Embracing Nature As Our New "Normal"
What is Normal?
Should we be dreaming of the day when life returns to “normal”? Or, might we make better use of our precious time and energy imagining and cultivating a new normal, one that we can step into with confidence, integrity, and unity? One that systematically transforms the very roots of the vulnerabilities that got us into this mess to begin with; that shifts from the language of warfare into employing a new language to make sense of our place in the world - discarding the militaristic attitude we inhabit in business, politics, agriculture, even (and especially) medicine (“the war against cancer”, “antibiotics”, “fighting a cold”), and inviting in practices and frameworks of meaning based in peace, cooperation, and optimism.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, most folks never had cause to examine or question their notions of normalcy. As uncomfortable as it may make us to turn our perceptions of reality inside out, in the end it is a gift that allows us the opportunity to consciously redefine our philosophical sense of reality. We can stop blindly living according to some superimposed or gratuitously inherited system of being, and instead cocreate a new vision of community which honors the truth of our place within the greater ecosystem we call Home. Perhaps we can allow ancient wisdoms, like that of Chinese Medicine, to guide us in the process.
We are not on the Earth, we are of the Earth
In the metaphysics underlying Chinese Medicine, humans are recognized as a microcosmic embodiment of the Earth, and by extension, the entire Universe. The patterns that transpire in the human body parallel and resonate with those that exist in nature. All forms of being on Earth (including viruses!) are simply unique manifestations of one universal Qi, the “substratum of the cosmos,” the essential quality of being and evolving.
“It’s a question practically of relationship. We must get back in relation, vivid and nourishing relation to the cosmos and the universe. For the truth is we are perishing for lack of fulfillment of our greater needs. We are cut off from the great sources of our inward nourishment and renewal. Sources which flow eternally in the universe. Vitally, the human race is dying. It is like a great uprooted tree, with its roots in the air. We must plant ourselves again in the universe.” - D. H. Lawrence, ‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover’
When we connect to and care for the land, we are simultaneously attending to our own wellbeing. But, when we see ourselves as separate or superior, we inevitably exploit and desecrate the Earth. Ironically, we ensure our own suffering in the process.
Dis-connect, Dis-embodiment, Dis-ease
Our extractive and consumptive lifestyle pollutes the very air we breathe, making us more susceptible to both chronic and acute disease. Many studies* undertaken over the past year reveal a strong relationship between air pollutant concentration and COVID-19 cases/mortality. As the health of Earth’s soil deteriorates, so too does the soil of our gut. We poison the soil through modern agricultural practices, deforestation, etc., and we poison our bodies with chemical-laden “food” and “medicine” derived from that very soil. The result, in both instances, is a barren and incapacitated ecosystem, deprived of and divorced from its innate prerogative - the perpetuation of Life itself.
Somewhere along the way, we lost our connection to and reverence for the Earth, and consequently to our own bodies. This is our fundamental dis-ease, and the root of the rest.
“The global crisis is a crisis of disembodiment. The root cause of impending global catastrophe is the fact that we have completely lost our connection with our bodies… We disembody, and this is intimately tied up with the fact that, as modern people, we live in a culture that survives through exploitation” - Reggie Ray, Touching Enlightenment
Returning to Wholeness
The health of our bodies is a reflection of the health of our environments - something the current pandemic has made abundantly clear. A societal remembrance, reclamation, and implementation of this truth is at the heart of our hope for a future marked by vitality and integrity.
We can marry the wisdom of our ancestors with the creative spirit of our present in our quest to restore health to life on Earth. By adopting values and implementing practices that put us back into deep knowing with our own bodies, and that honor the innate healing capacity of natural systems - such as acupuncture, herbal medicine, and regenerative agriculture - we can begin to remediate our plight.
“In showing how the health of people and nature are intertwined, the COVID-19 crisis has underlined the need for a step-change in how we view and value nature. By reflecting that value in decision-making – whether we are talking about economic policy or personal choices – we can bring about a rapid and lasting shift toward sustainability for both people and the environment.” - Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP
From Crisis to Possibility, From Lockdown to Freedom
We have witnessed and endured great suffering over the course of the past year, and yet it is clear that this time of crisis is also offering us a momentous opportunity for healing in myriad ways. In my own life, and in bearing witness to the journey of my patients and friends, I have learned that more often than not, the most seemingly infelicitous moments reveal themselves as cherished gifts once we are able and willing to acknowledge their necessity in our protracted awakening.
When we get wrapped up in a stagnant narrow way of seeing things, we are quick to judge events as good or bad, fortunate or unlucky, but as cyclical time reminds us, these events are not isolated, and one cannot possibly know how they might lend themselves to the unfolding of the greater story; to the sumptuous and labyrinthine evolution of Life itself. As the farmer in the old Chinese parable teaches us, the only valid response to life's happenings is "we'll see."
Whatever we may be facing - be it painful or pleasant - is a transitory yet indispensable wave in the tide that shapes the shore of our lives. The [healing] journey is not linear & may not intend to enchant (despite its proclivity toward the miraculous), but there is immeasurable beauty in the scars that once were wounds and untold wonder in the perpetual cycle in which they transform.
“Sometimes our vulnerability is our strength, our fear develops our courage, and our woundedness is the road to our integrity. It is not an either/or world.” -Rachel Naomi Remen
*https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7590817/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7265857/
https://www.ijph.in/article.asp?issn=0019-557X;year=2020;volume=64;issue=6;spage=132;epage=134;aulast=Sharma
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7328542/#bib0130
https://energyandcleanair.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/CREA-Europe-COVID-impacts.pdf