In this month’s blog posts about love, we have touched on self-love, romantic love, and respect – a name we use for appreciation in the workplace. We round out February by highlighting a primary, longstanding form of love – the love of our home, the Earth.

Our indigenous ancestors, wherever they lived on this great planet, revered our dear Earth. Love for the Earth (and by extension, the Cosmos) has been a core human value for longer than we have recorded history.

Mother Earth loves us, yet how do we know this? Well, how about because she bears us, feeds us, clothes us, shelters us, and, when our body is finished living this life, she receives us, unconditionally. Is this not a demonstration of unconditional love?

Through love for Earth we may realize our kinship with all forms of life on this precious sphere that orbits the distant sun. This love is encoded within the ancient traditions, many of which continue to exist today, where living in harmony with each other and our planet is so highly valued. In these traditions, we always take only what we need and leave the rest.

Here are a few easy ways to cultivate and express our love for Earth. First, give thanks for the food that we take to live with a simple prayer of gratitude before eating. All of us eat food and, eventually, all of us become food. Second, be outdoors. Go barefoot, even, to the forest, to a park, or to the beach, and connect with the powerfully healing and harmonizing energy of Nature. Third, donate to an organization that advocates for Earth, whether by setting aside land to remain undeveloped or by planting trees, for example. We like to support 8BillionTrees.com.

Communion with Earth brings us back to who we truly are. Here is a poem reflecting a moment of communion with Nature…

Through my senses

the Earth may hear

the sweet songs of her birds,

feel the massage of her wind     

through my hair,

and smell the fragrance

of her flowers and rushes.         

Through my senses

She is complete.

All hail the harmony of mind and Nature.

© 2020 James K. Papp, February 26, 2020