Just in case yesterday's post was a bit too serious for you — how about we lighten things up a bit? Every year, I manage to get this stuck in my head! A fantastic song by Jonathan Coulton about the coming of spring.... if you know what I mean. ::nudge::nudge::wink::wink:: Click to watch.
Category: Muse in Brief
Ode to the Living Sylvan Land » No Unsacred Place
In my latest post over at No Unsacred Place, I talk about my mixed reactions to the news of the hydro-fracking spill up in northern Pennsylvania last week, and my struggle to stay grounded in my love for the local landscape as a living, holy presence while I confront the injustices and ignorances that cause such saddening destruction. I also highlight some of the inspiring news coming out of local communities in Pennsylvania, where citizens are standing up against pressure from oil and gas companies and working together to protect the lands they love from harmful development: "Local communities are fighting back, resisting the enormous pressure from gas and oil companies (and the politicians they've financed into office) to take advantage of the Marcellus Shale deposit that lies beneath nearly two-thirds of the state's mountains, forests and fields..."
Quote of the Week
"The room where I live is plain as a skull, a firm setting for windows. A nun lives in the fires of the spirit, a thinker lives in the bright wick of the mind, an artist lives jammed in the pool of materials. (Or, a nun lives, thoughtful and tough, in the mind, a nun lives, with that special poignancy peculiar to religious, in the exile of materials; and a thinker, who would think of something, lives in the clash of materials, and in the world of spirit where all long thoughts must lead; and an artist lives in the mind, that warehouse of forms, and an artist lives, of course, in the spirit. So.) But this room is a skull, a fire tower, wooden, and empty. Of itself it is nothing, but the view, as they say, is good."
- Annie Dillard, from Holy the Firm
One Year After Deepwater Horizon » No Unsacred Place
In my latest post over at No Unsacred Place, I take a look back at the Deepwater Horizon BP oil spill that occurred last April, one year ago tomorrow, to asses long-term damage and on-going clean-up efforts in the area. Though no longer making headlines, clean-up and restoration in the Gulf continues to be slow going, with harmful and unpredictable consequences effecting wildlife in the area for decades to come: "Of the nearly 5 million barrels of oil and 9 million liters of chemical dispersants released by BP into the Gulf of Mexico last year, approximately 25% remains unaccounted for, with another 50% forming surface slicks, ..."
Ambivalence of the Sacred Earth » No Unsacred Place
In my first post over at the new Pagan Newswire Collective blog project, No Unsacred Place: Earth and Nature in Pagan Traditions, I explore the Problem of Justice from an earth-centered perspective, and discuss its implications for the new Law of Mother Earth set to pass in Bolivia establishing the rights of nature: "The Problem of Justice for us is not so much why [suffering and evil] exist, but how should we respond to them? While monotheists might model themselves after an all-loving but ultimately transcendent deity who provides an example of justice and righteousness separate from and beyond the muck and mess of the world, our desire to 'attune ourselves to the earth' and model ourselves..."
Making Peace Out of Nothing At All » Pagan+Politics
In my latest article for Pagan+Politics, I explore the recent and fascinating scientific discoveries about the role that culture plays in the peacemaking and sociability of nonhuman primates: "For those of us whose religious practices are anchored in relationship with the earth and its many inhabitants, the scientific world has often seemed to lag behind in its recognition of the complexity and subtlety of nonhuman experience as we witness it on a regular basis. Studies revealing the intelligence and sensitivity of dolphins, elephants, corvine birds, honeybees and even trees and other plants, confirm what many of us have long known to be true..."
Alison Leigh Lilly 