IS OUR MOTHER EARTH ALIVE?
In Hinduism Mother Earth is called Bhumi and figures prominently in the Mahabharata and Puranic stories, in which she is often depicted as a representation of the goddess Lakshmi. Mother Earth also figures prominently in the cultures of Native Americans and other First Peoples. However, is this only mythology?
James Lovelock, a British chemist who established a reputation for his work on respiratory infections, air sterilisation, blood-clotting, the freezing of living cells, artificial insemination and gas chromatography,joined with biologist Lynn Margulis in the 1970s to publish a series of articles putting forward a theory about the earth’s ecosystem, which they called the Gaia Hypothesis. Simply stated, the idea is that while the earth is not a living organism as such is commonly understood, it behaves like one since it has self-regulating feedback loops helping to maintain conditions that are conducive to life forms.
Some of the observations in support of this theory are as follows:
“-The atmosphere is in an extreme state of thermodynamic disequilibrium owing to the activities of life, yet aspects of its composition are remarkably stable.
-Present conditions at the surface of the Earth are close to optimal for the dominant organisms.
-Life has persisted for over 3.8 billion years despite increasing solar luminosity and variable exchange of matter with the inner Earth.
-The Earth system has repeatedly recovered from massive perturbations.”
[Quotation taken from T. Lenton in “Encyclopedia of Atmospheric Sciences”(2003).]
While scientists can argue about this theory, we know that from a spiritual point of view the Earth, which is full of living beings, is an energy system. In truth all living things have an energy field that interacts with other beings. When we think of ourselves as a human body only we are unaware of this energy field, but as we grow spiritually we come to realize that everything is energy.
Mother Earth is no different, and as we come to realize the importance of our planet, we hold love and gratitude in our hearts, and pray for its healing.