by Peter Duncan, SEEd Ambassador
Peter brings us aboard the Earth Ship to explore the life surrounding this remote country cottage. In doing so, he raises the question of how we as a community and a species should be viewing our planet and its life.
The yellow wagtail has returned from West Africa. It’s what yellow wagtails do in March. Its bounding flight brings joy, as does the ancient bluebell wood I wander in. The bluebells are not yet on display, but I know they are coming soon.
As a new country boy of eighteen months or so, I am beginning to absorb what I am surrounded by: just one cog, entangled in the abundant life above and below ground.
The Earth Ship, as we call our remote country cottage, is long and it feels as if we are aboard a dry-docked sea-faring craft, static as the Earth sails by. The house faces South: the Sun, Moon, all the stars and planets drift past. Deer, moles, badgers, rabbits, sheep, brown cows, foxes, horses, pigs, and gerbils of all kinds are close by, some hidden below the surface where, as we now know, so much connectivity takes place.
As a good (and interfering) kind of Homo sapiens, I want to be a part of this. To dig a pond and build raised vegetable beds, to plant more trees – yearning for the end of the oil-economy. We need to cultivate in all conscious citizens the instinct to plan sustainable structures of living and to protect the environment both above and below ground on which we all depend.
Cultivating these instincts and skills will be essential to steer humanity away from our otherwise destructive distractions and obsessions during the current times. It can happen. People are also altruistic and do not always pursue mere self-gratification. Let us acknowledge, celebrate and develop these instincts.
To be a good creative musician we need to practice, graft and repeat. If we submerge our identity in technique, harmony and melody can emerge and will delight. Imagine our planet as a harp. To find the melody and harmony we must dive deep and patiently learn Earth’s ways; only then can understanding emerge on how to surrender to its unseen hidden powers.
Of course, the yellow wagtail will return over to Africa and I will one day return under the earth whence I came but until then I have a firm grip of the tiller.
My thanks to all my sources of joy, knowledge and wisdom, especially SEEd.
Find out more about Peter and his work on our Meet The Team page.
SOURCES:
Featured Photo: Marccorolleur, Pixabay
Photo (Yellow Wagtail) by Matthieu Rochette, Unsplash
Peter Duncan
