Why I'm a Spiritual Liminalist, Part 3

I freely renounce the invasive Middle Eastern species: Christianity.

I freely renounce all its diluted variations: Deism, Spiritualism, occultism, Perennial Wisdom, New Age Spirituality.

I freely renounce all Middle Eastern monotheisms.

I freely renounce the Western Eastward turn.

I renounce all religion.

I dig down to the deep roots of Western culture

and reverently touch them:

Ancient Greece and Rome.

Ancient Germania.

Europa before Christian corruption.

I absorb the tonic of my roots.

It warms my heart and heals my spirit.

It strengthens and inspires me.

I’m an Earthling.

Earth is my mother. I am from her.

Her spirit is my spirit. She gives me life.

My body is from her. She feeds me and

quiches my thirst.

Earth is my home.

I was born here. I’m living here. I’m

dying here.

From Earth I came and to her

I will return. She is my womb

and tomb.

The Spirit of Earth

Like a dancer on ice skates, Earth spins. Who knows how long her dance has lasted or will?

When I walk through the woods, I see that the path on which I walk differs from how it looked yesterday. Rocks appear today that weren't there yesterday. In some places the soil is dyer than it was. In other places, the wind has rippled sandy soil.

Earth moves. She's alive. Spirited.

Wind spirits Earth. So does water and fire.

No weak, demurring spirit is she. Her solid strength supports the weight of all. She bounds raging rivers and waterfalls and limits stormy seas.

And yet her strength is passive and receptive: She-

Absorbs all liquids, the heat of fire and Sun, and the cold of ice and snow

Allows herself to be blown by the wind and takes on wind's humidity and aridity

Hardens with dryness and softens with rain

Receives the remains of the slain

Earth gives her substance to the physical bodies of all:

Mountains, valleys, caves, and plateaus

Grasses, ivies, flowers, shrubs, and tress

Fish, bugs, animals, and birds

We all are her children: born of her through our mother's womb, nourished by her plants and animals throughout our life, and received back when we die.

We are kin.

We honor her when we live following her lead.

In Gratitude to Mother Earth and All Our Kin

See the beauty of Earth. She her as mother and forever home.

Give joyful, heart-felt thanks to her for giving us the gift of life. She sustains us as a loving mother does. 

Give equal thanks to Sun, Moon, planets, and all the stars. Indeed, it takes a village.

See all the living as older sisters and brothers. All of the plants and animals were here long before we were. They are older and wiser in the ways of life than we humans are. They are patient and generous teachers.

We humans are the youngest of Mother Earth's children and often behave immaturely as the youngest in the family do. We do well to respect and watch and learn from our elder kin.  

Our plant and animal kin do not depend on us in order to live. We depend on all of them. From them we have much to learn. We also have much for which to give thanks to them.

Contra Teilhard: I'm Not a Spiritual Being Having a Human Experience

Some believe we are spiritual beings having a human experience. They believe we're visitors in this world, in human bodies to learn things for a while, but our true home is somewhere else. It's beyond in some unseen "spiritual" realm. In other words, they believe we're extraterrestrials, aliens from another place. Maybe some of us are.

As for myself, I'm a terrestrial, an earth man: fully human, from the humus - earth, water, wind and fire. I'm spirited, alive, like other living beings, only for awhile.

I'm not just a visitor here. Earth is my home. She is my mother. From her I came. She sustains me. To her I will return.

I'm not a spiritual being. I'm a human being creating my own experience as I go.