New Nature Spirituality is embodied in the child saddened by the sight of a butterfly bounced off a windshield onto the shoulder of some numbered road... and in an old woman finding reason to go on living in the slow unfolding of a window-box flower. It is voiced in the sermon-scream of falcons feeding on pigeons in downtown New York City, in the spontaneous living prayers of outlaw dandelions erupting in the cracks of every aging sidewalk, in a liturgy recorded in the spiraling reggae of the DNA helix and the twisting conga line of ants ascending a gnarled cottonwood. Its only commandments are "written in stone" in the many "rocks of ages": a testament limestone, granite, and quartz; a demonstration of and demand for authenticity and substance; and the weight and substance of one's commitment to place. Its message carried on the lift of robin's songs, and delivered on the backs and in the hearts of every activist devoted to this Earth's protection.
Spirituality is not just the inspiration and reward. It's part of the 'great work," The most crucial mode of awareness, perception, and connection--the means to the fulfillment of our most meaningful purpose. It is both the literal and liturgical ground for a new start. It is activism's true heart.
("Gaia Eros" by Jesse Wolf Hardin)
