“The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us the less taste we shall have for the destruction of our race. Wonder and humility are wholesome emotions, and they do not exist side by side with a lust for destruction.” Rachel Carson, Author and Activist
We do have to focus our attention surely on the annihilation of values and liberties that threaten the wellbeing of each other and the planet on which we live. We cannot live in denial. And, as Rachel Carson reminds us, the more we fill our awareness and sharpen that lens of attention on the wonders right in front of us – the translucent jellyfish, the effervescent retriever, the sparky and sparkling firefly – the more likely we are to protect that wonder and diminish the risk of destruction. The more likely we will feel revitalized, comforted, warmed and welcomed…and ready to do what we can to ensure wellbeing and justice for our neighbors, and our sisters and brothers and furry and flying ones in other lands.
In the coming weeks I am sharing a number of free and low cost offerings aimed to bring alive again a sense of amazement and appreciation for the incredible gifts of our very existence. It is an honor to be invited into conversations about our resilience, certainly, and about beauty and goodness and the uplifting qualities that radiate from so many of around the world who aren’t in denial about the darkness around us and choose to elevate the best in themselves and each other.
I hope these offerings may serve you.
I hope that they enable you to be filled once again with a kind of astonishment that each of us has a chance, in the places we inhabit, to witness something lovely or sweet or tender or life-giving each and every day, if only we pay attention. If only we look, just as Carson did, throughout the entirety of her life.
Love, Maria
