One of my mentors, Sparrow Hart, recently published a book, Letters to the River ~ A Guide to a Dream Worth Living. Not only did I find it a fascinating read, but the prose really spoke to me about the continual struggles we face trying to find the right personal, ecological and spiritual balance for our lives. Here are a few excerpts.

The word “human” comes from humus – to be of the earth. In this sense, actual human beings are disappearing like many other endangered species. Large, abstract entities – institutions and corporations – own and control the resources we use, seeds we plant, and food we eat.

Will humans ever return to ‘be of the earth’? Kind of scary to think of the human race as an endangered species but when I compare my younger years to today, it is hard to ignore the fact that life as we knew it has drastically changed.

The average teenager recognizes over two thousand corporate logos, but less than ten native plants … We don’t have technology. It has us, and we live inside it.

And who will be the guardians of mother nature if our future generations do not even know what is out there? Will the over-valuation of technology push the natural world and us to extinction?

All this (and more) makes it difficult to relate to natural cycles that are grand and cyclical, or appreciate a presence that may express itself in evolution, seasonal changes, or the slow turnings of eternity.

More thoughts and questions came to me after reading this book. It was an easy yet thought provoking read. Full of pearls of wisdom, it was another confirmation for me that re-connection time in nature can only help us find the balance we all so desperately desire.