Discuss: The Air Aware

I would like to know what the real story is about plastic products. Most everything I buy is in plastic, milk, juice etc. Does the melting down of recycled plastic cause toxic fumes or doesn’t it?

I feel in-spired, in the most literal way.  Thank you for this.

Lovely thoughts, magically rendered.

In mentoring youth toward greater awareness and connectedness to nature we introduce the concept of “concentric rings.” At every level of observable reality each of us is both sending and recieving concentric rings of influence. These rings, too, have moods, from harmonious to disturbing, from the relaxed alertness of a doe resting in her sunny, wind sheltered day-bed to the attacking rush of the cougar to the kill. We often ask ourselves and our young charges, “What is the mood, the feeling, of this moment generally? Is it calm? Are the bird’s notes peaceful and relaxed in their chip-chip calls to thier companions? Is it sleepy and quiet? Is it tense, with a breath holding silence shattered by the urgent alarm call of a jay? What might this be telling us about the movements of our neighbor animals that we can’t actually see with our eyes?”

David Abrams’ beautifully rendered thoughts on the atmosphere of our common experience are a wonderful confirmation of our belonging to the wider intelligence and field of awareness present in our natural surroundings: the overlapping patterns of concentric rings in nature that constantly invite us into deeper intimacy with the landscapes we inhabit. May we all remember to accept those invitations, more and more.

Abram has touched on the essence of our animate connections with the world and has included two critical distinctions which I deem essential to a fair analysis of the human-nature relationship.  First, he proposes that we are not only sympathetically moved by the elements, but can also feel disconnected, wholly other, and “mismatched”, in total resistance to the sublime reality in which we are immersed. This contrasts with the common romantic view of nature as savior, and as a perfectly seamless flowing, abundant stream of mother’s nurture. The second is that he addresses the question of our transference with the natural world, and the suspicion that we are projecting our own inner worlds onto nature.  He does not point to one truth or another on this matter, but subtly shifts attention to the very natural fact of this animistic function in our psychological lives.  Beautiful and real.

I think I will go outside.
I feel compelled to open the door.
Let the sunshine in !
! Bravo !

David continues to bridge worlds with story and language that remains so bodily alive that is is hard to believe it is on paper since it resides in the air and fingertips and skin nerve endings. This is a marvelous and brilliant article that left me dancing in the air. Nanda