Reflections on Interbeing with Earth and Each Other
By Laura Boruch on
I don’t think I truly began healing until I rekindled my relationship to Mother Earth. Back in December 2020, when COVID-19 was taking the lives of hundreds of thousands of people globally and there was not much else to do but be scared and go outside, I discovered my love of winter.
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Reflections on Interbeing with Earth and Each Other
By Laura Boruch on
I don’t think I truly began healing until I rekindled my relationship to Mother Earth. Back in December 2020, when COVID-19 was taking the lives of hundreds of thousands of people globally and there was not much else to do but be scared and go outside, I discovered my love of winter. I used to not appreciate the bare branches, but the more I paid attention, the more I realised it was a privilege to see Mother Nature at her most vulnerable—low energy and lacking warmth from the sun to grow. She strips down to her bare essentials and shows us it’s time to do the same.
I know I’m not alone when I’m with Nature because I pay attention to the plants and insects around me. When I spend time in my backyard I become aware of how the trees and flowers around me experience the same sun and are completely present for me, right there, in the moment. My mind may wander from them, but they never stray from me.
This past winter, my father put up covers on the spruce trees in our backyard to protect them from the snow and harsh winds. One day when I was taking a mindfulness break outside, I slowed down enough to notice them. I smiled and giggled because they looked like they had blankets on to keep them warm from the soft falling snow. The impulse arose to hug the adorable tree, and while doing so, I thought of how tall it’s gotten since my dad planted it when I was a kid. I thought of the seventeen years my dad has laboured taking care of all four of them. I would watch him water and prune them in the summer. The insight dawned on me that my father was in the tree I was hugging, as without him, this tree would not exist or flourish as much as it has. I experienced a wave of love and appreciation for my dad, which has not always been easy to access in our rocky relationship. I was able to recognize the good qualities of love and care in him, and that made me feel gratitude for him. Despite not always being able to hug him in person, I was able to hug him through the tree and that brought me joy. I saw him later that day and I felt less critical towards him. This was the insight of interbeing, spontaneously sprouting up into my consciousness. We are not only interconnected and interdependent with plants; plants, and the Earth, inter-are and are interdependent with us.
We are always surrounded by life, whether we are outside or in. I remember that my body is also Earth because I could not exist without it. Without the sun, river, soil and rain feeding the plants we eat, I would not be here. My body comes from Mother Earth. Thích Nhất Hạnh teaches this, and he said it best: “… the Earth is not only the environment, the Earth is us.”* The Earth, trees, soil, plants, animals, bugs, and everything else are always there with me. They inter-are with me, and make me, me! My lungs are always breathing Earth’s air. I am not alone.
We are interconnected
Another thing I love about the winter season is how many humans put up lights on their trees and houses to brighten the dark. It’s a simple ritual we silly humans do that I find so endearing. This is something that connects us. But if I think too much about it I start to realise there are probably millions of these lights taking up space in landfills and leaking toxins into the soil. I can become overwhelmed thinking about how much waste every human being is creating on our beautiful Earth. That’s something not so nice that connects us.
Still, we are connected, and with that comes the responsibility of taking care of ourselves, others, and the Earth. In Zen, it always starts with me, because when I take care of myself, I naturally take care of others. For instance, when I am joyful, I easily spread joy to others through my happy presence. I am not separate from others and this world.
How can we take care of Earth if we don’t take care of ourselves? If we aren’t present in our bodies, how can we be present for Earth? Do we know what our feelings are communicating to us? If we learn to take care of ourselves, we will naturally learn to take care of the rest of the world.
Presence and reciprocation
Many people make New Year’s resolutions to take better care of their bodies, but how do they feel about their body? Even if we can’t love our body or the Earth yet, what if we started to see that our body and the Earth love us? Would we want to take steps to begin reciprocating that love? Deep in my being, I know Mother Earth and our bodies want us to live. Our hearts pump blood without asking it. Our lungs work as we sleep. Our bodies fight for us when we’re sick by producing white blood cells to protect our bodies from infection.
I start caring for my body by getting present with the Earth. I take the time to feel the breeze on my face, smell the flowers I pass by, and enjoy the shapes the clouds are offering to me. One day, I won’t have access to the physical world, so I want to enjoy it while I can. I cook and eat nourishing and delicious food. I care for my physical body. I dance. I cry. I act a fool. I do what my heart asks me to do because there will come a day when my heart can’t lead me any further.
Our bodies unconditionally care for and protect us. And so does the Earth. When we breathe in, trees and plants give us oxygen. When we breathe out, we give back the carbon dioxide they need to survive. We experience this beautiful symbiotic relationship every moment we’re alive.
My perspective is that I’m in a sacred relationship with myself. As long as I’m living, my heart beats, my gut processes the food I eat, my breath deepens, and I sigh to relieve tension. I want to honour these processes by respecting my body. It’s time I resist my bad habits and begin to reciprocate the care my body has for me. I can fight for it like my white blood cells do and reject what isn’t good for me.
As a being that is interconnected with all, including the Earth, plants, animals, and other humans, I am also in a sacred relationship with them. I am responsible for the way my actions have an effect on others and the planet.
Thank you, Dad, for teaching me how to care for our home by caring for our spruce trees, year after year. You taught me how to care for humankind’s longest friend and caregiver, the Earth.
* This teaching, shared recently in the online ZASP course, was given as part of an interview with Jo Confino in December 2011, when Jo was a journalist with The Guardian newspaper. The interview was published as “Beyond Environment: falling back in love with Mother Earth.”
