More than Self Existence

Photo by Robin Stuart on Unsplash

Knowing more than Human Self is an enormous part of this journey. It takes time, I am not going to lie, many in the ‘old ways’ of journeying to know self, aren’t at a space to consider that through their separation they have never found their wholeness. That without discovering ourselves within, as a part of, all things, we never truly know who we are. In fact our journeying to this point has led us through the tail of the snake back into our own self and minds. 

We are in fact beyond this skin. This form. We are formless. 

To know and understand the One Living System means we see beyond our own being to truly recognise that all that is above, below, within, without, is a part of our wholeness. And so to step in to seeing more of Life we must first recognise this point of Being that is all around us.

From the book

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From Soil to plants, we find the deep connection beneath us. From plants to people, we allow all that has grown to flow through us. To the solar skies above – which begins the cycle from solar to soil yet again. there is a weaving of energy that subtly exists between us all, it is alive, thriving, energetic, and exists visibly as the One Living System.

From soil to plants

The deep connection that exists throughout the universe is felt within all sentience for we are but one, each an expression of this. Within each expression we find the universe itself, or as Rumi would say ‘we are not a drop in the ocean we are the entire ocean within a drop.’ The sky looks down at us as its own reflection. Each planet, each plant, each person holds all of the universe within it and so to regenerate, to sustain, to nurture, nourish, we consider the whole. We begin with the soil to plant connections. That the sun and moon, the stars, every planet all sets itself upon this soil, it holds the very beginning for all life.  All that lay within it is a necessary element in the equation of conception. Not only that it provides us with our capacity to live, within its systems we find our own heart beat. Deep engagement with nature and the elements provides us with knowledge in design. A simple example of companion planting can provide pest control, water management, and stronger yields. 

This space also engages instinct and intuition, that to be connected and conversational with the plants as sacred expressions of life allows us to acknowledge them with love, honour with gratitude and protect with vigilance. The soil biochemistry and its vitality is written and spoken about by many scholars, their fields of expertise tell us daily that new discoveries highlight all that can be achieved through the soil. More than, MORE THAN, its carbon sequestering service, within lays its own desire to exist and to fulfil its purpose and role within the Living System. To begin, grow soil. Seeking nothing more from its being other than for it to grow and become. As with all living things, its being is valid and of worth to its own existence, and that then, is valid and of worth to all else that exists from it, including us.

Plants to people

Asking – as we do the Earth, which plant is needed for soil and plant nourishment to build its greatest terrain –  we ask our inner system where do we need nourishment? Where can we increase our immunity and diversity, with what foods? So we build the best terrain for our inner system through the outer system. We are asked to deepen our knowing. Testing, listening, responding – like soil knowledge – becomes self knowledge. How we move to understand our cycles to strengthen and build resilience. We tune into energies and release elements to create our most nourished self. Mimicking – is in our becoming – our being. We learn and become from mimicking. We observe what way can we flow as one with nature? How can we mimic nature in our living? Using awareness and observation as components of being one with nature and her systems – as one system. In what way can we BE a part of this system of life? At all times in mutual benefit to the other, never how do you serve me, how do we serve each other?

From plants to people and beyond

Since time immemorial, the cycles of the Moon have been used as a guide to life in many facets and forms.  This is not based on superstition, rather tradition.  Even science has a significant amount of research showing that the elemental forms of life (such as plants) are strongly, intimately (albeit invisibly) connected to the rhythms of the Moon. Likewise the moon cycles impact human life in many ways, from the ocean tides to the female cycle. This is old wisdom, deep wisdom, dating back to centuries old cultural and traditional knowledge. In reconnecting to this ancient wisdom we reconnect to the resonance of the unified energy that is held between all that lays beyond our Earth and all that lays within and upon it. Rudolf Steiner’s work with Biodynamics is arguably one of the more modern approaches (despite it coming to recognition in 1924) compared to that of the First Nations peoples of our lands who have held all systems as one and navigated the stars in a way that has held our systems in place since time began

Into the elements

In going beyond, we are called also to understand and reconnect with the elements of life, that which are ‘alchemically’ at the base of creation of all things. In allowing the elements to be experienced again, in their visible form, as well their invisible form within all things, we come to recognise an even deeper connection to all things as one. We feel and experience the elements as a part of this language of life for it resonates within our own being when we are exposed to their natural form. The raw truth found sitting around a fire, the ease when floating on the water’s surface, the grounding we long for from the earth when we are off balance, or the air’s capacity to allow knowledge to be drawn to us. We cannot and should not turn from our unique connections to the elements and in living into the system of life, ask ourselves to explore the potential of expansion offered through knowing ourselves in this capacity.

More than human form

There is of course another essential element to the Living System and that is the essential role of more than human form, which is of course referring to all other sentience as animal, plant, insect, creature.

Every aspect of life requires all forms of life for balance of any living system.  Livestock for soil success, as much as being human companions for our mental health. Padfoots, clawfoot, hooves, trotters, to butterflies, bees, frogs, all kinds of above ground livestock, that all play a vital role in building and maintaining an efficient and thriving ecosystem both externally and internally.  Likewise essential is the underground livestock, the earthworms, insects and bacteria that are required for a truly whole ecosystem. There is an abundant need for the ‘having’ of more than human life in every way.  From ground stimulation and movement, to providing space and flow for water, to controlling the delicate balance of life elements, we need all life to complete any Living System.  ‘Live’ stock comes in all forms and shapes and sizes, many without legs, all an essential element, without them we can say that not only is the system incomplete it is not fully regenerated. The role of every living sentience within the Living System can never be ignored or taken for granted.

Sacred system

The final, arguably the most important quality of the Living System, is that it is a Sacred System. It is the Sacred thread of Life that exists within all things as one energy. It expresses itself in all forms at once. At no time are we truly separated or individual, for we are at all times one within all things. We each are unique aspects of the whole and this uniqueness is the quality that life itself calls for to build its symphony. That we and all things exist is proof of our worth and value and we are tasked with stillness to allow our uniqueness to rise and be offered in service to the Living System, as well as silence, through which life’s language is revealed in nature. The sacrality of the Living System is not hard to find. No human could have dreamt of the wide array of colours in the master craftsman’s pallet, nor devised a way for space to give life for all things, let alone for the creation of love in which to continue its own existence. Life is Sacred. That we step in and revere that is all our tasks, that we hold ourselves to moments of breathless awe at the beauty and wonder that stirs us to love, that we take long walks into her arms to return to our very essence is at the core of our being. We are each a thread of sacred yarn destined to weave ourselves back into the web of life’s meaning. That we seek life itself to nourish and nurture its own creation is essential. We are but one of its many creations, therefore listening and observing are the ways to fully embodying her wisdom. As we apply this system we find what works with us and our environment as one. We add things, adjust things, create things, all in response to the Living System as a whole system. It is alive. It is all knowing.

Returning to the foundations of life as the Living System considers every aspect of our wellness and wellbeing amongst that of the whole, from our mental and physical state, our food/home/relationships, our sources, our environment, our connections and becoming as one.  It considers each of us as an entire system as well as our place within that system. It is congruent with making Life whole, and what place we make within that.  It is life’s living philosophy.