“”Speak to the earth,” says the Book of Job, “and it will teach thee.” All things are known to and made by God, Job tells us. Some of us do speak to the earth and learn proof of God’s hand in everything, while others speak to the earth and learn more about the divinity of their own hearts. Still others speak to the earth and learn that the earth itself is God. What will you say to the earth? What is it you wish to learn?”

From Earth Bound: Daily Meditations For All Seasons by Brian Nelson

“The little cares that fretted me.
I lost them yesterday
Among the fields above the sea.
Among the winds at play;
Among the lowing of the herds,
The rustling of the trees,
Among the singing of the birds,
The humming of the bees.

The foolish fears of what may happen,
I cast them all away
Among the clover-scented grass,
Among the new-mown hay;
Among the husking of the corn
Where drowsy poppies nod,
Where ill thoughts die and good are born,
Out in the fields with God.”

Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806 – 1861)

“Sing to Life a new song!
Sing of Life, all Creation!
Sing of compassion and
temper your deeds with kindness.
Sing to all the world and
tell of the miracles that sustain us daily.
Yet Wonder is greater than praise,
no words can capture its Essence.
All words are idols, all ideas snares –
Truth is beyond opinion,
Reality lies beyond thought’s last horizon.
Splendour and majesty leave us speechless.
Strength and beauty are touched not talked.
Let your worship be acts of beauty and holiness;
Let all the world stand together in awe.
Declare among the nations “All is God!
Maintain the world with justice!”
The heavens rejoice and the earth is glad;
the seas roar their praise.
The fields exult; the forests sing.
For all the world is rooted in righteousness.”

Rabbi Rami Shapiro

“The Beloved woke. We became That, and the lake is crystal-clear.
Intense cold makes water ice. Then the hard ice turns to slush and back to water,
so there are three forms of consciousness: the individual, the world, and God,
which in the sun of True Awareness melt to one flowing: I AM THAT.”

Lalla Ded (also known as Lalleshwari), 14th century Kashmiri poet mystic

“Above all try to be kind. I have no doubt that kindness is the greatest virtue. You can find a million reasons in any one day to dislike people, to feel resentment or even loathing. But to be kind is to protect yourself from the worst parts of your own nature. You may fear that to face people with an open heart leaves you vulnerable, open to abuse. I rather doubt it. The way of the hard face is much harder. Be kind to others, especially the more difficult people you encounter, and that kindness will come back to you.”

Feargal Keane, writer and journalist, quoted in Fragments of Holiness for Daily Reflection

“Earth’s body is not for sale
or rent. She is real
and we are her estate.
But no body is property.
Not even God owns any of it,
but delights in its being its own.

An ancient forest is always
in a dynamic state, half
of its body actively growing,
half of it actively dying –
these are the same half!

The other half is always
eating and being eaten.
Trees live for two thousand years
and then are food for as long.
This is perpetual and holy communion.

Nobody owns the sacred.
Every body is sacred.
Pray for the future:
become an animal spirited
and glorious in your Earthbody.
Offer thanks when you lie down
with the trees.”

Alla Renée Bozarth

“When I was young and bold and strong,
Oh, right was right, and wrong was wrong!
My plume on high, my flag unfurled,
I rode away to right the world.
“Come out, you dogs, and fight!” said I,
And wept there was but once to die.
But I am old; and good and bad
Are woven in a crazy plaid.
I sit and stay, “The world is so;
And he is wise who lets it go.
A battle lost, a battle won—
The difference is small, my son.”
Inertia rides and riddles me;
The which is called Philosophy.”

The Veteran by Dorothy Parker, born on this day in 1893

“At a certain point you say to the woods, to the sea, to the mountains, the world, Now I am ready. Now I will stop and be wholly attentive. You empty yourself and wait, listening. After a time you hear it: there is nothing there. There is nothing but those things only, those created objects, discrete, growing or holding, or swaying, being rained on or raining, held, flooding or ebbing, standing, or spread. You feel the world’s word as a tension, a hum, a single chorused note everywhere the same. This is it: this hum is the silence …

The silence is all there is. It is the alpha and the omega. It is God’s brooding over the face of the waters; it is the blended note of the ten thousand things, the whine of wings. You take a step in the right direction to pray to this silence, and even to address the prayer to “World.” Distinctions blur. Quits your tents. Pray without ceasing.”

Annie Dillard

“Earth, in which lie the sea, the river, and other waters,
in which food and cornfields have come to be,
in which lives all that breathes and that moves,
may she confer on us the finest of her yield.

Earth, in which the waters, common to all,
moving on all sides, flow unfailingly, day and night,
may she pour us milk in many streams,
and endow us with lustre.

May those born of thee, O Earth,
be for our welfare, free from sickness and waste.
Wakeful through a long life, we shall become
bearers of tribute to thee.

Earth, my mother, set me securely with bliss
in full accord with heaven
O wise one,
uphold me in grace and splendour.”

Atharva Veda, composed in India in around 1100 BCE

World Humanitarian Day

“I believe that there is a greater power in the world than the evil power of military force, of nuclear bombs — there is the power of good, of morality, of humanitarianism.”

Linus Pauling (1901 – 1994), Unitarian Universalist, winner of Nobel Prizes in Chemistry and Peace, died on this day