Sending Some Love To Earth

So,

Hello,

Good morning,

Good afternoon,

Wherever you are,

This is Judy Cohen and it's Wake Up Call 488.

And I wrote this wake up call from my office,

And my office is surrounded by these giant oak trees and these huge olive trees,

So it's really beautiful.

I'm really lucky that I get to live and work here.

I love urban landscapes,

Too,

But this landscape is so gorgeous and it just reminds me every day that it doesn't seem like we're remembering to center or protect or love the earth so much these days,

Right?

And I could talk about this in the context of climate emergency and we'd probably all be familiar with that context,

Even if maybe not everybody agrees with everything,

But I want to talk about it and about loving the earth in an even bigger context and just kind of give this a shot and see how it resonates.

So last time on the wake up call,

I was wondering out loud about,

You know,

I was posing the inquiry about whether META is already fully present and operating underneath all of our human obstacles,

All of our greed,

All of our hatred,

All of our delusion,

And just waiting to be uncovered.

And if it is,

Then you know how that probably means there are a whole bunch of folks who,

You know,

For me anyway,

Are maybe full of love and compassion and it's obfuscated,

But they're still full of that.

And I just don't see it that way or I just don't see it that way yet.

And so that's some of my work.

And maybe some of us are doing some of that together.

So then I got to thinking,

Since it's Earth Week,

Earth Day,

Earth Week,

What about the earth,

Right?

And because if all beings are full of love,

Then what about the earth?

Is she filled with love and compassion and joy also?

And is she in balance,

Even though right now she looks completely off kilter?

Is this too weird of a question even?

So I'm wondering about this,

And the reason I'm wondering about it is because it seems like there's something so powerful about nature,

About the earth,

So powerful and also so loving and so compassionate.

So it's I'm not thinking of the personification of love and compassion and joy,

You know,

Like we might think of a dog or a cat or something like that,

But more like a model for the earth.

You know,

Maybe the earth is the best model that we have.

Like she doesn't discriminate.

She's not offering shade in some communities and not in others or hills are only there,

But not here.

She isn't retributive.

She doesn't hate.

She exists in the present moment.

Maybe it's a long billion years present moment,

But she exists in the present moment.

She has no greed.

In fact,

I'd say she doesn't even she doesn't even possess anything,

Right?

So some of you know,

I used to,

I used to teach real estate classes before I started teaching mindfulness at the law schools.

And of course,

Real estate's all about possession and ownership.

And what does it mean to convey a fee simple,

Right?

Or to own one or to make a loan and take a security interest in one,

Right?

And I love that the law gives me perpetual ownership of a slice of earth because it's so silly,

Isn't it?

I mean,

Even if I were to give that slice to my daughter and she has a daughter and she has one and so on,

You know,

Someday that slice is going to be inhabited by someone other than me and my line or by beings who aren't even human or,

You know,

That's if it's inhabitable at all.

So how can we own the earth?

You know,

Even with all these laws,

These constructs that say we do.

And I,

I feel like indigenous people have a more reasonable approach treating the earth as something alive and to be in communal and sacred relationship with.

And I would say,

You know,

From what I know,

That attitude is echoed in mindfulness also in the point of view that we're,

We're all connected,

Right?

And I've heard this mostly talked about in relation to humans and other living beings,

But if the earth is alive and she is,

She has to be,

Then interconnection seems like it has to include earth because all of us are planted here.

I mean,

All of us,

Except certain crew members of certain spaceships.

So when I'm doing formal mindfulness practice and,

You know,

This is something that feels,

It just feels right to me.

The first place I like to touch into is,

Is the earth,

Right?

Just to sense that connection with the earth.

And I mean,

It's because I'm right here.

It's because I'm on it.

And,

And even when I'm feeling ungrounded,

Which is not unusual these days,

Right?

Those moments of ungroundedness,

Maybe you can relate.

I'm still right here.

And so is everybody else.

And so are all beings that we know of so far.

Since the earth is our home,

There's not another home that we have that we know of anyway.

And so I've been adding,

This is why I've been adding the earth to Metta practice for the last few years.

And one of the classic forms of Metta practice is,

You know,

We wish ourselves well,

Then we wish our teachers and benefactors and beloveds,

And then our friends and the strangers to us or the more distant people,

And then enemies or difficult people,

And then all beings.

And then I'm just adding the earth at the end.

And maybe you're doing that too.

And I don't know exactly how Metta works.

I mean,

In the ancient stories,

You know,

It convinces the tree spirits to protect and serve the monks in the forest,

And it tames a wild elephant,

And it does other kind of magical seeming things.

And I don't know if it can do that now.

But what I do know,

And this is just on the ground,

On the earth,

On the ground,

Direct experience,

Is that when I'm practicing Metta,

I'm thinking well of others,

Right?

People right in front of me,

People far away,

Difficult people,

Sometimes even people I think of as enemies.

And that well-thinking or that well-wishing,

It changes my attitude.

And then when I walk into a room in that changed attitude,

It seems like the feeling in the room changes.

And eventually,

Sometimes,

Even the attitude of the other people in the room changes.

And it's not just that the attitudes of others might shift,

It's also my attitude towards them,

Even when they're people,

I've doubted I could believe in,

People I've doubted had love or compassion or wholesome joy in their hearts.

And so in those moments,

Metta operates for me as a kind of suspension of disbelief,

A suspension of my own disbelief in people who are unkind,

Or aggressive,

Or causing harm,

A suspension of the disbelief in their ability to let go of greed,

And hatred,

And delusion,

And wake up,

Right?

And so if Metta works like that,

If it's that powerful,

Right?

Then how might it affect the earth?

That's my question,

The question that I'm sitting with right now.

And as far as I can see,

We're swimming upstream because the general attitude towards the earth is that she's a resource,

Right?

We take what we want.

And after that,

We might try and patch her up a little bit if it's not too expensive or too cumbersome.

So what if we thought of the earth differently,

Right?

What if we thought of her as a beloved and said Metta for her?

A lot,

As a beloved being,

Maybe our most beloved.

And how might we begin to think differently about the earth,

Have a different attitude about the earth,

About owning the earth,

And extracting things from the earth,

And dumping things on the earth,

And ignoring her?

And maybe we would just inherently have this impulse to care for her instead of always taking from her.

So I don't have any answers,

But these questions feel really alive to me right now.

And so if they feel alive to you,

I thought we could do a Metta for the earth,

A Metta practice for the earth today and see how that lands.

Okay,

So let's sit.

So yeah,

Checking in with your body.

How are you doing right now in this moment,

Finding some stillness?

Checking in and feeling into that connection to the earth.

So if you're standing,

Maybe your feet are on the earth,

That would be fortunate.

But even if you're one or two or a hundred stories up,

Just imagining the connection to the earth.

If you're sitting,

The sit bones connecting to the earth or the feet and the sit bones.

If you're lying down,

It's the whole body.

If you're walking,

It's the feet.

Sensing into that settledness of being connected to the earth.

And then call to mind a favorite spot of yours on this earth.

Maybe it's someplace in nature,

Way out in the wilderness,

Or maybe it's just the park across the street.

But a favorite spot of yours on this earth.

And for that spot,

If it's a tiny spot or if it's a huge park or if it's an ocean,

Whatever it is,

Just wishing the earth well in that spot.

May you be safe.

May you be well.

And maybe a little gratitude for knowing about this spot.

Thank you for offering this beautiful spot where I can go sometimes or where I remember going.

And with that warmth in mind or with that warmth flowing through your body,

The warmth for the earth,

Take a moment to think about the place where you're sitting or standing or walking or lying down right now.

This place on the earth.

And it might be far out in nature.

It might be in the most urban setting.

But somewhere beneath the pavement,

There's earth.

And just wishing her safety,

Wishing her well.

A sense of well-being for the earth.

Right where you are.

And then imagine the wider area around where you are.

So it might be a neighborhood or it might be a town or a city.

Might be a wood.

County,

Lake,

The wider space.

And with that wider space in your awareness,

Just wishing that wider space on earth.

Wishing it well,

Wishing her well,

Wishing for safety for that wider space.

May the earth under this city,

This county,

This town be safe,

Be well.

And then seeing if you can broaden that awareness to include the larger areas.

So the state or the province or the region.

Just bringing into your awareness that actual land underneath whatever is developed.

Maybe even imagining what that land once looked like before it was developed.

The hills,

The valleys,

Or the prairies,

The marshes.

And just wishing the earth underneath it.

Wishing her well,

Wishing her safety and well-being.

And then maybe it's a country or maybe it's a continent.

Or maybe it's a hemisphere.

Broadening the awareness even further.

Maybe not including any boundaries at all and it's the whole earth.

Imagining the whole earth as she is developed and also before she was developed.

The earth underneath whatever is visible.

And just wishing well-being.

May the earth be healthy.

May the earth be well.

And just tapping into this sense of connection with the earth and seeing what you can take with you into your day.

And just want to invite you if you do decide to do that,

To put your hand in the earth,

If you can,

Or your feet,

Your toes in the earth,

If you can,

And actually touch the earth.

And offer well-being and maybe one more moment of gratitude as well.

Thanks,

Everyone.

Thank you for being here.

I hope that that was useful,

Interesting.

Take care,

Everybody.

Love you all.