The Yin-Yang of Life

The solemn faces of the family speak volumes as they sit riveted watching the TV images of a hydro dam, a chain of reservoirs and effects upon the water, while David Suzuki explains what they already know. Their healthy, self-sustaining way of life is threatened unless the growing hydroelectric complex can be replaced by alternative technologies for energy production to meet the demands of people further south.

The challenge presented in this film People of a Feather is, can people in north-eastern North America recognize that the issues facing the Inuit in the north today also impacts on our future, to motivate us sufficiently to support appropriate changes in our energy consumption?

People of a Feather is a visually stunning, and important, documentary story, receiving 12 major awards to date. The 2011 film powerfully illustrates, to viewers globally, how our lives are inextricably linked on this planet – environmentally – in ways not previously experienced in human history.

In this story, the Inuit of the Sanikiluaq community on the Belcher Islands in Hudson Bay, Canada, show us the yin-yang of relying on the world of Nature for survival. They practice gentle respect at the same time as tough pragmatism, in relation with other species, to do what is necessary for sustainable living in the Arctic.

Previously I have written about the need for us to pay attention to those maverick thinkers and practitioners in the sciences, and other disciplines. I refer to those who research and apply the re-awakened wisdom of holistic insights, honed through millennia, juxtaposed to the latest scientific technologies.

Joel Heath, ecologist and filmmaker of People of a Feather, shows individuals of all ages what it takes, in my opinion, to become such a maverick. Doing so requires particular qualities, such as having an inquisitive mind matched by a passionate heart. The third key quality is to have what the Buddhists call “a beginner’s mind.”

We witness Heath’s implicit openness and grace to pursue his work, by learning from the natural environment and the people – experientially, on the ground. He then uses the latest scientific technologies with local, traditional Indigenous knowledge to understand the sea ice ecosystem.

In People of a Feather, we see the transformative and healing power between two cultures – Indigenous and Western – when people work together as equals, in mutual respect, fully appreciating what each can offer the other, for the wider benefit of humanity and the earth. This relationship is a pertinent cross-cultural partnership model for our time, locally and globally.

When Joel Heath responded to the Sanikiluaq community’s call to The Canadian Wildlife Service for someone to visit and investigate why the eider ducks experienced a die-off, he did not realize that he was beginning a scientific, and personal, odyssey.

People of a Feather‘s heartfelt tenderness, shown through friendships and Inuit family life, provides the emotional arc that carries us through a visually beautiful story of discovery that has multiple layers.

The tenderness goes beyond human relationships. For the other key characters in this film are the eider ducks, upon whom the Inuit have relied for food through many centuries. The eider skins and feathers, historically, were sewn together for clothing. Today, the Inuit still collect the eider down, which provides the essential warmth as an inner lining for contemporary winter clothing.

A few scenes provide historic re-enactments that show us the continuity of traditions. We see an Inuit family gently collecting just a few eggs from various eider duck nests along a shoreline. They also carefully pull away portions of the eider down nest material from several nests, always leaving enough to cushion and surround the remaining eggs.

The Inuit also hunt the eider duck, which is a staple of their diet, as is the seal. These “country foods” still hold a central place in their diet, keeping the people healthy, because all of the nutrients remain in foods raw or freshly cooked. Eating the meat and marrow of the seal and duck, furthermore, provide body heat essential during the cold arctic months.

Simeonie is the pivotal character in People of a Feather. Through his interactions, we receive glimpses into family and community life in Sanikiluaq. A work shed appears to be the main gathering place for the men, who collaborate to build a qamotiq (sled) among other activities. We see Simeonie good-naturedly attempt to create a sound gadget for the youth, whom we see elsewhere enjoying hip-hop music. Later, he shows his son how to handle a harpoon for hunting seal.

Early in the film, Simeonie visits Joel at his look-out hut. This small, box-like wooden structure is where Joel spent many hours video-taping the eider ducks underwater. Other times he filmed them on the land and the moving ice, through all the seasons for five years.

The film also incorporates time-lapse cinematography, to show the shrinking polynyas and their effect on the eider duck. A `polynya’ is an area of open water surrounded by sea ice that remains open throughout the winter due to strong currents.

Eider ducks do not migrate, but instead stay in the north all year. To survive, they travel with the currents and moving sea ice, to find accessible ice openings, in order to retrieve urchins, mussels and other types of food.

Heath’s fascinating underwater footage reveals the food quest of the eider ducks, as they dive to the bottom, grab and hold onto their catch with their beak, then soar upwards to the surface, with a streamlined elegance that takes your breath away.

The problem, heartbreaking to watch in the film, is the shrinking of available polynyas, so that the ducks cannot dive and, when they can, sometimes cannot find an opening to surface again. The change in sea ice also is dramatically affecting other marine life.

This environmental phenomenon began close to 40 years ago, and the Inuit of Belcher Islands were among the first to see the consequences of the building of dams by the growing hydroelectric complex. An Inuk woman, in voice-over narration over hydro images, explains:

“In the winter, fresh water on our lakes and ponds is the first to freeze. Sea ice takes much longer. In spring, fresh melting water from the mainland would flood our seas and drive our currents. But in the 1970s things started to change. Many rivers were dammed, trapping our fresh water in reservoirs. Now our spring water sits there all summer getting warm until in the wintertime people down south get cold and turn up their thermostats, using more power. For almost 40 years now, reservoirs have dumped their water onto the sea ice habitats of Hudson Bay at the opposite time of year.”

Film scenes show Inuit hunters discussing their concerns; for they experience more difficulties in gathering food. Their lives even can be endangered travelling across ice that now is unpredictable. Heath, in a voice-over, explains that fresh water freezes at a much warmer temperature than salt water, causing it to be more brittle, hence unsafe.

People of a Feather is a significant window into seeing the actual implications of climate change. Such insights can inspire the choices we make today and in the future.

That fact is the bigger message in Heath’s film, a revelation that presented itself to him as his quest unfolded, beyond the initial search to identify the cause of the eider duck die-offs: “The deeper I dug, the bigger I realized the scale of the issue.”

What Heath eventually recognized was astounding. In the film he tells us, in more detail, how the changes in the Labrador current are impacting on the Gulf Stream to Europe. “This process drives our ocean circulation and our global climate…Globally, over 50% of accessible fresh water is now behind dams. We’re working against the seasons of our hydrological cycle. We still have a lot to learn.”

Heath remains committed in this pursuit. He has set up Arctic Eider Society to train the Inuit people in a multi-community network, for research and monitoring that will be used for education and outreach. The website presents updated descriptions.

People of a Feather has a theatrical release in New York City later this year. Heath hopes that the large screenings in New York, and elsewhere, will persuade audiences to support, maybe even create, initiatives to develop energy solutions for the future that can be alternatives to the presently expanding hydroelectric complex.

Meanwhile, a DVD version of People of a Feather now is available, that includes an educational package with lesson plans, plus Special Features and Behind the Scenes short clips. These range from traditional skills to eider studies and monitoring techniques, as the Inuit interweave best practices from their cultural values and today’s sciences.

All profits from DVD sales go to the Arctic Eider Society.

The second half of my life has been greatly enriched by opening my mind and heart to the unknown, to find myself on unexpected roads, physically and otherwise. On a local trip recently, I turned my car north, instead of the intended southbound direction. Minutes later, I encountered four black bears, all adults, on the roadside. They were busily investigating how to get the lids off a few garbage bins, and paid me no heed. But, sighting four adult bears together is unusual. This encounter carried a message.

A short distance away, I pulled over my car to look for a pouch of tobacco. Many years ago I learned that a close encounter with animals in a natural environment calls us to express gratitude. For example, while driving, toss some tobacco out the window with a prayer, or pull over and pray. No tobacco, regardless, palms together I prayed for the well-being and safety of these bears, that they be able to find healthy food elsewhere, as the Creator intended for them, and not bring harm to humans nor come to harm by humans.

In the 1980s I recall my first teaching about the presence of bears. An Anishinaabe-kwe grandmother, with whom I was staying, had sighted a large bear outside her cabin in a community north of Sudbury. Rather than feeling fearful, she saw the bear as a messenger, to whom an offering should be made. She placed berries beside a tree in the vicinity of her cabin, and prayed for the bear’s well-being. Since then, I have perceived the presence of wild animals in their natural setting as a sign, to reflect upon the meaning of their presence, and recognize their life as sacred as one’s own.

That belief has become a more experientially lived integral aspect of my life since relocating to the countryside more than six years ago. Indeed, the fabric of my life is stitched together, and continues to be woven daily, with layered threads of deeper and expanded awareness of the ‘sacred feminine.’

The physical demands of a rural homestead are powerfully grounding, as one’s feet remain firmly on the ground, in all ways. I negotiate whatever cards Nature deals me, whether pleasant or daunting, in the recognition that I rely on Nature. This act of acceptance is done with grace and preparedness, as my previous blog post indicated upon an electric power blackout.

Immersed in the world of Nature offers life lessons every day, when you pay attention, receptive to learning the innate wisdom of all Creation – the sacred feminine. Doing so has restored immense joy in being alive, by witnessing, and participating in, the constant every-changing dance of life around me.

Last weekend, in fact, I conducted my first workshop in a while, with a new theme, titled: “An Introduction to the Sacred Feminine, An Inner/Outer Healing Project for Our Time.” The heartfelt reward for me was to be among a circle of people who genuinely appreciated the range of knowledge that I offered, and told me so afterwards.

First of all, I am grateful to Kevin Hart, minister at Wesley United Church on the Saugeen First Nation #29, who has expressed a lot of interest in my work. He invited me to conduct the second workshop in a series that he initiated on the topic: “Do You Care?,” to begin dialogues that are multicultural and intergenerational. Engaging in conversations together, we can discover ways to collaborate on caring for each other and the Earth.

Some churches today are making genuine, proactive efforts to make amends for the devastation brought upon Indigenous peoples through centuries caused by the institution of Christianity. Tragically, it misunderstood, dismissed and, worse, demonized, the spiritual beliefs and practices of Indigenous peoples.

Kevin’s authentic caring approach, in my view, is one excellent model for other Christian pastors to follow. Please know that I make this statement as a person not affiliated formally with any church, although my family background is United Church. My life journey, instead, is to explore what various spiritual paths hold in common and weave together those insights with other areas of interdisciplinary knowledge.

What I support, therefore, is not religious faith per se but rather genuine expressions of the spiritual teachings within religious and spiritual paths based foremost on love, and practitioners who rise above any form of discrimination. For I believe that all human beings come from the same spiritual Source and return to that Source.

Therefore, Kevin’s sincere interest to be a learner as well as a helper in a First Nation community and, moreover, to invite two women to join him in this workshop series, demonstrates a genuine holistic vision that moves beyond the historic patriarchy of The Church. This holistic vision essentially includes the sacred feminine.

In my workshop I referred to examples of text, and showed symbolic images, on the relationship between past, present and future, in segments titled: Re-awakening our ancient wisdom; Re-connecting with the Earth and Spirit; and Co-creating a new humanity.These themes relate to my life’s work combined with my latest research.

My intention was to point out that Euro-western peoples once understood Spirit and the sacredness of the Earth, and this understanding is being renewed today by maverick thinkers and practitioners in the sciences and other fields of knowledge who are revisiting and updating outworn and inaccurate positions about ancient wisdom.

For I also described why this renewal is necessary, relating how Euro-western cultures experienced a split in consciousness – disconnecting from Spirit and the Earth. I referred to the research by the late Dr. Leonard Shlain, from his book The Alphabet Versus the Goddess (excerpts mentioned in two previous blog posts in October 2012).

I intentionally chose both to “show” as well as “tell” examples of ancient wisdom, in order to engage the whole brain. Explaining the lateralization of the brain, I showed the juxtaposition of the left and right brain hemispheres. Using Powerpoint, I highlighted a series of intriguing images on a large screen, welcoming comments for discussion.

The fact is, Indigenous people never forsook the sacred feminine, unlike Euro-western culture. What I emphasized were the reasons how people in Western culture became deeply wounded at a soul level, from the loss of understanding the feminine principle, hence no longer valuing the development of inner ways of knowing.

Later that day, a traditional Anishinaabe-kwe woman approached, and thanked me. Lori Kewaquom, Saugeen Cultural & Wellness Coordinator, told me that what I said, in regard to the soul woundedness of Euro-western people, was the first time in her entire life that she heard someone from outside her own culture speak those words.

I just wish that I could convince more people within my own culture to reflect on our socialization processes, how our institutions and workplaces function, and interrogate our obsession with material success. Indeed, there is much healing work to do.

Awakening to possibility is my hope for humanity, and I continue to be a willing helper through various activities. The success of this workshop inspires me to develop a set of new workshops that can be adapted for diverse groups of interested people.

As for those four bears mentioned above, the traditional women at my workshop agreed later that four together is unusual, suggesting their appearance symbolized the full circle of my work, that is, the sacred circle of four directions.

The positive experience of this recent workshop could not have happened without the warm reception by these women, among whom I particularly want to acknowledge Lori. Her presentation followed mine, and focused on water.

Lori eloquently related the role of women in protecting water, as bearers of children and protectors of Mother Earth, which Anishinaabec spiritual traditions teach, so that the youngest child grows up with this respect and practice.

Throughout the day of giving our two workshops, in fact, all generations were present, from a baby inclusively up to a few grandmothers, the eldest who contributed wisdom mixed with a delightful sense of humour.

This coming Saturday marks another wonderful opportunity for Native and non-Native communities to come together in my region, again, for a life-affirming purpose, by participating in the Saugeen Water Walk, initiated by Lori’s First Nation community.

This event serendipitously brings to life Kevin Hart’s workshop theme “Do You Care?,” in the affirmative. The gathering of folks will walk along Lake Huron, pray together for the restoration of the water and the land that currently are threatened, and share food.

May we continue to do so.

Last week through several days after an ice storm, I had my first extended experience of a power blackout. During the day I visited friends to ensure they were okay, otherwise sitting in coffee shops to keep warm, and write. In the evenings, I stoked my kitchen woodstove, so that the heat would rise through the ceiling grate into my bedroom above. Several jugs of water enabled me to keep face and hands clean, and teeth brushed. For recreation I seated myself in front of the woodstove to read a book by flashlight.

My reading material was as dark as the absence of light around me. I have been plowing through a 400-page book No Immediate Danger (1985) by the late and brilliant Dr. Rosalie Bertell (1929-2012), scientist, environmental activist and international expert on radiation. Her book relates the dangers of low level radiation, and the history of cover ups by the nuclear industry. Bertell’s investigations give evidence the industry refuses to carry out appropriate studies on human health and environmental dangers, or be honest about the actual life-threatening consequences.

This book research is part of a small mountain of material that I have decided to study, as a concerned citizen in my local community, one of six regional municipalities among 21 approached in Canada by the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) to bury high-level radioactive waste. A technological application not yet implemented anywhere on this planet will be used. Certain places in Europe also have been approached, similarly going through stages of possible approval. (Low and intermediate level nuclear waste also is being proposed locally where I live, in one location.)

What heightens my outrage in what is supposed to be a democracy – and see my concern about federal obfuscation of environmental issues in the previous post – is the fact that economically impoverished rural communities are being approached, where the majority of councillors appear to be poorly educated and/or indifferent about environmental issues. Nor are they engaging their respective constituencies in a truly democratic process to be properly informed, to date. I pray this present situation will turn around.

Why does it seem that it always is only a small number of individuals who have the courage and the integrity to stand up for what is morally right, at least in the beginning, until other folks can be awakened? Given this current challenge that I have taken on, God bless every other person within this region, who cares enough about the well-being of future generations and the natural environment, to engage in interrogating these unspeakable proposals.

Meanwhile, what is helping me maintain my intellectual and spiritual balance in recent days is preparation for an upcoming workshop on “Recovering the Sacred Feminine.” It will be the first of a new set of workshops that I want to offer diverse gatherings, provide illuminating insights not widely known, and engage participants in experiential activities and discussion about ways we can co-create a more caring world.

To maintain inner balance as I study unpleasant facts, I need a daily diversion. Sunday night, for example, I watched on TV a 1932 comedy Me and My Gal, starring Spencer Tracy. Next, I unexpectedly tuned in a repeat of last week’s episode on Bill Moyers & Company titled “Sandra Steingraber’s War on Toxic Trespassers.”

This discovery is what I call “synchronicity.” What I mean is, when we open our hearts to the Universe, in the hope for insights on how to be strong and courageous, that energy of “light and love,” in turn, can bring unexpected yet serendipitous information.

Through many years I have enjoyed Bill Moyers’ interviews. I consider him to be among the most intelligent and compassionate, independent thinking investigative journalists of our time. His interviews have included some of the most philosophically, spiritually, and environmentally, cutting edge astute minds of our era. They continue to be an inspiration.

Close to the end of the Sunday night program, Bill Moyers informed viewers that his recent interview with Sandra Steingraber happened two days before she was sent to prison on a 15-day sentence for trespassing, with a small circle of other people. They had illegally blocked the driveway of a natural gas company in upstate New York, to protest against fracking. She refers to this company, nevertheless, as “toxic trespassers.”

Steingraber, during Moyers’ interview, said something really inspiring. She cited the syndrome popularly known as “well-informed futility,” by which people who make the effort to educate themselves on life-threatening environmental issues become mentally and emotionally paralyzed to the degree that they feel unable to fight these threats.

Steingraber, in contrast, related how she emphasizes the value of heroism to her children, and the need for ordinary people to take on the mantle of the hero. Next, Moyers pointed out – eloquently – that mythologist Joseph Campbell once told him how the `hero’s journey’ was a possibility for each and every human being who had the willingness to find his or her particular route along that journey. Wow!!!

Think about it! Throughout history, usually it has been specific independent thinking individuals – often ridiculed and marginalized during their lifetimes – as well as initially small groups of dissidents challenging the status quo, who demonstrate the inner power of the human heart and spirit to confront all types of darkness and adversity, bravely, for the larger good.

Rachel Carson is one example. I invite you to read my October 2012 post about her courageous stand as a biologist, despite character assassination and sexism by stupid, arrogant individuals who were making decisions that inflicted widespread harm to human health and the environment. Doing so continues. Today, in the spirit of Carson, Steingraber has taken up the heroine’s mantle, shown in the excellent documentary Living Downstream.

How appropriate that I am completing this blog post on Earth Day in Canada. Earth Day is about becoming better informed and choosing to take life-affirming actions.

Before closing, however, I want to acknowledge the intentional killings of innocent individuals as well as numerous severely-injured people during the Boston Marathon and its aftermath, caused by terrorist acts. Whether domestic and amateur, or otherwise, is not yet known; but the results still are horrific. To see an intelligent commentary, among reporters and readers who raise important questions, go to The Lede, a blog at The New York Times that gathers various perspectives and engages readers, democratically, in a conversation.

I would like to express my condolences to all of the affected families, both in the above Massachusetts tragedy, and also in reference to the horrific explosion of the fertilizer plant in West, a small farming community in Texas.  To more deeply understand this tragedy, I recommend a disturbing article titled “Texas fertilizer company didn’t heed disclosure rules before blast.”

The news here will be unsettling to my American readers, who might feel inclined to do some letter writing and related actions. Rep. Bennie Thompson, ranking member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, says, “This facility was known to have chemicals well above the threshold amount to be regulated under the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards Act (CFATS), yet we understand that DHS did not even know the plant existed until it blew up.”

Other revelations in this same news story will not make you happy either. Numerous other depots and plants that store the highly volatile anhydrous ammonia and other chemicals are not well regulated, and many of these facilities similarly are near residential areas. Be angry, be very angry – and ask some tough questions of your politicians and relevant manufacturers in your local areas.

My final suggested link to all readers is a lovely six-minute video, mentioned by Moyers to close his Sunday episode, titled Dance of the Honey Bee. Beautiful images with factual yet loving commentary – the voice-over narration by Bill McKibben, Founder of 350.org – is a powerful way to raise awareness, and inspire folks to stop the toxic destruction of our planetary life support system, through our everyday choices and longer term advocacy and actions.

One early spring day in 2007, returning to my farmhouse from a trip away, I observed an unexpected change in landscape. I chuckled in disbelief at the sight of a duck swimming in a new pond that had flooded most of the pasture up to the concrete pad beside my barn. This happened during my first springtime in the countryside. I have never stopped being amazed at Nature’s opportunistic, creative interplay between all forms of life.

In more recent years, I now look anxiously across my pasture to the creek, ever hoping it will be filled enough to flood at least part of my pasture once again, temporarily. Doing so assures me that the water table is high, and my drilled well still can provide a reasonable supply of water. I have learned not to take my water supply for granted.

Last spring, the creek itself dried out and, tragically, little rainfall arrived throughout the growing seasons. North Americans across the continent undoubtedly recall the regrettable outcomes – major crop losses, hardships for farmers and higher food prices for everyone. This spring, after frequent, heavy snowfalls – much needed to raise the water table again – the nearby creek has partially flooded the pasture.

But last week in mid-April, an ice storm hit, knocking out power through several days for more than 100,000 people in mid-western Ontario, where I live. Hence, my delayed post.

What stories will the water tell us in the months and years ahead – accompanied by future unanticipated climate events – wherever we live and work? Who will be paying attention and, more importantly, keeping track of important changes in why, or why not, water is continuing to sustain the planet in order to bring health rather than illness into our lives?

Our collective responsibility, as fellow planetary citizens, is to become environmentally or “ecologically” literate by seeking out a variety of information sources. We need to be better informed by consistency of evidence that shows the life-destroying proof where industrial and commercial activities undermine planetary well-being.

The imperative at this historic moment – when the planetary life support system that we depend on is experiencing major transitions caused by climate change – is to protect the freedom of expression for scientists everywhere who are documenting this evidence.

More of us, as Canadians, therefore, need to speak out and stand beside fellow Canadians who already are doing so, raising alarm bells about the ways in which our democracy is being eroded.

Look at the government bills being passed in recent years – without parliamentary debate. Worse, several department funding cuts relate to muzzling of Canadian government scientists, an undeniable fact now known to the wider world.

Before speaking more about the dangers presented to us, I first want to refer back to something that I stated in my previous blog post. There I had referred to Dr. Masaru Emoto’s research on consciousness of water, insights I emphasized as valuable.

The reason is, Dr. Emoto’s approach acknowledges the fuller holistic energetic dimensions of our interactions with water. Such insights can inspire us with the beauty and the wonder of life’s existence, so that we feel even more compelled to cherish and protect our planetary home.

But, I now want to clarify my critique of empirical science in that same previous post. I suggested a limitation of empirical scientific analysis, that is, such analysis focuses only on what is visible and measurable. Other scientific approaches, however, are based upon more holistic cultural philosophies that give credence as well to what is still unseen and yet unknown to the intellectual mind.

What I want to emphasize in this post is, the suggested limitation of empirical scientific studies, conversely, can be their strength. In other words, showing visible evidence about physical realities can be difficult to disprove, because the rigour of practicing a method of `trial and error’ – that can be repeated by other scientists to confirm evidence – has a significant role, globally, particularly in environmental sciences today.

Indeed, `trial and error’ is the essential playing field of the best creative minds who diligently apply perseverance, patience and, most of all, passion, toward their pursuit of discovery. And, yes, the best empirical scientists are endowed with passion, I would argue, because they care about the larger public good and the well-being of our planet. Through the practice of this uncertain and long term pursuit, the most brilliant, albeit unexpected, discoveries are produced.

Meanwhile, Canada’s federal government already had received a couple of black eyes, internationally, after backing out of the Kyoto Protocol and also losing its bid to have a seat on the United Nations Security Council for the first time since Canada’s previous successful bids. One of the reasons for the latter, cited in several news reports, was Canada’s unpopular position on climate change – namely, dismissing its importance.

The Canadian federal government’s lack of ecological literacy, on top of its apparent contempt for healthy democratic debate, has become even more painfully obvious. Some of Canada’s most esteemed thinkers, as well as international scientific journals, now together are challenging what is clearly politically and economically motivated ideology to silence dissenting environmental evidence by our scientists. It is shameful, and dangerous.

The federal political silencing began with threats of loss of federal charitable status for non-governmental organizations conducting certain types of environmental research and receiving funds from supporters abroad. Timelines for critical environmental assessments also have been severely shortened, the highly controversial Northern Gateway pipeline and proposed oil tankers along the British Columbia coast as a prime example.

See my blog post “Where the Caribou Live – Part 3” published in January 2012 on that issue. Please read the full four-part series that raises awareness on little reported, yet ongoing, issues.

Next, following the 2011 budget, further funding cuts were inflicted on more government departments. The departments that lost funding for targeted projects have included: Department of the Environment; Department of Fisheries and Oceans; Department of Natural resources; plus other departments.

You know when something serious is happening when, for the first time, scientists organized a public protest on Parliament Hill on July 10, 2012, called Death of Evidence. The speaker at the microphone is Ben Powless, Indigenous Environmental Network, in a photograph by Richard Webster ©.

Secondly, the federal government’s actions have received growing major criticisms from internationally respected scientists. Third, some of Canada’s own finest intellectuals have pointed out both the scientific short sightedness, and also the blatantly obvious ideological motivations, behind the government policy attacks on freedom of expression.

The latest challenge to what politely can be called misguided federal public policy is an investigation by the Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada regarding not less than seven governmental institutions impacted by the federal government cuts. The official notice, released on April 2, 2013, indicates the acceptance of a formal complaint submitted by the non-partisan Democracy Watch and Environmental Law Clinic of the University of Victoria, in British Columbia.

The most outrageous federal cut to Canadian environmental research targeted the long term Experimental Lakes Area (ELA) project, recently terminated. The full story of why the ELA received international acclaim through many years, and details about the widely condemned funding cut, is well outlined in the Wikipedia entry.

David Naylor, president of the University of Toronto, whose background is in the field of medical research, gave a March 2013 speech at the Empire Club – an edited version in The Globe and Mail. He outlines why the trend, especially within the past five years, in short-term, applied research is not improving Canada’s innovation and competitiveness in the wider world. Naylor also points out: “Everyone forgot that the private sector – not universities – ultimately drives commercialization,” and later adds: ” there are very good reasons why great basic, disruptive, fundamental [long term, trial and error] research matters.”

David Suzuki, Canada’s venerable broadcaster, author and environmentalist, in The Toronto Star last autumn states with blunt clarity what Canadians need to demand:

“Without the kind of vigorous debate and knowledge that comes from having citizens informed by open discussion of science and information, we can’t even hope to have a proper democracy. A strong economy is important, but the biosphere is more important.”

In my research to find voices from diverse sectors on this issue, my biggest surprise was to discover Jeremy Grantham. He is a British financier who identified his specialty in “investment bubbles not science.” Grantham proclaims bluntly in the international scientific journal Nature that more scientists need to speak out, because the human species is facing a resource [i.e. food] crisis exacerbated by global warming. He writes: “The seriousness of this change is not appreciated by the politicians and the public.”

Grantham is not alone in declaring a perceived lack of concern by the larger public. One of Canada’s finest sages, a seasoned researcher and intellectual, seen regularly on CBC-TV and TVOntario, is Allan R. Gregg. His voice is a consummate example of “reasoned discourse,” a voice that can examine and interrogate very astutely all points of view. Gregg writes:

“…I’ve begun to see some troubling trends. It seems as though our government’s use of evidence and facts as the bases of policy is declining, and in their place, dogma, whim and political expediency are on the rise. And even more troubling…. Canadians seem to be buying it” [September 5, 2012].

Can we collectively prove Grantham and Gregg wrong? In Canada and elsewhere in the world, are we willing, as planetary citizens, to challenge the government where we live, if and when it tries to silence reason, suppress environmental awareness and the knowledge required for us to survive on, restore and protect, an imperilled planet?

The first task as concerned individuals is to understand the issues. My blog readers know that I always make the effort to provide a sampling of good resources to look up.

In this case, particularly for fellow Canadians, I highly recommend Allan R. Gregg’s blog post “1984 in 2012 – The Assault on Reason,” based upon his presentation at Carleton University, Ottawa, in September 2012.

Two scenes in the movie Ben-Hur poignantly weave together the relationship of our body with our soul. Judah Ben-Hur, in one scene, is on a forced march through a desert, chained with other captives, and denied water. A bystander ignores a centurion’s threats, and offers Ben-Hur water. Later in the story, Ben-Hur approaches Jesus carrying the Cross upon which He is to be nailed. When He collapses en route, Ben-Hur ignores hostile soldiers, to offer Him water. Looking into the face of Jesus, Ben-Hur recognizes the same man who, similarly challenging authority, had given water to Ben-Hur.

Loving kindness, indeed, to nurture the soul is as important as water is to nurture the body, for our continued survival in a world worth living in.

To authentically express our love inclusively, we need to be more proactive to protect accessibility of water for the human family, as a human right, as well as sustenance for all planetary life. We also are called to restore the health of polluted water, for our very survival.

In doing so, we therefore are called to challenge any authorities and power holders, whether government or corporate, who are reducing water to be a commodity for profits to benefit the few at life-threatening costs to the many as well as the planetary life support system.

We need to restore the sacred feminine, the Source of Life, by recognizing how our energies are inextricably intertwined at so many amazing levels, many of which remain invisible and, therefore, mysterious to us.

See the below photograph of a water crystal, for example, formed after the words “Love and Gratitude” on paper were taped around a bottle of water. This image appears in Dr. Masaru Emoto’s book The Hidden Messages in Water (2005).

As long as I can remember, I have felt a deep concern for justice, and questioned any situations in which I experienced lack of kindness. Whenever I witnessed loving kindness, therefore, it deeply affected me. Perhaps that is why Ben-Hur (1959) had such a profound impact on me as a child, seeing it on a special family outing to the cinema.

Ben-Hur was an epic historic drama of the day, particularly for a North American society predominantly Judaic-Christian. This movie showcased a new widescreen format, and used a new six-track stereo sound. The story was enhanced by the longest movie score ever composed, the composer Miklos Rozsa. The film was the first to win 11 Academy Awards.

Since then, I have lost track of how many times I have watched this epic version of Ben-Hur on TV, still transported by the beauty of the music. Its eloquence carries the story’s timeless spiritual message.

The film story threads its way from the visible world of what is familiar and mundane which, when torn asunder, carries the main character into the depths of the dark night of the soul. For the story’s protagonist Ben-Hur, the task next becomes the inner quest to transcend emotional pain and hate, as difficult as it is, in order to break away from those inner chains, and transcend them to enter the most hallowed ground of our being, our Higher Self.

From that soulful place within each of us – waiting to be awakened or re-discovered – resides our innate capacity for love, accompanied by the possibility to forgive, as well as the humility to be grateful for life itself.

The symbolism of Christ’s Resurrection, as well, is to remind us, in this season of rebirth and renewal, the importance to reconnect with our capacities for love, forgiveness, and gratitude. From those inner locations we continue to cherish what and whom we love. Every generation on this Earth has experienced challenges in doing so, and we have ours.

Today we are confronting environmental uncertainty of huge proportions, as well as growing economic hardships during an extended period of transition, affecting humanity at many levels.

However, I would like to frame the above challenge by suggesting that, foremost, we need to understand consciousness more deeply and expansively, both our own and also its different energetic expressions in other life forms, and discover the ways in which we are interconnected.

What is so exciting about this historic moment, and the great adventure of life, is to open our mind, body, heart and soul, to the incredible wealth of knowledge that can help us to transform the conflicts that can seem overwhelming on our planetary home.

This pursuit invites us to rediscover ancient wisdom that remains significantly relevant, a fact understood by cutting edge researchers, in medicine, science and other fields. They recognize, as independent thinkers, the ways that perennial wisdom is interwoven with newer approaches, such as quantum physics, to understanding our world and what lies beyond, and the importance to apply these insights into our everyday world.

Such fields of knowledge, regrettably, tend to be marginalized, trivialized, even totally disregarded, by established institutions and systems of thinking that want to control what we think, and retain the status quo for economic benefit limited to the few.

We have tremendous power within our consciousness to re-create a different reality, if we take the time, and have the humility to make the open-minded effort to support, and learn from, these maverick thinkers and practitioners who can empower us to engage in radical – yet life-affirming – changes in how we currently live on this planet.

`Consciousness,’ in fact, is one of those multifaceted fields which holds tremendous potential to help us evolve more closely to our human potential. Fortified by a vision to explore yet unknown inner and outer territory, and despite struggles to get funded, independent-thinking scientific and medical researchers persevere to discover how humans can tap more effectively into our innate healing capacity. They are discovering formerly under-recognized capacities within other species and also within the planet’s elements.

The ground-breaking work of Dr. Masaru Emoto illustrates a brilliant example of courageous, experimental investigations in regard to the consciousness of water. His extensive studies evoke the qualities of maverick researchers throughout history who, simply, apply both their right brain and their left brain to resolve problems.

Emoto’s studies, for example, have been based on inquisitiveness guided by intuition, imagination, and spiritual qualities such as compassion, love and gratitude, rather than be restricted within the purely analytic approach of empirical science that focuses only on what can be seen and measured.

Of course, it is expected that Dr. Emoto’s work has been ridiculed by certain scientists who operate within the limitations of left-brain empirical science. For such critics and other skeptics to label his work as “pseudo-science” only reveals what I have outlined in several earlier blog posts, namely, the “fractured consciousness” of mainstream Western culture.

After looking at various YouTube presentations of Dr. Masaru Emoto’s work, what I recommend is a four-part series, each 10 minutes or less, which give a clear picture of his process in demonstrating how water crystals are photographed. We see school children and their teachers witnessing the evidence. Titled “Dr. Masaru Emoto” begin to watch at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqWzEd2fI_Y.

Humility is one further spiritual quality that is implicit in Dr. Emoto’s process, in which he enables the water to speak for itself, in a certain sense, telling its story through the diverse formations of crystals that illuminate experiences from loving care to pollution.

In the spirit of this blog post’s focus on kindness and gratitude, I will quote Dr. Emoto from The Hidden Messages in Water:

“…love and gratitude combine to give the crystals a unique depth and refinement, a diamond-like brilliance…Love tends to be a more active energy, the act of giving oneself unconditionally. By contrast, gratitude is a more passive energy, a feeling that results from having been given something – knowing that you have been given the gift of life and reaching out to receive it joyously with both hands” [2005, Emoto, pp. 78,79].

Does not this description by Dr. Emoto speak to an essential truth? We actively can open the door for the light of joy to enter each day, in acknowledging how all elements and species of the earth nurture our own life, and render our very existence possible.