The Weight of the World and The Benevolent Earth

The world and the earth are not one of the same

I often ponder the differences between being ‘in the world’ and ‘in the earth’. The contrasts are truly as vast as the ranges of mountains that surround my home. The mental inundation that being in the world equates to is something of a wellspring that can never truly be full. The over-accessibility and avalanches of other human beings information and personal pursuits is not only depleting, it is wildly unnecessary . As I walk outside my house and witness the birds singing their ballads, I contemplate if the yellow bellied robin knows all about the life of the currawong and if its knowledge they ever feel the need to have. I remember being in a permaculture class a number of years ago and there was an elder gentleman in attendance, the conversation steered in the direction of how often humans need connection from other humans, the teacher had shared something she had read, which was along the lines of “To minimise anxiety a happy human needs to see and have connection with at least thirty people per week”, the elder gentleman looked stunned and retorted “well that would definitely make my anxiety worse!” Everyone had a chuckle and it was true that most of the class agreed to his sentiment. I have often thought about this over the years, at that time I was about twenty years old and as the years have sighed in and out I truly believe he shared an absolute pearl of wisdom that day. Not only do we now experience personal life interactions, but there is the whole new world of seeing millions of interactions within one single day - hello amplified anxiety, please come in and have a cup of tea with me..again. It is rather a heavy weight to have access to social media where we can see genocide happening, someone getting engaged, someone sharing their extraterrestrial experience, someone selling you a supplement that will surely have you live for 100 years, someone performing a tiktok dance or someone giving you all the intimate details of their sex life. I feel exhausted even just typing that out. And this is what being a part of the ‘world’ has become, the overload of so much that is most of the time actually completely unessential. The weight of the world has not just become about creating a career, being a parent or searching for the souls you wish to call friends, it now entails a whole new platform of being able to watch everyones..everything? This inundation has also rippled out and amplified small peanuts into enormous feats of emotional capability; quite regular everyday tasks, ‘easy’ catch-ups with loved ones or small emotional occurrences have magnified into needing to retreat and introvert oneself just to feel slightly capable of being able to show up and commit to said activities. The weight of the world is truly a psyop destabilising individuals warranted desire for connection, growth, joy and love.

---

‘We must un-train ourselves with the ways the of the world to discern the language of the earth’

- Sarah Popham

---

As I put my phone down, after a harrowing time of witnessing all that has been aforementioned, I take a walk outside. The immediate cold wind blowing through the trees, creating the hum and rustle of leaves, instantly begins to help me sigh out and become a part of the song. I walk up the road, witnessing the green rolling mountains, the birds in flight, the lizards scurrying under my hopefully polite steps - I cannot deny the benevolent earth hears my call for peace, for calmness and for the ways of the world and its pressure to change. That the fact I even have this desire, maybe just maybe means that it can be a possibility. I continue my treading down to the creek and the still calmness of the icy fresh water feels as if its my one true place of solitude. I believe that these waters have seen it all, because much like people, all waters connect somewhere and I find some sentiment of hope in that, maybe if I pray to these waters it will reach the waters of those whom are in immense suffering? Maybe that is a palpable truth. And maybe just for a time being, I can stop thinking about myself for once. The ripples of the silver water seem to glimmer in an appreciation. The mirrors in the earth does not discriminate, it heeds our call and wishes for reciprocation. I do often contemplate that the root of all our sickness is the disconnection from the earth, is it possible that this could be a way out?