“The GAIA ( Greek Goddess) is a theory of the Earth as a living organism – where the living and dead materials are interrelated.” ~ Dr James Lovelock

Overall, the Gaia Theory is a compelling new way of understanding life on our planet. It argues that we are far more than just the “Third Rock from the Sun,” situated precariously between freezing and burning up.

The theory asserts that living organisms and their inorganic surroundings have evolved together as a single living system that greatly affects the chemistry and conditions of Earth’s surface. Some scientists believe that this “Gaian system” self-regulates global temperature, atmospheric content, ocean salinity, and other factors in an “automatic” manner. Earth’s living system appears to keep conditions on our planet just right for life to persist!

One useful analogy that has been proposed for understanding Gaia is the California redwood tree, Sequoia gigantea. These trees which stand in great groves along the northern coast of California and elsewhere can stand as high as 300 feet and weigh as much as 2000 tons. Some of them are more than 3000 years old.

Redwood trees are like Gaia because 97% of their tissues are dead. The wood of the trunk and the bark of the tree are dead. Only a small rim of cells along the periphery of the trunk is living. The trunk of the tree is similar to the Earth’s lithosphere with a thin layer of living organisms spread across its surface. The bark, like the atmosphere, protects the living tissues, and allows for the exchange of biologically important gases, such as carbon dioxide and oxygen.

There is no doubt that a redwood tree is a living entity. While much of the Earth may be considered “non-living”, the fact that all of these non-living parts are involved to some extent in living processes suggests that the whole Earth is alive, just like a redwood tree.

“Everything is the product of one universal creative effort. There is nothing dead in Nature. Everything is organic and living, and therefore the whole world appears to be a living organism.” ~Seneca(65 AD)

“The same stream of life that runs through the world runs through my veins night and day in rhythmic measure. It is the same life that shoots in joy through the dust of the earth into numberless waves of flowers.” ~Rabindranath Tagore

With his famous equation E= mc2, Albert Einstein proved that when you come right down to it everything in the Universe is energy…it describes the world as an undivided whole in constant FLOW in which all parts of the Universe are continually interacting…and this energy is at core of everything in the Universe and has one Intelligent movement in a cyclical direction.

But this contradicts our conventional belief that we have our own separate body with its own inner energy in which we are in control and can move in any direction we wish…although all parts of our body move in cycles our mind attempt to move in a linear past and future by being preoccupied with a personal story.

Our language is noun oriented with the most important noun being “I”…but there are no nouns or things in the Universe but instead One intelligent energy in which we all share including the sun,the moon,the trees ….everything!… we are all related to everything in the Universe…our assumption of having a separate self with a separate energy is nothing but an illusion.

When we look at anything we also see our own energy…and the whole Universe becomes our intimate family removing any feeling of being alone or lost…life and death is just another cycle but our relationship to the Universal energy is eternal.

“A human being is part of the whole called by us universe … We experience ourselves, our thoughts and feelings as something separate from the rest. A kind of optical delusion of consciousness.” ~Albert Einstein

“A human being is part of the whole called by us universe … We experience ourselves, our thoughts and feelings as something separate from the rest. A kind of optical delusion of consciousness.” ~Albert Einstein

Science has now faced us with the illusion of being a separate self…currently both Quantum and Relativity theories agree in describing the world as an undivided whole in constant flow in which all parts of the universe are continually interacting .as yet these theories suggesting a new human identity have not yet been integrated into our social belief systems….and there is no doubt it will be met with great resistance since the core of our values are based on being a separate self rather than a flowing energy interacting within a Universal Intelligence.

Our illusion of being a separate self acts as an important adaptive tool for functioning within a society…however we make the serious error of thinking this adaptive tool is our real identity…the error implies we are in control of who we are and responsible for the success or failure of our separate self…as a result our personal history both past and future is our continuous preoccupation and source of effort…..instead it would dramatically be more realistic to identify with a “flowing self” which is consistent with Universal Intelligence.

We are not that far from our flowing self when remembering as a young child how life seem to be such an exciting adventure and the world was full of magic… however that seemed to fade out when becoming an adult…when young we were rather free of social conditioning and expectations…but most of all we were more in harmony with the energies around us and with a fascinating awareness of life’s beauty.

In early childhood we are much more in touch with our flowing self…that is the spontaneous and playful but intelligent interactive movement within ourselves… there was no need to explain or analyze this feeling,but only to enjoy the experience…our flowing self is inborn and can’t be taught because its source is beyond our conscious control.

The true value of a human being can be found in the degree to which he has attained liberation from the self.” ~Albert Einstein

Source: Permaculture

Cyclical and indigenous cultures contend that all natural processes are cyclical (i.e., naturally repeating, archetypal, inter-related with surroundings) rather than linear (i.e., not repeating, unique, separate).

In linear thinking, exhaustion or death on any level is a failure. In cyclical thinking exhaustion and death are seen as natural, as letting go of old ideas and going within.

Cyclical is seen as a period of release and gestation, this ‘going within’ is deeply integrated with the following inevitable ‘birth’ phase. In cyclical awareness we are thankful for the going within that winter provides.

Life and its cycles can never be truly described as any part of a straight line. The circle’s true nature is that ‘This too will pass.’ Life is an unavoidable mix of ease and difficulty, joy and sadness—the one always turning into the other.

If we learn to embrace the Circle, we see there is sadness and joy in each moment. This is the deeper lesson of the Yin/Yang symbol—not alternating good-and-bad, but the eternal, simultaneous ‘Both.’

Applying linear thinking to cycles seems to be a fundamental aspect of bipolar ‘disorder’ (a word which implies some understanding of ‘order,’ an understanding not clearly evident in our culture).

When we see ebbs and flows as linear instead of parts of a larger cycle, we put too much energy into avoiding the unavoidable. We tend to see natural processes as Nature’s moral responses to our own successes or failings. We think that perpetual expansion depends only on our acting ‘correctly’ and ‘doing all the right things.’

These expectations are deadly to self-esteem, since rises and declines come of their own accord and can rarely be diverted.

Cyclical thinking cooperates with natural cycles, expanding when expansion is called for and then moving within, paring down and releasing outmoded ideas when contraction is supported—thus being better prepared and more adaptable when the next expansion phase occurs.

Societal consequences of viewing a cyclical world through a linear filter include alienation from Nature, production systems which consume more energy than they return and a compulsion to respond to Life’s inevitable ebbs and flows with manipulative, often violent attempts at unilateral control (seen in both individuals and societies).

Linear thinking attempts to replace wonder, awe and uncertainty (the only ‘sane’ responses to the miracle we call ‘Life’) with a false sense of ‘control.’

Instead of fixating on ‘control,’ cyclical cultures seeks to recognize existing natural cycles and to harvest from each at a time that enhances or at least does not harm the natural movement of that cycle.

The defining shortcoming of modern agriculture has been the abandonment of natural cycles. Having created farms as disconnected groups of poorly-related linear processes, we then have to constantly add energy, materials and other resources in order to keep those processes moving and restarting.

In a modern farm, whenever the energy and nutrient inputs stop, the farm stops. By isolating all the elements of the farm both on the ground and in our minds, we have lost the natural interactions which make true ecosystems self-renewing.

An example of linear thinking carried to its (il-) logical extreme in agriculture is failing to return wastes to the soil. Organic nutrient cycles having thus been abandoned, we now have to continually add chemical fertilizers and pesticides to keep the soil ‘functioning.’

Sadly, chemical fertilizers and pesticides lack beneficial micronutrients and in fact are actively harmful to many of the soil organisms most critical to soil health and nutrient recycling (including the familiar and extremely important earthworm). This shortcoming necessitates, in the linear mind… what? More chemicals!

Thus a negative feedback loop is created (the ‘cycles’ created by linear thinking are called ‘vicious circles’).

Source: Circular Time

“Nothing ever gets anywhere. The earth keeps turning round and gets nowhere. The moment is the only thing that counts.” ~Jean Cocteau

The traditional Native Americans conceive time as being circular similarly to changing seasons. This view of time as a circle or a repeating process creates continuous and unique outcomes that are infinite in possibilities. The circular view of time, if fully realized can do remarkable things to our modern concepts of time. For Example, a belief in continual or infinite time creates a calm refreshing feeling of ‘having time’. The opposite view,linear time, could be epitomized by a man running to the subway station to catch a train. Alternatively, the idea of ‘Circular Time’,which is ever repeating, has quite interesting effects on the concept of space and should not be thought of simply as outer space, but as the entire environment that encompasses their life.

Linear time requires a continous preoccupation with the past and future…as a result awareness of environment becomes secondary and considered an object to exploit to meet the questionable goals of linear time.

Again, this idea of Indian circular time or after a while the loss of ‘feeling’ of time creates unique bonds with the environment, which can be seen in Native Americans sacred mountains and lakes. Once, you lose the idea of time and think of environment first, the land you live on becomes your life. This land is than passed from generation to generation. As more and more people live and die on the same piece of land without the thought of time,the location allows them to find an identity within Nature.

The inherent feeling of connection to everything is felt by the circular thinker because Time has little meaning and location becomes their primary consideration. This connection to space creates a spiritual experience in everyday life. These experiences are felt as patterns due to their connection to time and the communal understanding of their environment.

Some years ago a study compared the self-imagery of Native American children of elementary age with that of children
of European descent. Children of each group were asked, “Please draw a picture of yourself.” The “American” kids
drew pictures of themselves with round face and features, body, arms, legs and a name written nearby.

The Native American children began by drawing in the sun, the moon, and stars. Then the mountains and hills, the river, the grasslands and trees,the village and its people, the extended family and parents, and then their own figure. Then they gestured to the whole thing: “This is me.”

Our (Indo-European) languages tend to be highly noun-oriented with the self or ego being at the center of life. By contrast, quantum theory demands a more FLOW-oriented approach, a verb-based language perhaps that emphasizes FLOW,movement and constant transformation.

Western science had reached the end of linear thought and finally understands the universe is a living, conscious, interconnected organism.Most signficant the essence of our linear ego as a separate entity is now in question.

The indigenous people always have reverently tied to the land,they have been the natural world’s caretakers for thousands of years. They are of the world, living not just sustainably but in intimate relationship with their sacred piece of Planet Earth.

And now 500 years after Western conquistadors subdued and divided the planet, devastating indigenous people on every continent and, while they were at it, pushing the natural world to the brink of eco-collapse, we are turning — some of us — to the wisdom of connectedness that has been ours for the asking all along.

This isn’t easy or simple. Our disconnect from one another, from ourselves and from the natural world is embedded in the Western languages, which break the world into millions of discrete, manipulable pieces, called nouns. Westerners control reality through language, but they don’t evoke it. Indigenous languages are verb-based, intrinsically linking speaker and object in a FLOW of motion that cannot be linguistically sliced and diced.

Quantum and Relativity theories may be very different, but they agree denying the existence of single static particles, they agree in describing the world as an undivided whole in constant FLOW (albeit in completely different ways) in which all parts of the universe are constantly interacting; and that includes the illusion of an observer, the “I”. The universe is characterized by a “FLOW” that integrates everything: individual forms are the equivalent of a still photograph of an object in motion. It turns out that we perceive the “FLOW” of reality through those static images, but those still images are only a simplification of motion. By analogy, what goes on in our mind is a FLOW of consciousness, and not coming from a separate thinker, but are mere instances of the FLOW of thought. Thought is a kind of movement, and concepts are invented objects. “

To put it crudely, one could say that things do not really exist, only FLOW exist. A thing is just “slow” FLOW; that is, it refers to a process that is progressing so slowly so as to appear static. For example, paper on which text is printed appears to have a stable existence, but we know that it is, at all times including this very moment, changing and evolving towards dust. Hence paper would more accurately be called papering–to emphasize that it is always and inevitably a dynamic process undergoing perpetual change.

Source: Over View of Rivers

“How could drops of water know themselves to be a river? Yet the river flows on” ~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Rivers provide us with food, energy, recreation, transportation routes, and of course water for irrigation and for drinking. But where do they start and where do they end? Rivers begin in mountains or hills, where rain water or snowmelt collects and forms tiny streams called gullies. Gullies either grow larger when they collect more water and become streams themselves or meet streams and add to the water already in the stream. When one stream meets another and they merge together, the smaller stream is known as a tributary. The two streams meet at a confluence. It takes many tributary streams to form a river. A river grows larger as it collects water from more tributaries. Streams usually form rivers in the higher elevations of mountains and hills.

The areas of depression between hills or mountains are known as valleys. A river in the mountains or hills will usually have a deep and steep V-shaped valley as the fast moving water cuts away at the rock as it flows downhill. The fast moving river picks up pieces of rock and carries them downstream, breaking them into smaller and smaller pieces of sediment. By carving and moving rocks, running water changes the earth’s surface even more than catastrophic events such as earthquakes or volcanoes.

Leaving the high elevations of the mountains and hills and entering the flat plains, the river slows down. Once the river slows down, the pieces of sediment have a chance to fall to the river bottom and be “deposited”. These rocks and pebbles are worn smooth and get smaller as the water continues flowing.

Most of the sediment deposition occurs in the plains. The wide and flat valley of the plains takes thousands of years to create. Here, the river flows slowly, making S-shaped curves which are known as meanders. When the river floods, the river will spread out over many miles on either side of its banks. During floods, the valley is smoothed and tiny pieces of sediment are deposited, sculpting the valley and making it even smoother and more flat. An example of a very flat and smooth river valley is the Mississippi River valley in the United States.

Eventually, a river flows into another large body of water, such as an ocean, bay, or lake. The transition between river and ocean, bay or lake is known as a delta. Most rivers have a delta, an area where the river divides into many channels and river water mixes with sea or lake water as the river water reaches the end of its journey. A famous example of a delta is where the Nile River meets the Mediterranean Sea in Egypt, called the Nile Delta.

From the mountains to the delta, a river does not just flow – it changes the surface of the earth. It cuts rocks, moves boulders, and deposits sediments, constantly attempting to carve away all of the mountains in its path. The goal of the river is to create a wide, flat valley where it can flow smoothly towards the ocean.

“Life in us is like the water in a river.” ~ Henry David Thoreau

Water is the basis of all life and that includes your body.About 75% of the body is water. Water is the body’s solvent; it is the medium of all chemical activities in the body, which are many. Water is the medium of exchange of all life-giving supplies from one point to another until they reach the cells , and of all wastes from one point to another until they are removed by excretion. Without water, the blood could not move.

Water is the lubricant of all moving parts. It is the regulator of body temperature. The body cells are “water-cooled!” Violent exercise continued for 26 minutes would generate enough heat to coagulate the albuminous substances in the body–similar to cooking the white of an egg– unless this heat were promptly released. The cells are surrounded by water and thus are “water–cooled!”

When there is there is a deficiency of water, the process of elimination will continue, but to do so the blood and tissues will be robbed of some of their water content. This will hinder their normal procedures. If this continues, it may lower blood pressure; headaches , tiredness, and other conditions may result. Constipation may develop. Kidneys , lungs and pores will be hindered in eliminating waste from the body and so the wastes will accumulate all the way back to each cell, and the inside of the body becomes like a stagnated pool.

If one loses all of the stored glycogen (blood sugar) , all of the reserve fat, and even half the body protein, the life is not in danger, but 10% of the body’s water is serious, and a loss of 20-22% of the body’s water is fatal. A person deprived of water will die in 60 to 80 hours.

Psychologically, in going with the flow you strive to always be like water and remembering that water is gentle, and yet it is powerful.It can be still or in motion.It can absorb.It can go over, under, around, and through things.It can dissolve things, float them, or float atop them.It can become hot, cold, heavy, light, invisible, and solid—it can even vaporize.It is formless, and it can adapt to any container.

To be sure, going with the flow of water is embedded deep in our nature. It’s about interrelating with life at the highest possible level and putting our attention on those things that fuel our deepest Self in a world that is ever-changing.

Source:African Rhythmic Patterns

African people throughout the world have a world view which is conceived as a universal oneness.There is an interconnection of all things that compose the Universe. ” The African cosmos is like a spider web: its least element cannot be touched without making the whole vibrate. Everything is connected, interdependent.”‘ This interconnectedness is conceived as a kind of “vitalism” or life force which pervades all of nature: rocks, trees, lower animals, the heavens, the earth, the rivers, and particularly man, who is a vessel for this oneness which permeates and infuses all that is.

Relationships between men and within men are regulated by notions of flow. Flow is rhythm and rhythm becomes a useful way of conceptualizing African people’s rendering of the notion of personality. Definitions of personality in the West emphasize the uniqueness and the insularity of the individual. Because of the vitalism and rhythm that constitute the genetic structure and dynamics of life, it is essentially nonsensical to speak of a separate and isolated entity called the “self.” Rhythm then becomes a key concept in understanding the function of the person from the African perspective. The concept of vibration, movement, or flow unifies all people and all things.

Therefore, the point of emphasis for an African Psychologist would be the relationship and the interconnection between people rather than focusing on the separateness, uniqueness or individuality of people.From the perspective of the individual, the life process is regulated by their submission to the rules of life. The person maintains their internal rhythm by the observance of certain basic ideas of self-respect and respect of others. Proper rituals and relationships that reinforce their connection with the “tribe” (community) renew the recognition of the universal life force that flows within and through the person as a whole. On a very concrete level this is reflected in the considerable social orientation of African people. The very idea of isolation or seclusion among African people is synonymous with madness. The coming together and sharing with each other in a harmonious manner reaffirms the rhythmic flow between self and others.

Dancing is highly symbolic and significant when viewed within this context. The rhythmic nature of music that shatters the illusion of separateness and fuses the listeners into a shared state of being becomes an affirmation of unity among the people.

Throughout the world, social gatherings among Black people constitute a high priority value. Dance is a ritual that actively expresses the reunification of the dispersed forces of oneness. The old pejorative that stated that Blacks have “natural rhythm” and the mockery that has been made of Black Ritual dance is an indication of the misunderstanding of the true symbolic meaning and significance of rhythm and dance. It is particularly disturbing that dance which has such a high spiritual significance has been reduced to the level of raw carnal significance, which is the usual view of things by Western observers who rely upon the empirical as their criteria for understanding the world. (In other words, dance is viewed as a sublimation of either aggressive and/or sexual impulses from the perspective of the popular Western Freudian view).

It is interesting to observe how the phenomenon of participation permeates Black group settings. The common pattern of call-and-response found in all settings from the fields to the church, from political rallies to religious observance; the rhythm of shared participation becomes the tie that binds the diversification of function. The leader in his authority makes a call; the listener shares in the call by responding and supporting the call of the initiator. The rollicking “Amens,” “Right ons,”That’s right,” which characterize the ongoing support of the audience soon obscure the distinction between the speaker and listeners and, again, the motif of oneness is restored. The key idea of this part of the discussion is that it is meaningless to conceptualize an individual personality among African people. When such insular notions are used as the basis for intervening into the life processes of Black people, one condemns their efforts to failure from the outset because such notions are alien to the nature of African people.

Our (Indo-European) languages tend to be highly noun-oriented with the self or ego being at the center of life. By contrast, quantum theory demands a more process-oriented approach, a verb-based language perhaps that emphasizes flow, movement and constant transformation.

Western science had reached the end of linear thought and finally understands the universe is a living, conscious, interconnected organism.The essence of our linear ego as a separate entity is now in question.

The indigenous people always have reverently tied to the land,they have been the natural world’s caretakers for thousands of years. They are of the world, living not just sustainably but in intimate relationship with their sacred piece of Planet Earth.

And now 500 years after Western conquistadors subdued and divided the planet, devastating indigenous people on every continent and, while they were at it, pushing the natural world to the brink of eco-collapse, we are turning — some of us — to the wisdom of connectedness that has been ours for the asking all along.

This isn’t easy or simple. Our disconnect from one another, from ourselves and from the natural world is embedded in the Western languages, which break the world into millions of discrete, manipulable pieces, called nouns. Westerners control reality through language, but they don’t evoke it. Indigenous languages are verb-based, intrinsically linking speaker and object in a flow of motion that cannot be linguistically sliced and diced.

Quantum and Relativity theories may be very different, but they agree denying the existence of single static particles, they agree in describing the world as an undivided whole in constant flux (albeit in completely different ways) in which all parts of the universe are constantly interacting; and that includes the observer, the “I”. The universe is characterized by a “flow” that integrates everything: individual forms are the equivalent of the still photograph of an object in motion. It turns out that we perceive the “flow” of reality through those static images, but those still images are only a simplification of motion. By analogy, what goes on in our mind is a stream of consciousness, from which we can abstract concepts, ideas, etc (forms of thought) that are mere instances of that flow of thought. Thought is a kind of movement, and concepts are kinds of objects. “

To put it crudely, one could say that nouns do not really exist, only verbs exist. A noun is just a “slow” verb; that is, it refers to a process that is progressing so slowly so as to appear static. For example, the paper on which this text is printed appears to have a stable existence, but we know that it is, at all times including this very moment, changing and evolving towards dust. Hence paper would more accurately be called papering–to emphasize that it is always and inevitably a dynamic process undergoing perpetual change.