Continuing the exploration of Murshid Saadi's penetrating piece, "Dances of Innocence,"* I cannot help but read through the lenses I am now wearing, lenses that focus my attention upon my own and our collective relationship with Nature, with the natural world, and particularly with our animal siblings: the winged ones, the two- and four-leggeds, our scaly and more hairy brothers and sisters.
We know well Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan's revolutionary and also transparent assertion that "there is one holy book, the sacred manuscript of Nature..."
Murshid Saadi writes: "When a person has the courage to ask, 'use us for the purpose that Thy wisdom chooses,' this necessarily includes the willingness to face what might arise within oneself from the reflection of that part of humanity in the soul’s mirror."
The majority of our Dances, at least in my experience, deal with the world's spiritual and faith traditions and religions. Without question, our responses to our impressions of these traditions, both known to us and those we are learning, are subjects of our "soul's mirror." Yet, as Inayat Khan guides us toward Nature as the one and the supreme holy book, so then gazing into the mirror of Nature may even more powerfully evoke our responses, what we resonate with and what we resist. Whether or not this may have always been the case (and I suspect it has been), now the more fertile soil for those courageous enough to work the inner earth of the heart (the hearth wherein the fire of our life burns) is Nature Itself and our relationship with and responsibilities toward Her. For this, we might take up the difficult and critical work of gazing into the Eye of Nature, most literally into the eyes of our animal friends, into the eyes of the sacred and actual Cow.
"It is much easier to sing a pleasant English song that appeals to the emotions, for instance, than look Hathor in the eye. One can find oneself needing to literally 'heal' an archetype before it is redeemed and shared."
One archetype most in need of healing at this time is our own humanity, our very humane-ness. We see the destruction our way of life is having on the natural world, from which all archetypes arise. Those who attended the Parliament of the World's Religions heard the many voices of indigenous peoples - those most connected with Nature where they live - one after another pleading for changes in the way the "rest of us" live, because we are melting the ice the seals and polar bears call home, we are changing the migration routes of elk and caribou; we are threatening not only their lives, but the lives of those who depend upon them. These voices emphatically demand that we change our hearts so that we can change the way we are living, and now.
"Can we begin to contemplate something like ‘secular spirituality’ in any sense of real depth rather than intellectual lip service? Without being a caricature, what would a secular spiritual Dance look (sound or feel) like?"
I would also ask to what extent we might contemplate a more genuine Nature Spirituality, one that arises out of our bodies when those bodies feel themselves a part of Nature, rather than apart from nature? To whatever extent we remain disconnected from the natural world, to that same extent we remain disconnected from that which is natural within us. By whatever measures we oppress, however consciously or otherwise, the fellow living beings of our natural world - treating them as "less-thans" - in that same measure we rob ourselves of our own humanity.
This is where most of us would find ourselves were we to look deeply and long into the mirror of Nature and into the eyes of Her animals. We will be struck with the awareness that "what we do to the least of these," we do to ourselves. The healing we need here will call upon our greatest courage and will require great strength and great tenderness. Fortunately, this Path we share gives us all of the tools we need. With those, and with our own initiative and courage, we can more effectively till the soil of our hearts and awaken the life of our authentic humanity, regaining our most natural and proper position as stewards and caretakers of the earth, weeding out the dead matter that is the many destructive paradigms of dominance and power-over that continue to threaten not only the well-being of all the inhabitants of Earth, but the well-being of our very soul. When we step into our inner-garden, we may find vestiges of those paradigms, and some of those may yet be living.
"...the next generation of Dances began to touch very human, everyday life experiences. Not the ‘peak’ experiences but the the ‘trough’ ones: grieving, feeling confused and acknowledging parts of one’s subconscious that had been neglected."
How then will we confront those parts of ourselves? The arising global awareness of what Nature Herself is now asking of us will help us along. What better time to acknowledge the neglected places in our subconscious than when faced with global urgencies, those that Nature Herself is increasingly calling us to acknowledge in the world around us?
"What about looking ahead a bit? How does the future call to us now? What challenges face us as we seek to keep the Dances living rather than as a parody of their past? ... All these current trends challenge our usual way of ‘doing’ the Dances of Universal Peace. What opportunities does the world today present?"
Looking into the mirror of Nature, an answer is also given in Murshid Saadi's text:
"...humanity’s nascent desire to feel globally, to recognize suffering on the other side of the world and to realize that we live in one, interconnected ecosystem called the earth."
And so, the following questions also arise from that Mirror:
"Are we prepared to be channels for Dances that redeem the inner ecology...? ... More importantly, what do we do, or more accurately, what is ours to do?"
For this, our motivation - if we feel it - can be readily found in the closing prayer we so often repeat. May we continue to invoke it sincerely and with increasing awareness of its reach into our inner heart and its scope in the world around us (italics mine):
"May all beings be well. May all beings be happy. Peace, peace, peace."
"May all beings be well. May all beings be happy. Peace, peace, peace."
With love,
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Thank you for caring for animals!