Remain Faithful To The Earth

 Remain Faithful To The Earth

“Remain faithful to the Earth, my brothers and sisters

With the power of your virtue. Let your gift-giving love and

Your knowledge serve the meaning of the earth.

Thus, I beg and beseech you. Do not let them fly away from earthly things

and beat their wings against eternal walls.

Alas, there has always been so much virtue that has flown away… back to the body, back to life, that it may give the earth a meaning… Verily, the earth shall yet become a site of recovery. And even now a new fragrance surrounds it, bringing salvation– and a new hope.”

Friedrich Nietzsche                                                                                                                           Cited in Prayers for Healing

As I understand him, he warns us against becoming too esoteric, or “airy” in our spiritual pursuits! His was a grounded response to life and for our awareness. He declared that our actions are to service the purposes of life on earth; and in the way we respond to our bodily existence, to our place in nature, and our responsibilities to life on earth will be the measure of our lives. 

He calls us back to the body-to a greater appreciation and validation of our physical existence. He asks us to become more viscerally aware and more somatically reverent; attentive to ourselves as flesh, animal, and allow that reality to guide our actions, knowing that if we serve the earth well, we care for ourselves in the best ways possible.

If he were alive today, he would be a fierce advocate for living more ecologically; more responsibly on the earth. I would contend that he would be a champion for a more somatic and sensory approaches to education and for body-centered therapies; and that by being respectful of nature and more aware of our own physicality as a marvelous and meaningful way of living, we would promote more hope on earth for all humankind.