How can you respond?

In my dream with the whales in the Arctic last night, I said ‘Yes’, and with that yes there was discomfort. It was a discomfort that one may experience when going above and beyond what at first seems possible with love. Not unlike the pain a woman withstands in order to birth a child. The pain of effort in connecting can have a great life giving purpose –a necessary discomfort for the sake of life.

My favorite quote from Tolle’s book is “the urgency of transformation”, for truly this is where we stand right now. How can we not talk about this? How can we not respond? This is difficult, but not impossible. As Tolle suggests, start with your breath and give life all you can in the present moment, it is all we have.

Regarding whales and plastic in the ocean:

Garbage from Hawaii to Japan

Grey Whales Face a New Threat

Grey Whales Over-Winter in the Arctic

I claim the ‘yes’ in me for the present moment, for the sacred connection to all life on this little planet… to the whales, albatross and polar bears and all those who are suffering an emptiness and dying, that is in great part due to our lifestyles and unconscious choices, the unawareness. That suffering is an urgent call for us to  (as Eckhart Tolle explained so well,) make friends with life by saying yes to this present moment.

Mitakuye Oyasin,

Chandra

Response to PBS “Nature: Arctic Bears”

which was on last night–http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/arcticbears/. This was a classic professional naturalist presentation of the reality of life for polar bears and grizzly bears in the Arctic, as it is now.

This program brought out so many clear observations and a lot of different feelings. Not just sadness. I knew it might be difficult to watch, but I was intrigued by the idea of grizzly bears and polar bears meeting because of the increased warmth and melting of the permafrost.

And once it was on, I saw the incredible beauty of our Earth and the animals, that were too good and wonderful not to watch. The sounds that a baby grizzly makes and arctic foxes make are too good for words. To know that we belong to such a gorgeous ecosystem makes me feel of value.

The way the bears move and live is as captivating as ever. My daughter wondered at the beauty of the landscape, asked if it was real. I was glad to say, “Yeah, that is real, that is our earth right now.” So we watched. And it is a tracking of the bears struggle to adapt and survive these big changes. Of course the pain and sadness come with the polar bears who are not able to stretch far enough to survive, though they try as hard as anyone does who is gifted with life on this planet. And when they come in contact with human civilization, that too is painful. They are suddenly dirty and in a landscape of poverty and filth. They find our garbage, some food at last, wrapped in plastic. They are too close. Guns are out and signs about how humans and polar bears don’t mix. They are then put in ‘jails’ until they can be transported back away from people.

I got really sad at the end of the program. And my daughter said, “Then why do you watch it?” I replied, pleased that she would ask, “How else can we make good choices? Just because it is painful doesn’t mean I shouldn’t watch. I need to know. We need to know. So we can make better choices.” And hopefully demand better choices, I am now thinking.

So polar bears and people are at the top of the food chain. Grizzly bears are adapting very well and good. Their danger and threat comes from humans who would drill for oil in their only refuge. Then they would be just as vulnerable as the polar bears who have lived on seals for so long, they do not remember how to forage like the grizzlies. And their longer migrations and upset patterns take them into the unknown.

People might want to look at the polar bears as if at a mirror.

They are our fellows at the top of the food chain, facing changes they have no choice but to try to adapt to. Their pain/failure/struggle in adaptation is ours as well, deny though some may. However, our habits are more problematic than the polar bears. We are harvesting too much food from our resources without a deep belief and action of reverence for its balance and future. We look at the bears entering into our civilization and we want to protect ourselves or look with apathy, instead of looking deeper into the movement of our fellow earthlings who know by instinct what they must do to survive. What questions do we need to be asking right now, of ourselves and our leaders?
If we turn away from the polar bears, shutting down our compassion, what can we expect for ourselves in the future?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPZPxGoNnn0
Click on the link above to watch “The Mantis Parable” on youtube.com for a poignant and relative reflection regarding these kinds of issues.

Thank you.

Related links:
Rex Weyler from Greenpeace has a blog called ‘deep green’, which I am subscribed to, this is a must read, I recommend it for the foundation, history and foresight: http://www.greenpeace.org/international/about/deep-green.

This next link is about the politics of corporations in relationship to polar bears: http://exxonsecrets.greenpeace.org/blog/exxonsecrets/2007/11/04/why_does_exxon_cares_about_polar_bears

And here is a link to presidential hopefuls and their stances on environment, specifically regarding drilling in the arctic reserve:
http://www.2008electionprocon.org/energynationalparkoil.htm

The North Pacific Gyre, The Plastic Vortex, The 8th Continent:

Looking for accurate and informative resources regarding the enormous amount of plastic garbage in the Pacific Ocean?

Follow the links below to better understand the importance/urgency of changing our habits, and drastically reducing daily throw away plastics and the general “throw away” mentality from our lives for good, and to seek positive solutions.

This page was last updated August 2009:

Most recent (August 2009):

National Geographic reports:  Plastic breaks down fast in the Ocean

Wallace J. Nichols posts on (April 2009) recent surveys and abstracts regarding the plastic pollution in the ocean and in sea animals, as well as reflecting the historical progression with graphs.

And for organizations dedicated to healing the ocean link to Ocean Revolution and also this Eco News Release with links to several other sites working to help the oceans, like adaywithoutplastic.org, LIVBLUE.org, shrimpsuck.org and seeturtles.org.

NPR on the vortex

Garbage from Hawaii to Japan-UK Independant

The Oyster’s Garter…re: images of the Gyre… and more

Greenpeace International on the plastic polluting the Pacific

Bloomberg.com on “Plastic mistaken for Plankton”

~

As I try to do my best to change my habits and really reduce throw away plastic and other needless garbage from my own daily life, especially, plastic bottles and shopping bags, I am mortified by how threaded it is through so many actions and things we take in a day. Suddenly I see the little wraps of plastic to seal the lid of a product or the packaging of something I am buying and I think of the dead and starving sea turtles, albatross and others with plastic filling their stomachs. This is obscene.

We as people need to take broad and firm action in this matter. Laws need to be passed that prohibit certain uses of plastics and reign in tightly the chaos of its production and disposal.

It is difficult, I have learned, from the above sources, to have a photo or satellite image of the plastic vortex. Most of it is submerged and breaking down, lots of it as tiny as plankton. It is a big complicated mess. There is not just one area of concern, there are many.

If we look for signs in nature with a spiritual eye, this is certainly one that does not speak well for us or for future. The animals who live far from us and our disposable lives are consuming plastics and dying of toxins and emptiness. May we recognize the urgency of this reality.

Certainly hope may rest heavily on the spiritual at this point. Faith must be grown strong especially in the darkest of times. Nothing is impossible for God. I am relying on this trust now, in a time when prayer and individual action may not be enough. However, there are countless loving, intelligent, capable people and groups/organizations who can make a difference here — young, old, and all the rest. May it be so.

with earnest hope and love for this life,

Chandra

Longing for the “Seven Generations” Legacy of Hope

I long for a legacy of goodness and hope for all the young people of the world and for those yet to be born. I join with those who seek healing for Mitakuye Oyasin (“all my relations”), as the Lakota people have taught. This is the basis of right relationship to all life.

I have always had hope without blinders on regarding the realities of this world. However, I have believed and experienced also, the uncommon, the miraculous, magical potentials as well. Beauty does not cease, though it may be hidden or fleeting. Though I was a child of the 80’s witnessing everything from Greed to Star Wars, I was also rooted in the land, Narnia and The Muppets. Go ahead and laugh. This is true. One of the first generations brought up with media and television of the new era.

Gathering rocks and witnessing the ant hills that were strangely tall in our fields, making mud pies in solitude with the presence of sun beams on my shoulders, that is when and where I sensed God and, I felt and trusted hope. If you were to peer into my life at that time, at the sheer dynamics of my family, hope would not have been your first thought. Now, decades later, that hope has endured, though not without the despairing valleys. So what, that is the way things go.

I am a hopeful one still. I remember reading dear Anne Frank and how she still believed in the basic goodness of our kind. I reflect on this, because surely, that gift of hope does wane in me now. I have a child. Reading about the plastic vortex in the ocean and the difficulty of retrieving the small particles of broken down plastic and the ramifications of it is a compounded agony, which includes the war, the changing Constitution, and the beginning of a water crisis.

Deep sorrow is appropriate. Outrage is called for. I was crying terribly last night. What a blessing it was to cry to my Husband, whose heart is compassionate, tender and strong.

Hope is being lost. So, my mind and heart crawl to what wisdom I can find, like, “Faith, Hope and Love, but the greatest of these is Love.” So, if I lose my hope, Love remains within me and around me. I have no doubt of that. Love is what motivates the agony response to our present world.

There are no Presidential candidates who are addressing issues such as, the plastic vortex crisis in the ocean, the water crisis beginning in our Nation/World, appalling violations of the Geneva Convention, the appalling and anti-life standards in factory farms, the underground slavery/disappearance of children and adults (especially minorities) in this country/in the world who have no rights or protection, the need to close the S.O.A. and holding Government officials accountable for crimes committed and the state of the Constitution, to name a few.

Kucinich is the only person who comes close to being real and true so far in this process. But media treatment and unscientific polls neutralize him. Gore is green, to a good degree, but he’s not running. No one has stood up yet and said,

“Water is the most important issue on this planet. We can’t live without it. If you elect me as your President, I am going to put priority on making clean water available for all people. We are going to make reducing pollution and loss of habitat our priority over corporate greed, convenience, instant gratification. Your lives will have to change. All our lives will, for the good of many hopeful generations to come. We have habits to break. We can no longer be of the ‘throw away’ mentality. We can no longer sprawl and consume to the death. We have many powerful attributes we need to depend on more as Americans and world citizens, such as our ingenuity, inspiration, visionary solutions, profound discernment and a relentless disciplined effort. In securing the health of our home as far as we are capable, we will also make priority the needs of the millions of children living in poverty and violence in this country and in the world. This will lead us to eliminate the contamination of our food chain with inhumane and unhealthy practices that occur in factory farms, in the polluting of agriculture, industry and our own plethora of waste. In fact, any practices that treat any life as an expendable object must cease, that we may lead by example and give evidence of our love for our own life source and our own children. We must also engage our vast global family in concerted efforts to uphold these priorities. The process of peacemaking, hope-making, restoration, if unrelenting in our commitment, holds the promise of resurrection. ‘If not now, when?’”

Well, no Presidential Candidate is giving the Great Speech, or anything like I have offered above. Where are the leaders of great heart and mind, rooted in wisdom, ethics and compassion? And if there is one, such as Kucinich, I will not vote for him, because no one will. The power of democracy is in a strangle hold. The good man is discredited and shot down. Why? Because of his height? Because of his looks? Everyone’s looking for an Alpha male, is that it? Are we just predatory creatures, voting by size, brute force, voice and breeding and nothing else? This is not what the voiceless would choose. This is not for the greater good.

The war is an important topic too. It needs to end. Not accelerate. The troops returning (injured, traumatized) are being left behind by it’s own, it is immoral. The damage done to citizens is more vast than ever. The amount of care and restoration that is already needed here and abroad is enormous on all levels. May we not be overwhelmed. The restoration of our Constitution is quite important as well. What if the next president does not restore the Constitution, but alters it further? What then?

Each day, at the personal level, I, we, must continue to find resolve , to choose love, compassion, perseverance and to live with a sense of responsibility. Each day is an opportunity to find and offer love and healing despite the tempest and the raging. However small my life, I recognize the importance of each life I encounter as beautiful, as a gift, as necessary.

The Sacred is what we, I, seek. The way is challenging and I am often failing. I will try again today.

peace,

C.S.S.

*(Addendum: as of February 4th, 2008, I believe Barack Obama could be the hope for the Nation, he has given a great speech. He has touched on many of the important issues, Let’s see what’s next. Right now, I would vote for him.)