Not much has happened on this blog recently, because I have been tired a lot. Last week it turned out that I have a vitamin B12 deficiency, which may explain the tiredness. I had this deficiency before and have been taking vitamin B12 supplements since then, but apparently I didn’t take enough. My energy levels are hopefully on the rise now that I have started taking extra vitamins.
During these weeks I started with my own version of mindfulness meditation. Every morning I take 10 minutes to start the day in peace. I usually sit it in the backyard with my feet in the grass, and if I’m lucky with my face in the sun.
I’m also reading the book Spiritual Ecology, edited by Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee. For me it is an endless source of wisdom.
One piece of wisdom that I think about a lot, is what it means to be human. In an interview that I listened to, Llewellyn said we should go back to our essence. On a spiritual level, we are first and foremost children of God, or however you want to express that: created in God’s image, small particles of God’s soul, filled with God’s Spirit. This is also true (perhaps in a different way) for the rest of creation.
When we see nature as a commodity, we lose all respect for the intrinsic value of creation. And if we define ourselves only as consumers or professionals, we are selling ourselves short. According to Thich Nhat Hanh that is exactly what happened in the industrial West:
We have constructed a system we can’t control. It imposes itself on us, and we become its slaves and victims. For most of us who want to have a house, a car, a refrigerator, a television, and so on, we must sacrifice our time and our lives in exchange.
(Essay in the book & on The Ecologist)
As I sit in my garden chair and watch the pear blossom and the clouds, I realize that I am part of life on the planet. That feeling is the basis for the choices we make for our future. My life does not need to be defined by the treadmill of working to pay the rent.
I recently watched the movie Cowspiracy, highly recommended. At the end, the film deals with the spiritual element of a vegan lifestyle. Veganism offers people an opportunity to give more space to values like compassion and kindness: “Values that are natural to human beings, you put that in. You build that back into the story of our food.”
Just being human, it’s not that complicated.
A fish cannot drown in water,
A bird does not fall in air.
In the fire of creation,
God doesn’t vanish:
The fire brightens.
Each creature God made
must live in its own true nature;
How could I resist my nature,
That lives for oneness with God?Mechthild von Magdeburg, 13th century