Green Tongues Tasting Sunlight
Betty Luceigh
Within a second after the Big Bang, subatomic matter was birthed. Protons and neutrons travelled through space with the inherent desire to join each other in the expression of their mutual existence. When they did so, new forms were created. Diversity began. After billions of years of evolution, I am but one of multitudes born out of those initial encounters. I am not only surrounded by my ancestors and contemporaries; I contain them. Even as I live, my own body exchanges atoms recycled through Earth’s objects, plants, and animals. We each differ by the fine details of organization of our molecules into unique patterns.
Today I stand on a mountainside of a valley with a river below. On the opposite side are many trees abundant with leaves. What I see in my imagination is an abundance of green tongues tasting the sunlight. They are accepting energy released by the sun’s fusion and using it to retell a story. That story began with light frequencies that stimulated a compatible organic macromolecule. Their mutual embrace initiated a unique sequence of events that led to the biochemical evolution of yet other organic molecules. Now we humans are among the ones tasting a variety of “green tongues” and inhaling the oxygen they produce.
I also see the river composed of water touching other water, rocks, and fish. Wetness flows downriver with gravity, but it can also move directly upward against gravity. It can evaporate into clouds to carry rain to distant lands or travel up tubes inside tree trunks to quench thirsty leaves. Mobility of liquids and gases contributes opportunities for touching. Touching that leads to complementary recognition continues to create diversity.
Pressure waves of air speak to my ears like children playing a game at an Earth-day party. I take turns identifying who is “it”: ground leaves shuffling, water splashing, or birds tweeting. Together they form a chorus of shared voices, taking turns as soloists in my aural awareness of their presence.
Remaining in this natural scene, I imagine the sources of all the sights, tastes, and sounds moving as a set of variable lines toward my sensory receptors. Counting the actual number of lines linking to me would be very difficult. I feel bombarded by their sheer quantity. Yet there are also other seemingly unlimited methods for Nature to sense itself. To count those lines, I can only arrive at a total of “One.” I do so in recognition of the “Whole” that their totality represents.
This does not mean the “Whole” is static and uniform, for the lines constantly change with each next moment. Rather than bombarded, I feel immersed in an endless sea of dynamic lines. I am a participant within that sea, both dependent and influential.
Who is the “I” in this narrative of observations and experiences—the ego, the self, the “that which I am”? As a human, I am informed of my surroundings through my senses receiving information at each present moment. I name the recipient of my combined senses the collector of stimuli I can detect. I name my mind’s ability to relate and organize the meaning of the stimuli the connector. Sometimes the meaning generates an emotional response, sometimes a visual image, sometimes a specific memory, or on occasion a new state of awareness.
How a new state of human awareness might unfold is only conjecture. For example, assume the “I” surrenders its interference and desire to control what is detected. Then the collector could immediately receive total sensual coherence. This would leave the connector to interpret all the information simultaneously as Wholeness. Having such an experience can serve to expose a shared intrinsic interconnection of all existence and profoundly alter our conscious awareness. That, in turn, can alter how we apply interpretive filters to everyday situations that must be addressed separately. That is, once we realize Wholeness is the natural, permanent, non-static state of existence, we have the context within which to respond to transient events.
If one has experiences of Wholeness in Nature, it can serve as a reference point for other experiences. If one has knowledge of one’s self-created filters for interpreting events, it can serve to alert one to what may need to change. With such experience and knowledge, each of us has a better basis for promoting good judgment in our behaviors. The application of this combination of attributes is defined as exercising wisdom.
It is worth noting that practicing mindfulness can assist in experiencing Wholeness, exploring psychology can assist in gaining knowledge of one’s filters, and having a compassionate heart can assist in promoting good judgments. The better we learn these lessons, the better our wisdom will serve others. We can then move with greater ease to make choices that improve harmony with Earth and all her inhabitants.
What began in the first second of our Universe is continuing to unfold mysteries of creative wisdom within the community we call Earth. It is important to be wise about our human senses, but also all others of Earth. Doing so will encourage compatible alignment of purposes of the parts to the Whole. Ultimately, what began as Earth’s primary purpose must become ours as well. The work to change our relationship with Earth will need the inspiration of a common good that holds us safely within that common purpose. It can begin by self-reflection on “green tongues tasting sunlight.”
