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Dear Friend,
Last evening I watched a PBS News report on artisanal gold mining in the Philippines. The gold harvesters are children as young as seven years, small bodies capable of working in small tunnels. The gold processors are older children playing with mercury.
Gold
a precious metal with healing properties
long coveted by human beings,
may also cause human blindness
leading to the ruin of most every other
living form. I do mean to say
gold is alive.
Everything has a life of its own. Though human beings can study interactions and acquire great knowledge about the way things work, this knowledge is necessarily compartmentalized and limited to what the human being can know in an infinite sphere of knowing. The human being is brilliant ignorance, which is an amazing way to be when the implied mystery is regarded.
Gold. Human beings can begin to end the harms by ensuring that the rest of it stays underground. We can also help to heal the ground, mending many relationships torn by a lust for riches.
The relationship with bison is pivotal. Infinite gratitude goes to projects like Yellowstone to Yukon and American Prairie Reserve that aim to reconnect what has been fragmented by fences, physical and mental boundaries.
In the current paradigm, these projects unfortunately involve the purchasing and privatization of land. Still, the protection is a vital step in a return to the way of a commons, which is a mindset human beings are adopting because the alternative means war and the tools of war have grown intolerably atrocious. Thankfully, the change is happening.
I am not convinced that near term human extinction is definite, nor am I convinced that many who are now on the edge of existence are beyond revival. I want to see if R. Buckminster Fuller was correct in his assertion that all human beings can enjoy the essentials of comfort if more is created from less. I want to see all beings included in the equation. I want to see human genius put to the test, to see the end of extracting what is underground, to see the efficient and effective wise use of all that has been extracted to date. I want to see what comes after the gold rush.
Lament None
This final post with American bison and the turn to whale next month has me thinking about what ex·tinc·tion wit·ness is because the project was initiated as I explored possibilities for sharing The Whale Memorial online. What is ex·tinc·tion wit·ness doing and what am I doing here?
To the first, please see the ex·tinc·tion wit·ness project statement below.
To the second, ex·tinc·tion wit·ness is my spiritual practice. I am entangled with everyone, no matter the distance between us, and some more than others it seems. I make a ritual of the sorrow I experience with their passing by offering this monthly revolving witness in a request that my sorrow be witnessed by you and with invitation for you to share yours.
THE BLESSED LORD SAID:
You are mourning when there is no cause to lament,
and yet you speak words that seem to be wise.
The truly wise lament neither for the living nor the dead.
~Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2 Verse 11
I want to be clear that my sorrow is not suffering. I am not grieving, depressed or despairing. With an estimated 200 species going extinct each day and a steady onslaught of horrific end of life stories, sorrow is the emotional tsunami of the global village.
In my experience, expressing sorrow resolves the experience of loss and prevents lamentation/suffering. Feeling and staying in touch with feeling allows life energy to flow freely and encourages the precautionary principle, avoiding harm whenever possible.
Staying in touch with feeling prevents the exploitation of self and other, and is the key to allaying species extinction.
When a person is first informed of the present mass extinction and learns about all who have been slaughtered up to this day, the deepest sorrow naturally arises. It behooves educators to provide resources for students so that this sorrow may be efficiently and fully experienced. This care will renew many individuals otherwise lost to depression and liberate passion vital for ecological regeneration.
If you find yourself depressed and despairing, I encourage you to explore opportunities for community grief ritual and then to engage in a regular spiritual practice of creatively expressing sorrow.
In sitting with the potential of near-term human extinction, Melissa Sylvan, who has contributed 'Rift' to today’s collection, engages in a brilliant cathartic practice of collage making and offers collaging workshops in Virginia. Sherrell Cuneo facilitates a quilting project to raise awareness of endangered species with invitation for you to join by contributing a story panel (see Sew the SEEDS project details below). Persephone Pearl pours her creative life force into performance with Feral Theatre. Janine Benyus inspires and instructs others in designing intelligent products. There are countless strategies for expressing life energy and each person offers a unique brilliance to each strategy.
Please keep in mind, too, that sorrow expressed in relation to loss of other species and the shattering of one’s own worldview is complicated by personally inherited and collectively inherited trauma, a multitude of possible wounds experienced through an upbringing in an extensively material-oriented culture.
Freeing the self from suffering requires the resolution of personal wounds. The experience of sorrow is very different from the experience of lament, depression and despair. Depression results from severing direct access to life energy, also known as Love, Great Spirit, The Creator, The Source, and God among other concepts. Sorrow results from being connected with life energy and is the vibrational equivalent of joy. Very early, the human child either confirms or severs the direct connection to life energy depending on the health of the child's primary relationships.
The experiences of sorrow and joy are fleeting and in constant flow. The steady state is peace. When severed from life energy, the steady state is a subtle depression with despair and mania at the extreme of the experience.
In this transient world of form, loss happens. That which inspires profound joy, a child or a dearest companion, goes away and may go away forever. Sorrow is the healthy response to loss and is not lamentation over the loss. Sorrow is fleeting, though the primary wave is the most intense and can be so intense that the body does not survive the experience.
Chronic grief, or lamentation, is the stagnation of life energy and is a suffering that requires resolution because living in the past compromises the person and all of the person’s present relationships and responsibilities. Yet, space must be provided for the individual who experiences ongoing waves of sorrow. If I have experienced the loss of my child or my most cherished companion, I may forever weep in fleeting waves of profound love as I am reminded of the joy it was to hold that one in my arms.
Sorrow is God speaking.
Time will tell if the archive of endangered species is too soon to become primarily an archive of the dead. If the disenfranchised will not be remembered in the world, they are at least being remembered in documentaries and memorials, in poems, paintings, and museums.
May those who feel lost know that they are remembered and adored.
Go gently.
Love and Blessings,
Megan
image: Once They Were Giants by Denise Monaghan, 9"x12" oil and gold leaf on wood panel
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Narrow
The way to heal an old wound is to dig in
with a urine-washed claw, scrape the bottom
then write a poem about that
A poem beginning with
To live is to dive into the Sun, is to become
the alchemy of water and fire
Absent of breath, the fissure something of
and other than a soul not belonging to a life of its own, a divide
mended by thoughts in print revealing thin lines
with wholeness surrounding
where souls entangle in a combustion of misery, voilà!
Compassion is more than a possibility.
The writer’s short sighted hand recounts far less
in a poem ending with
Everyone but the witness dies in the fire.
~holli
meganhollingsworth.com
image: Rift by Melissa Sylvan wildsparks.blogspot.com
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Sew the SEEDS:
Saving Earth’s Endangered and Diverse Species
a community arts quilt project
about endangered species
inspired by the Names Project
Make Your Own Panel
Design the panel.
Include common name, scientific name, and anything else you want.
Choose your material. Medium weight cotton works best.
Think about the source of all materials.
Consider reused and repurposed fabrics.
Each panel should be 3’x6’, plus a couple of inches for finishing.
Backing is a good idea; batting is not necessary.
Create the panel. Techniques can include appliqué, paint, stenciling, collage, and photos. Fabric glue works well. Thick paint can crack and peel. Photos can be scanned and printed as iron-ons.
Schools, please sign the back of the panel with school, grade, teacher’s name, and all students’ names.
Individuals, provide your name and any other pertinent information.
Find out about your species, why it is endangered, and what can be done. Report your findings.
Send pictures of your panels, and what you've learned to Sew the SEEDS.
info at sewtheseeds dot org
see Sew the SEEDS for more information
panel: Sea Otter by Ms Harada and Ms Rabina's sixth grade homeroom classes
Thomas Starr King Middle School, Los Angeles, California
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ex·tinc·tion wit·ness
project statement
Definitions provided on the home page of the ex·tinc·tion wit·ness website include definitions for bare and compassion.
ex·tinc·tion wit·ness exposes unconditional love and realized empathy,
that is empathy free of suffering.
There is also the definition for extinction as the term is applied in physics, reduction in the intensity of light. All life forms are expressions of light.
ex·tinc·tion wit·ness bears witness both to the reduction of specific manifestations of light (an estimated 200 species passing each day) and to the renewal of light in the human being.
ex·tinc·tion wit·ness understands darkness and calls the light back through the realization of the person's direct access to life energy, also known as Love, The Creator, The Source, and God, among many other concepts.
ex·tinc·tion wit·ness honors mystery and encourages the protection of light in all its manifest diversity.
please see
Invitation to Pause
3:44~minute introduction to ex·tinc·tion wit·ness
featuring the work of a few contributing artists
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"Political movement on the issue of climate change
will be like the rise in average
global temperatures ~ non-linear.
Things like the Pope weighing in...
to demand action,
tip the balance.
We will look back at this time
and wonder how
it could ever have seemed impossible
to get political action on the issue."
~Karyn Strickler in response to
things to see & do
This Changes Everything
by Naomi Klein
Project Drawdown
DRAWDOWN (ˈdrôˌdoun) n.
The point at which concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere begin to decline.
‘What’s Possible'
2014 UN Climate Summit Opening Film
First Policy Switch:
From a strategy of reducing problems to reversing them
Blindspot Think Tank, UK
"People are not inherently destructive and economic activity need not remain dependent on exploiting people, planet and the potential of the future. The economic vehicle need not remain stuck in reverse, making reverse progress. Janis Birkeland (2008) offers the third strategy option of ‘positive development’: 'The view that negative impacts are an inevitable consequence of development has blinded us to the obvious. We could design development to increase the size, health and resilience of natural systems, while improving human health and life quality.' "
read the First Policy Switch...
Women's Climate Action Agenda
Women's Earth Climate Action Network ~ WECAN
Derived from the collective efforts of the 2013 International Women's Earth and Climate Summit, major points of the Women's Climate Action Agenda action plan include: limiting global warming to 1.5-2.0 °Celsius ceiling, urgency to protect intact forest and assist with forest regeneration, leave almost all of the remaining fossil fuel reserves in the ground and stop further fossil fuel exploration and development. Women are calling for an emotional connection to all children, present and future.
read the Women's Climate Action Agenda...
Climate Disruption
a film by Kelly Nyks & Jared P. Scott
Climate Disruption tells the why and what of the People's Climate March.
watch Climate Disruption...
Reverberations Of War
edited recording of the 9.5.14 poetry reading at Shakespeare & Co., Missoula
listen to Reverberations Of War...
The Arctic Methane Monster’s Rapid Rise, Jennifer Hynes’ Power Point presentation about the predicted release of a superpower of methane from the Arctic. The presentation is dramatic and inflammatory, and Jennifer Hynes notes her personal belief that there is no avoidance of a Near Term Human Extinction.
The lens one gazes through and how one manages the response to information determines more than can be known.
For the science, it is worth watching Jennifer's presentation.
Much of the information she shares is solid and the danger is real.
However, the conclusions Jennifer draws are tainted with fear, to which we are all susceptible. Jennifer's conclusions are challenged by this review from Steven Running, Regents Professor, Director at Numerical Terradynamic Simulation Group, Department of Ecosystem and Conservation Sciences, University of Montana:
"Well, [Jennifer Hynes] has sure spent a lot of time reading up on this science. The slides shown are from solid research papers and datasets, I use some of them myself. Boreal methane hydrates are real, and there is a lot of it. However the thermodynamics are such that there is no way it could melt out and be released within a year or two, and the biosphere will not simply collapse. Her final statement that within a year the Arctic sea ice will be gone is simply a wild extrapolation. The latest Arctic sea ice data, downloaded 10min ago, shows that 2014 did NOT end up as the biggest melt on record, and there is no evidence that Arctic sea ice will be totally gone by Sept 2015 ie 1 year from now. Antarctica also has a large ice mass this year. So her projection that the ice will disappear and the biosphere will simply unravel in the next 1-2 years simply has no factual basis. I admire the kind of passion and effort people like her bring to the global warming issue, but passing around this sort of misinformation does not help us to have a mature discussion about humanity's next choices." ~SR
It is important to read both Jennifer and Steven, to act now in a steady, focused, determined fashion as if there is no time to stall or sidestep ultimate solutions.
Fracking May Be Worse Than Burning Coal
Bill Mckibben
“In a paper published in the journal Climate Change in May 2011, they concluded that somewhere between 3.6 percent and 7.9 percent of the methane from fracking wells was escaping into the atmosphere as its made its way from underground to end user. Which is a lot. More than enough, as we shall see, to make fracking worse for climate change than the coal it was replacing.
... We need to look beyond methane leakage for a moment, and think about the transition to gas in a larger context. Because if we’re replacing coal with gas, it means we’re not replacing it with something else. .. in fact, in just the same years that we’ve learned to frack we’ve also learned an awful lot about how to scale up wind and sun. And that means that far from being a bridge, the big investments in natural gas may actually be a breakwater that keeps this new wave of truly clean energy from washing onto our shores.
… As it turns out, economists have studied the dynamics of this transition, and each time reached the same conclusion: because gas undercuts wind and sun just as much as it undercuts coal, there’s no net climate benefit in switching to it. For instance, the venerable International Energy Agency in 2011 concluded that a large-scale shift to gas would “muscle out” low-carbon fuels and still result in raising the globe’s temperatures 3.5 degrees Celsius—75 percent above the 2-degree level that the world’s governments have identified as the disaster line.
…to meet that two-degree target (and since just one degree is already causing havoc, we sure should), global gas consumption would have to peak as early as 2020. Which is, in infrastructure terms, right about now—if we want to be moving past natural gas by 2020, we need to stop investing in it now.”
read Fracking May Be Worse...
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“The redwoods were not made to be worshiped,
but they do help us in our worship.”
~Dean Ohlman for RBC Ministries in Celebrating the Wonder of A Tree
"As soon as I got out into Heaven's light
I started on another long excursion,
making haste with all my heart
to store my mind with the Lord's beauty
and thus be ready to any fate, light or dark.
And it was from this time that my long continuous wanderings
may be said to have fairly commenced.
I bade adieu to all my mechanical inventions,
determined to devote the rest of my life
to the study of the inventions of God."
~John Muir
Even if the body survives extreme trauma, the essence of life may be stolen from the body for good. This essence of life is the fundamental concern, for the body is insignificant and dull in the absence of spirit.
In the absence of spirit, the body destroys itself.
For life, there is no guarantee. Human beings have not the knowledge to foretell the consequence of abuse.
We live with uncertainty. Wisdom allows uncertainty to guide our every word and action. If there is any request, it is that we be careful with ourselves, one another, and all beings in light of God’s rapture manifest in us and all.
One thing human beings can be certain of is that we are loved. Human beings belong to Earth as much as any other group of beings.
Human beings have an intelligence and awareness that sets us apart from many while humbling us as we come to understand others.
~Megan Hollingsworth, excerpt from THE WAY OF UNCERTAINTY continue reading...
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VIRGIN 
(7:20 ~minute film)
see VIRGIN at Vimeo here
The title references virgin
in the original sense:
“Virgin was a label of strength and independence
by being used to describe the goddesses who were immune
to the temptations of Dionysus, Greek god of seduction
and wine. Virginity was once a term of power.”
~Palo Alto Medical Foundation
VIRGIN weaves poetry and song to convey a message of compassion for the perpetrator.
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a brief on
VIRGIN
includes some of the poetry
featured in VIRGIN and a brief
on the intent of this production at vimeo
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From Amazon Watch: 12.6.2014 "hundreds of indigenous peoples from communities across the Amazon joined together on a beach in Lima, Peru to create a massive "human banner" image to promote awareness about territorial rights for indigenous peoples in the global climate conversation." read more and see the banner...
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Feral Theatre's
Funeral for Lost Species
Please see this short film for highlights from a performance and sculpture installation at St Peter's Church, Brighton Fringe Festival, May 2011. Many artists contributed to this innovative exploration of extinction and ecological grief, in which audiences and participants engaged on a visceral and emotional level with humankind's power to destroy and create.
See 'Funeral for Lost Species' on Vimeo
Also please see The Life Cairn Project
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this Extinction Symbol is NOT
an ex·tinc·tion wit·ness creation
and ex·tinc·tion wit·ness encourages
the placement of this symbol
in public spaces
you may even tattoo this on your skin
per the request of the artist
who is based in the UK
please DO NOT commercialize
the extinction symbol
ie please DO NOT print the symbol on t-shirts
mugs or other products for sale
please create this symbol
in your own way
in a special place
preferably in view for all to see
Thank You!
more at Extinction Symbol
join in at flickr group
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