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To Touch The Earth an Essay As a child I lived close to the earth, within the wild places, and I came to love the swamps where magic lived, within an environment harsh and unforgiving yet bountiful and breathtaking to behold. A landscape of endless marsh, saw palmettos, palms and cypress trees covered in Spanish moss greeted me each morning. The cypress stumps rising from the shallow brackish waters casting reflections upon the dark still surface of the swamp, this was my meditation, my mantra, a thousand voices chanting in unison, calling to the sun in anticipation of the new day. Birds sang songs as they began the morning, cranes coasted silently upon the still air, perch striking the surface of the water in search of the morning meal, deer and turkey moving within the trees, and the mist rising as the morning sun began to warm the deep blue skies above. It was an ancient place, and I understood this, and was humbled by it’s beauty, it’s ability to resist change, yet always changing, life ending, life renewing, all things existed for the benefit of each and itself. Life existed within every single inch of earth, a dynamic and abundant ecosystem where life flourished because of death, where all life began and ended with the sacrifice of another, this taught me that all things live because all things die. We  live only by the sacrifice of another, and because of this I learned to give honor to my relations who had sacrificed their lives so that I would live. As I grew, I learned my place within the circle of life, and I understood my responsibility to my relations. Life was abundant, because one took only what they needed, and gave back the rest. Just as it had for eons, the natural laws were the only laws applicable in the swamps. Life consumed death and death in turn breathed life, the two are the same, only transitions within the circle of life ever changing, ever staying the same. It is through this that I learned that my place is to live within the boundaries of life as defined by creation not by man, so that balance can be maintained and life continue in health and abundance. As a child I walked bare foot through the marsh, along the thin sand bars of the ponds and creeks, my  steps were silent and soft, the warmth of grasses under my feet as blissful as the warmth of the dark rich earth that cushioned my steps and feeding my spirit as I walked the deer trails through endless woods alive with sounds and movement, then becoming silent and still. At night I would lay under a canopy of endless stars, points of light pointing the way to infinity, the heavens mirrored in the small pond where I sat threw a cascade of  glistening points of light across the darkness as if two heavens opposed each other, casting their brilliance in mirrored reflections of the other as if in competition for the title of supreme beauty. It was here that I learned where I came from, that I was part of each reflection, not only within the scope of the vision played out across the water, but in the vision of creation. The stars were my brothers, my sisters and the waters, were the echo of that connection upon the earth. For the earth itself was joined together with all the heavens.  It’s tiny reflection mirrored across the universe  mingled with every other, indistinguishable from any other, yet unique, in it’s galactic existence, bountiful in it’s creations, and  inhabited by millions upon millions of life forms also unique from all others. I am part of the whole, not only of the earth but of the universe. All things begin and end, all things continue onward, and the cycle of life goes on. I no longer live within the magical confines of the swamp, no longer do I sit beneath the stars upon the sand bars and creeks. The memories of a childhood wrapped gently within my mind are all that is left of that life. But the lessons learned have remained, and continue to play out in my life today.  Even though I have joined the ranks of civilization. Becoming “a responsible citizen” , I have retained the ability to see life as it is dynamic and constantly changing. Growth within growth, life within death, death within life.  Yet mankind in his rush to become more then any other species, has forgotten where he has come from. There is no understanding of the true meaning of life. There is no edification, no affirmation of ones right to exist outside of the parameters of society, no worth,  outside of an illusory quest for monetary power, and the weakness of mind and spirit that come with it. The connection to the truth of who we are lost between the asphalt and concrete of the false paradigm created by civilization in order to move beyond the laws of nature, to create for itself the laws of man. So long has man striven for dominance over creation that he has forgotten how to be free, he has forgotten how to love, and he has forgotten his connection to life. Bringing instead of enlightenment and achievement a sense of profound loss, of incompleteness, and confusion, living in fear of life, ignorant of understanding and bereft of meaning.  We are not apart from life, we are a part of life. And only through our understanding and acceptance of this can we find our way back to true health, and happiness. We must live to touch the earth. To walk among our relations, to hear their voices, to join and take our place within the hoop, then and only then will we know peace, only then will we truly become alive. We need only To Touch The Earth.