Hello fellow human being,
This post is inspired by the many breathtaking landscapes I’ve had the privilege of witnessing, and living in, over the years. Mother Earth has always held me and embraced me with complete equanimity and unbounded love and kindness. I just read somewhere that EARTH and HEART are spelled with the exact same letters, that is all us humans need to understand.
There is no other sentient being who can hold us humans like the Earth can.
Mother Earth embraces every single human being the same way.
She doesn’t care what you’re wearing, how you’re acting, or who you are, she loves us all the same.
Even those who are actively working to destroy her, she will embrace with great love and compassion.
We are all her children.
No single human is more deserving to be on this planet than another, we each come here with the same level of belonging.
Unfortunately because of societal conditioning, we don’t all believe this to be true, but take a step in the woods and you’ll see…we all belong here.
It’s been 9 months since I left the land this body is native to. It’s been almost 2 years since I left the mountains that made me who I am today. I still remember the night I went to go say goodbye to the mountain range that I visited weekly. That night there was the most vibrant sunset I’d seen there yet and I cried uncontrollably, in awe and gratitude at the beauty my eyes had been gifted over the past 2 years. The cows looked at me with great worry in their eyes as I crouched down crying, gazing out at the sunset over the Blue Ridge for the last time. My connection to the Earth has transcended most of my relations to my fellow humans. Leaving those mountains left me with an irreplaceable hole in my heart.
As someone who grew up moving every couple of years, I got accustomed to saying hello and goodbye to many different friends, always ready to become the new kid again. I’ve never struggled with strong attachments to people, they come and go. Yet, my attachment to the mountains has held a significant presence in me since the day I left. I’ve never felt such a deep longing and heartbreak before. On a good day, I think back to them with gratitude for all the pure bliss I got to enjoy while wandering in them. On a bad day, I begin to feel like I can’t live without being in their presence.
My love for the natural world didn’t begin until I went to university in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia. When I started my first year, I remember telling my family that my favorite part about going to school there was the air. I really did love the crisp mountain air.
It wasn’t until 2 years into my studies that I really began opening up to the power of the Earth. I discovered that the entrance to the Blue Ridge Parkway was on my drive from Virginia to North Carolina. This discovery was the beginning of the deepest love I’ve ever known.
I began driving an hour out of my way, sometimes multiple times a week, just to go spend time on the Parkway and hike. Spending so much time there, through multiple seasons, taught me about impermanence, illusions, equanimity, and showed me so much love and compassion through many different seasons of my own life. Those mountains, and the teachings they gave me through merely being present with them, are what led me to Buddhism and the Buddhist teachings. I was already familiar with many of the Buddhist teachings by the time I met my teacher, not from past learning or experience in Buddhism, but from my time spent in the mountains. Now, I tell everyone I meet in the Buddhist community: “The mountains were my first teacher”. I mean that statement from the bottom of my heart.
I remember right before I moved to New York City I went to go visit the mountains just for an afternoon, for one final time, and it felt as though they brought me back to them to release me. There are many times in life that we cannot put experiences into words. This was one of those times. Trying my best to articulate it, it was as if the trees on the mountain were telling me it was time for me to go. They told me I can’t cling onto them, I have to let them go in order to become the person I need to be(and they’ll always be here when I come back). It was such a profound moment of freedom, relaxation, and connection. That moment ultimately gave me to confidence to make the jump and move to the city.
Fast forward to today, having lived in NYC for half a year, now living in the Kathmandu Valley (8,000 miles away), two very different cities, I’ve begun to hear the call to come back. It started as a faint whisper, a mere passing thought. Slowly, it became louder and louder until I couldn’t ignore it anymore. She calls to me to tell me it is time to come home. To return to the forest. To sit still and watch the river flow. To close my eyes and listen to the birds sing. To walk barefoot and rediscover my connection between my feet and the Earth. To look up in awe at the tree tops. Although my love for this sacred city is strong, the call to return home is ever-present.
Deep down my heart knows taking refuge in nature isn’t the ultimate answer, yet still…I can’t help but listen to the call. In this society, the Earth is absolutely necessary to our spiritual development. How can we recognize how little we truly need until we step foot in the woods? How can we recognize that nothing belongs to us? How can we recognize that all the best things in life really are free? The Earth is our direct invitation to cut through our streak of consuming, bringing us to the spacious place where we can simply sit still and let it all be. We cannot, and should not, underestimate the power the Earth holds and the stories she can share with us through the simple act of being present with her.
The Earth is one of my greatest teacher’s in this lifetime, she always will be. There is no being that embodies impermanence as the Earth does. Going through cycles of birth, death, and rebirth in such a graceful way that our very own human eyes can witness each cycle…if we choose to pay attention. Mother Earth taught me that death doesn’t have to be ugly or scary, death is just as beautiful as anything else. A withering flower is just as beautiful as a flower about to bloom.
If you live in a place where you have access to nature, I invite you to go and spend time there. Without music, without a book to read, without your phone, just go and be present. Watch the wind flow through the trees. Watch the wildlife play. Listen to the sounds. Notice the forms.
Go somewhere where there are trees ; )
I dedicate all of these words to the great mountains, oceans, rivers, and valleys that live within in me, even when I am almost 8,000 miles away. When the Motherland calls to me, I will always answer. No matter how far away we think we are from our roots, they remain a part of us. The Earth will always call us back home.
Much love,
Emilie