For Session #3 of the ongoing course called: Thriving into the Emerging New World, Jeremy Lent presented Transforming Pathways for a Life-Affirming Future. As hoNework, Mattie Porte, our host, offered several reflection questions. The one that captured me and relates closely to this ongoing blog series is this: “Jeremy points out that as we progress further into this century…it is becoming clear that our generation, along with the next, is engaged in nothing less than a struggle over the future of what it means to be human. What does it mean to you to be human?”

I grabbed paper and pen and began writing. Short sentences slammed onto the page –: I live. I breathe. I vibrate. I am aware. I move. I sense. I respond. I eat. I evacuate what remains. I transform matter into energy. I experience – awe, wonder, delight, doubt, resistance, courage, sorrow, horror. I create, create, create – every moment I create. I love love love and love some more. I trust, trust, trust and trust some more. I respond. I am conscious, noticing, taking in, giving back. I belong…

Yes. I belong. I am embedded in living. I haven’t always felt this way. There was a time in my life when I wished my feet would not touch the ground, because I knew I crushed civilizations beneath my weight. Now I choose to believe that my life passing through gratefully, lovingly, delightedly nourishes the land. I smile often – just because I’m so happy to be alive, to be in this body.

BUT
AND THIS IS A BIG BUTT!
THIS BUTT IS CALLED MY BRAIN.

The human brain witnesses, labels, categorizes, decides, explains, analyzes goodbadindifferent, overrides intuition, second guesses gut wisdom. Thinking really IS a pain in the butt; separates our heads from our bodies, claims humans as superior to everything else.

 We are thinking animals –weighing options before choosing an action. We have a range of responses, maybe more than most other animals because they are confined by their habitat which is largely determined by US. We don’t have to eat huckleberries. A bear does. We don’t have to eat salmon. But for a bear carrying unborn babies, salmon makes survival possible. In general, we, as human animals, have more choice over what we eat, the region where we live, how we quench our thirst. Being an urbanized human today means we skim the surface of life. Heavy-handed. Light-fingered. We take little or no response-ability for how we use our skills, gifts, knowledge and blessings. We care little about nurturing relationships with other humans, other cultures, or the web of life on which our lives depend. That’s delusional thinking.

I doubt turtle, big-leafed maple, hyena, pheasant, trout or cat question the meaning of their lives. I doubt our ancient human ancestors questioned life either. Maybe we ask that question because we have reached a point in our evolution as a species when we’ve lost touch with our souls, with what’s important about being alive.
Which reminds me of Bede Griffiths statement: “We’ve come as a human race to the moment (when) we will have to choose between adoration of the divine – within and without – or suicide.”

So, I leave you with this question: What’s important to you about being alive?