We were fortunate to be gifted not one but two books this Christmas. One is thin and less than a hundred pages and the other is substantially longer.
The former has an interesting title ‘ SPIRITUAL ECOLOGY’.
The authors Llewelyn Vaughan -Lee and Hilary Hart attempt to awaken our spiritual response in the light of our ecological crisis. There are short chapters about ordinary everyday activities such as cooking, cleaning, gardening and walking. By guiding us to be mindful we can experience afresh joy, thankfulness, awe and wonder. The holy can be found in the seemingly mundane. We are invited to feel the deep connection between nature and humankind and be prompted to actively care, pray and love our wonderful earth.
In being asked what we can all do the Zen Buddhist Thich Naht Hanh once replied ‘We need to hear within us the sound of the earth crying’.
I think it was opportune to read this little book in this season of new beginnings, covenants and resolutions.
The second book coincidentally is somewhat connected.
Chloe Dalton has written a memoir called RAISING HARE .
She was a city dwelling professional with a high powered job and returns to the country in the pandemic. She has a chance encounter with a very young leveret and not knowing the first thing about hares she hesitantly brings it home. She chronicles her care and growing love and admiration for this hare as she observes it developing. She has a deep respect for it as a wild animal and through extensive observation and research she recognises the invisible mechanism of nature that we don’t fully understand and would tamper with at our peril. She notes the extraordinary resilience of nature against all odds and concludes that though the future looks bleak there is hope if we can continue to learn, discover and act with love and care for our fragile earth.
She acknowledges that raising a hare has made her a better person and shifted her entire outlook on life. She has since become a prominent advocate for wildlife, sharing her extensive research in animal welfare and uses her platform to raise awareness of the impact of human activity on the countryside.
Spiritual ecology at work!