The Garden: Back to the Beginning

About 3.7 billion years ago, life came to be on the earth.  The Bible tells the story thus:

In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth and the beasts of the fields and the fish of the seas, and the fowl of the air, and the “creeping things”.  And God created humankind.  And He created for them a Garden, a beautiful paradise.  And he gave them a purpose: care for the garden and for each other.  Care for the animals.  Live in peace.  And, Genesis tells us, it was good.

Around the world today, in places far from paradise, we are witnessing horrific events unfold like soul-shattering nightmares. Attacks in Ukraine, destruction in Gaza, massacres in Syria and Iraq…  And just over a week ago, an unarmed young black male was shot and killed by police in Ferguson, Missouri.  A tragic event which led to protests on the part of the outraged citizenry, which in turn have led to local police in Ferguson donning riot gear and turning military-grade weaponry against those same citizens – the ones they have pledged to ‘serve and protect’.  All of this, leading to images of an America that we do not recognize, in a world broken and grieving.

Humanity is not living the divine connection between each other, let alone honoring that which was created to exist with all life on the earth.

So much has been written about these horrifying, heart-wrenching events. So much has been said.  I am compelled to scream in sorrow and frustration: How did we get here???  But I stop short of doing so because I realize that that is no longer the pressing question.

We are here.  This world – humanity – is capable of creating life experience which honors the interconnected web of all beings.  It is what we were created for, as an integral element of this earthly planetary system.  But the questions need to change.  We are here, now. Regardless of the path that led us astray from our intended purpose of interdependence and connection, we must deal with that which lies crying out for attention before us.  The pressing question today is: How can we move forward and heal?

How can examining our current reality through the lens of The Garden call us back to harmonious, peaceful existence?  How do we get where we are meant to be going?  We are screaming and we are crying.  We are talking and we are writing.  But what are we doing?

~ Christiana