The Secret of Enough – Part 2

(For Part 1 of this article/blog post see here)

What is enough? Enough is different for everyone. Most of us in the Western world do want some luxuries and modern commodities and some of it can be supported by Mother Nature (if we are wise about it), but many of us have gone overboard.

In The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight Thom Hartmann reminds us that our current society lives under the myth that “some stuff will make you happy, then twice as much stuff will make you twice as happy, and ten times as much will make you ten times as happy, and so on, into infinity.” (1)

And although greed has been around for eons, it has only recently extended to such abusive actions towards our Planet as to threaten her (and thereby our) very survival. Where did this current greed come from?

In his essay, “The World of Wonder” in Spiritual Ecology, Thomas Berry explains that in North America this attitude of acquiring grew as a result of our lack of embracing or understanding the concept of “Earth-based spirituality” when we first came here from Europe.

He reminds us that not only did the Indigenous people understand the relationship between heaven, earth, and its people, evidenced by their rituals and ceremonies to evoke the powers of the Universe, most ancient cultures did as well. He tells us that the pillars in India, China, Greece, Egypt and Rome “were established to delineate a sacred center which provided a point of reference for human affairs and bound Heaven and Earth together.” (2)

Barry explains that we came to America from Europe believing we were religious, educated, scientifically advanced, and able to create our own political organizations. We “saw ourselves as a divine blessing on this continent. In reality we were a predator people on an innocent continent.”

We saw a land that could allow us to break away from the “monarchical governments … and their world of royalty and subservience,” but rather than be in awe of the grandness and beauty of this land, we saw it as a “continent available for exploitation.” Although we were searching for new values, our attitudes of greed and control did not really change; nor did they reflect the values of the native people already here. (3)

In large part, except for the few who have rejected commercialism, such as the Mennonites, Indigenous peoples, and certain rural tribes, having lost the connection to the concept of enough and respect for our Planet, most societies have fallen under the spell of acquiring and greed.

Our Planet is meant to support us. If we return to a reciprocal relationship with Mother Earth we will all have access to its life-affirming energy: we will all have enough. Returning to the wisdom of nature at this juncture in our evolution and with our growing population is vital!

See here for information of my newly released Why We Are the Way We Are – Book 1 of my new ‘Our Journeys to Peace’ Series

As I was exploring various subjects when researching for my book Your Journey to Peace …, (whose concepts this article is based on) a notion was growing in me that the Indigenous peoples’ gentle nature and connection to the earth were somehow connected to the healing of Humanity. I was directed to various answers.

More of what I discovered is further explored in my next article/ blog post, “The Indigenous Beliefs and Our Planet’s Healing.” I will explain how eons ago the Indigenous peoples around the world actually made a conscious decision to forego industrialization so that they could show us the roadmap back when we had lost our way – when we had forgotten about the secret of enough and the importance of our connection to Mother Earth and of our reciprocal relationship with her.

(This article is based on Chapter 9, “The Planet and Abundance” from my book Your Journey to Peace … About Book here   See here to Buy Book (available in print and e-book formats).

~ Rosemary McCarthy© April, 2018, December 2018

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Notations

(1) Thom Hartmann, The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight: Waking Up to Personal and Global Transformation (Northfield, VT: Mythical Books, 1998), 235.

(2) Thomas Berry, “The World of Wonder” in Spiritual Ecology, The Cry of the Earth, a collection of essays edited by Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, (Pointe Reyes, CA: The Golden Sufi Center), 15-17.

(3)  Ibid.

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Copyright © 2018 by Rosemary McCarthy. All rights Reserved. To copy, share, or distribute this post simply ensure the content is copied in its entirety, is unaltered, and is distributed freely and for no monetary or personal gain, and that this copyright notice and the link for the article and the website: www.spiritedfawnpublications.com/ are included. You can contact me at: rosemary@yourjourneytopeace.com. Blessings and thank you kindly. Rosemary.