Philosophy

Every time I sit down to write, I light a candle, stand in the sun, and ask, “What wants to come through today?”

For the past couple of months, it’s been this: It is our moral imperative as humans to care for every other human, from the weakest to the most mighty. As a species, it is our highest devoir to ensure our collective survival—that is, if we consider ourselves to have any intelligence at all. If that is true, then it follows that we must also ensure the good health and well being of the whole planet, as this is the greater organism we are part of.

…

REALLY?! A fucking philosophy?

Give me a break. (queue teenage-sized eye roll)

I told this to a friend recently and she just laughed. She said that when she thinks of philosophers, she thinks of serious and stoic individuals. She said, “You are not that.” She would be right. I am an irreverent clown. I guess part of being a clown is having moments like these, moments of being Shakespeare’s savant(groans are heard from the audience).

Anyway, this is the book. This is the crap that has been clogging up the pipes. The statement above I do believe to be true, but standing alone, as it is, it is very problematic. It is an idea that needs to be fleshed out. Explained ad nauseum, likely.

For instance, I am not so sure that colonizing another planet will in fact ensure our species’ survival, as others might espouse. I am of the mind that Human is an organ of this greater organism we call Earth. Just like when we take a liver out of one body for transplantation, we can only keep it alive for so long, never thriving, and eventually it will die despite the effort. Putting that liver into another’s body, though technically a fit environment for that liver’s survival, does not always ensure it will live on—that the new host body will thrive. Sometimes, the host body rejects the transplant, and everybody dies.

Not to mention the persistent problems with the whole idea of colonization in the first place. How convenient to think of outer space much as European colonizers thought of the New World—that it is an extension of our Manifest Destiny, that it is devoid of function or sentience until we come to extract its lifeless resources for our purposes. Some might want to use the simplified statement above to justify such endeavors, and I want to share very plainly that that is not what this thought is about.

However, a deeper explanation of all of that will take chapters and citations and references.

For our purposes today, just know that I think this is a completely ridiculous pursuit. Though, altogether unsurprising.

The few years I attended college, it was my philosophy classes that kept me going, and my favorite professor. In fact, I loved the subject so much that I joined forces with some of my peers to create an unsanctioned philosophy club. We would meet at each other’s homes regularly and exchange ideas of what we were reading, our views on the nature of reality, how humans should live, ideas of progress, and all the things. I even attended the philosophy lectures of my friends in Santa Cruz when they were in attendance at a proper college (shoutout to getting schooled on the theories of Kant). I even handed out copies of Daniel Quinn’s Ishamael to all my fellow line cooks one year!

As I explore the theme of Joy in my own life(callback to the Soul Retrieval ceremony from earlier this year), one of my great loves has been to ingrain myself at a favorite coffee shop, read heady works of non-fiction, and pontificate with the other nerds. It seriously fills my heart with such joy to be in conversation so engaging. Make me think! Meet me swimming in abstract thought! I love you.

When considering what it is that I do over here at Mama Bear Medicine recently, it all really boils down to this. This stupid damned statement from this irreverent Raven.

“It is our moral imperative as humans to care for every other human. If that is true, then it follows that we must also ensure the good health and well being of the whole planet, as this is the greater organism we are a part of.”

My Druid ancestors are practically dragging me forward so that they can have a chance to speak.

This is a voice for the trees.

This is the reason why I have shifted in recent years from being a Reiki-heavy practice, to returning to my roots and sharing the practice of shamanic journeying. I was born wired with the drive for spiritual seeking. I was raised with the openness and support to explore many different avenues for this desire, from attending Latin Catholic masses to introductions with concepts like Seven Arrows and The Red Road. I was guided to the opportunities to learn these ancient and off-beat ways.

Now, they want to be shared with you.

Not so I can cram my stupid ideas down your throat. Not so you can sit at my feet like I know anything. But, so that you can experience for yourself what is available from your own body, your own life, your own connection to Source.

Then, maybe you can share that with me!

I share shamanic journeying, and all that flows from that practice in my own life, so that you can feel the wisdom of your own ancestors and guides—so that you can hear the voice of the trees.

You are your own interpreter of dreams.

I want you to feel your own connection to All That Is, to experience the path of direct revelation. Then, I want you to act from that place. It is my belief that when each of us is acting individually from this place of connection, we will help to heal the issues that currently plague the whole of humanity. Things like despotism, greed, extractive practices, abuse, oppression and Othering at so many levels, all of this will start to heal and resolve as we individually start to discover the sentience of the Life around us, that we are an integral part of. From that place, we all can choose how best to care for humanity and how to enjoy this life as truly sovereign beings.

Then, of course, we will get to experience a whole other set of problems. (she laughs).

This article was originally published on Substack. You can read the original here.