there's no place like home

As Dorothy learned the hard way in "The Wizard of Oz", there's no place like home. Such a simple little word -- home. Yet what iconic images it can conjure up for us. I would venture to say that no matter the construction, no matter the “location, location, location”, the idyllic emotions evoked for us humans by the concept of home share way more similarities than differences. Be it ever so humble….home sweet home….home is where the heart is. For most of us, home is our center, our sanctuary. We care for our homes, we protect them. They shelter the people we love, the things we cherish. Sometimes we express ourselves thru our homes’ appearance, often reflecting either who we are or who we’d like to be.

All homes have at least one thing in common though: from farmhouses to penthouses, be they a mansion or a yurt – every home rests upon the soil & rock of this planet. Earth is the fundamental foundation for all of our dwellings, our literal common ground. This planet is our true home in the deepest sense of that little word. Yet for some reason, on some level, we seem to completely ignore that. To say we have taken our global home for granted is the understatement of the millennia.

So, how do we rectify this?

There is a plethora of information about how to save the planet. I urge everyone to read, read, read – and then read some more. Start doing something, anything, today. Think outside the box. Just because everyone has always done it one way, doesn’t mean it is the right way – not anymore. We need to get a lot more radical in our efforts, no doubt about it.

But I contend that in order for that to happen in any significant manner, a large-scale shift of consciousness also needs to occur. We have to readjust our entire mind-set about the planet. I propose we need to revision the earth as sacred.

Perhaps nothing better encapsulates that idea than the term, Mother Earth. Many mythologies both ancient and modern have a mother goddess that embodies the land or the world itself. This timeless idea fits in with the contemporary scientific model of how life began, how we crawled out of the primordial ooze, the proverbial earth-womb. Planet earth is the literal mother of life as we know it. I think our ancestors understood this. Until the industrial revolution, most people depended directly on the land in some way to take care of them, to provide them with shelter & sustenance. It seems obvious we once respected our earth mother by living in balance with her. This was perhaps not some lofty ideal or spiritual redirect, but a practicality; basic common sense. You don’t destroy your own home.

And today, still, even with every modern convenience, with all our contemporary accoutrements, we nevertheless live on the same planet, everything we have still comes from the earth, it’s just harder to see that because of the multitudinous processes involved before it reaches the consumer. But things really aren’t that different for all intents and purposes -- the earth still provides us with everything. And I believe the planet can continue to do so in perpetuity – we just have to learn not to take too much, to stop being abusive gluttons and seizing more than our fair share. Besides, there is no debate, we really have no choice, we must protect this planet because it is our only home. Period.

And mind you, we do protect what we deem sacred, we cherish it and care for it even against the toughest of odds, against the strongest adversity. We humans have been known to overcome extraordinary obstacles by pulling together and facing what needs to be done when necessary. We can do this, we can rise to the occasion, meet the ecological challenge. Absolutely! But if we look at attempting to reverse the present environmental crisis facing our planet as just a means to an end, as merely a necessity based on an inconvenient truth, then it will never take -- it will only be a temporary fix. We’ll end up doing just barely enough, no more. The changes will be like a band-aid on a gushing hemorrhage. Too little, too late. No, what we need is a serious planetary attitude adjustment.

So, how do we do that, how do we change our approach to the planet?

It is time to relearn some of the universal wisdom of our ancient foremothers & forefathers and adapt it for our contemporary times. We must again see the earth as sacred and become passionate about our reverence. We need to fall in love with our home.

And if we are to love the earth as sacred then we need to have a more intimate relationship with her and celebrate that relationship. Our ancestors seemed to know that, too. They participated in the rhythms of the earth, marked the turning seasons with traditions and ceremonies reflecting the earth changes and symbolically linking them with human behavior. Some of our contemporary holidays still bear the mark of those ancient traditions. Gratitude for autumn’s bountiful harvest, honoring light & hope in the depths of winter, celebrating vibrant rebirth come springtime, and joyously embracing summer’s fullness. These are echoes of the past and they are clues to developing a deeper spiritual path for our future, a path to connect with the sacredness of the earth as our home.

In the end, Glenda the good witch told Dororthy she'd had the power to get home all along. We've had the power all along to. We have the power to avert the climate crisis poised to destroy our home. We humans have the courage, the brains and the heart to tackle this problem if we just open our eyes & our minds fully to the truth behind the curtain and stop waiting for some wizardly magic cure. Because after all, there really IS no place like home.