By Nancy Rynes, author of Awakenings from the Light
Do you see that little blue dot there on the image below? That little dot peeking out from under Saturn's rings? That's Earth. That's us, seen from Saturn, 900 million miles away courtesy of the Cassini spacecraft and its imaging team. All 7+ billion of us humans are on that little, tiny dot at this moment. Every single human who has ever lived, lived there. Every plant and animal that we know about made that little dot its home. That's it, the sum total of life as we know it on that insignificant-looking dot set against a very empty-looking background of space.
In Awakenings from the Light, I write at length about the importance of our home here on planet Earth. I'm revisiting that theme during the month of April by devoting several newsletters to exploring why I feel the Earth is sacred. And if you join me over on Facebook or Twitter, I share at least one nature-themed picture every day, celebrating this beautiful planet.
Remember, we are all together, right now, on that little dot soaring out in a vast expanse of space. The only neighbors that we know about are on that little dot alongside us. From this perspective, everyone on Earth is our neighbor.
Whether we are spiritual, religious, or not, this planet is the only home you and I have right now. It is the only home that our children and grandchildren will have, too. We are a part of the Earth, we absolutely depend on it for our survival. Our species cannot live without her unique atmosphere, flowing waters, and landscapes that feed both our bodies and our souls. There may very well be other, more intelligent life somewhere out there in the cosmos, and in forms much different than our human selves can imagine, but this is our place. Our home. And to me, it's sacred for that reason.
Perhaps at some point in the distant future, we will expand our permanent human presence out past Earth but for now and for many, many human generations to come, this is it. That dot is our home. We take care of her not just for ourselves, but for our children, their children, and many more generations yet unborn. And yes, for the animals and plants, too. The health of those future generations, all of them, depend in large part on the choices we make in our time, right now.
Every action we take has an impact, and we'll explore some of those impacts in the next few newsletters.
Love and Blessings to all of you...
Nancy
** And a bonus: Carl Sagan's speech "Pale Blue Dot."
All content copyright Nancy Rynes, 2015-2016
Bio: Nancy Rynes is a speaker, artist, and author of Awakenings from the Light (available from Amazon.com). Nancy's books and workshops teach you how to bring a little bit of Heaven to your life on Earth. She lives near Boulder, Colorado. Check out her website: NancyRynes.com
