Earthrise
  by William Edelen

On April 22 we set aside one day to celebrate what should be celebrated all year…Earth Day.

EARTHRISE...what a breathtaking symbol of a new consciousness. Pictures of this great Earth taken from the moon triggered a shift in the collective psyche of millions. A spectacular view of Earth rising...a symbol of wholeness. Apollo 10 astronauts photographed the magnificent and awesome splendor of Earth...rising above the horizon of the moon. After seeing EARTHRISE in these glorious photographs, we saw with our own eyes that we are in the stars and in the heavens...that we ARE the stars...we ARE the heavens.

We are one with the Earth and we are one with the furthest star in the furthest galaxy.

Millions today are moving away from the dead forms, symbols and dogmas of religious orthodoxy to the beauty and revelation of direct experience. Out of the tombs of religious establishments, this resurrection movement begins with reaffirmation of the Earth as a living, breathing entity.

Mother Earth, Gaia, the sacred Goddess, the Greeks called her. Maka Wakan, the sacred Earth, the American Sioux named her. From the soil of this basic premise will flower the birth of a new consciousness that includes everything that is part of this sacred Goddess: every four- and two-legged animal...every winged one of the sky and fish of the sea...every grass and flower...every grain of sand and drop of water...every rock, mineral and crystal…all are as ONE and offer thanks-giving to our great Mother Goddess Earth for her support and sustenance. A new consciousness, not any theological "belief," is at the heart of this resurrection of spirituality.

Some years ago, Nobel Prize-winning physicists at a "New Dimensions of Consciousness" conference said: "We are on the brink of a new synthesis, pioneered by visionary men and women, leading to a new consciousness."

Former Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas said in blunt language why such a "new consciousness" is mandatory for the survival of the Earth:

"The bible contains no reference to the earth in terms of a conservation ethic. Wild life and wilderness are apart from man and inferior. The Christian, and Jew, had no relation to the earth, the air, the waters or wild life. He could without fear poison the waters, pollute the air, level the forests and despoil the land. The bible and Christianity conditioned men to be vandals, converting everything from alligator skins to mountain ranges to blue waters into dollars. Men took the wealth and left only the ashes."

When reading the words of Douglas I thought of former President Reagan saying "If you've seen one redwood tree you've seen them all," and his classic, "trees are the greatest polluters of air that we have."

"How we delude ourselves," wrote Albert Schweitzer, "… we must confess that man is insignificant. Human life can hardly be considered the goal of the universe. Its margin of existence is always so precarious. A person is ethical ONLY when he considers every living cell, whether plant or animal, sacred and divine."

EARTHRISE...this great Goddess Earth...rising above the horizon of the moon...can be a brilliant and glorious symbol of a new consciousness...in this month of April where we set aside a special day to celebrate our mother and our home...this sacred Earth. Where the Great Goddess of nature creates and makes all things new.

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