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Pivot for the planet: From boundaries to horizons

sunrise over a forest - Earth Day
James O'Neil/Getty Images

Reinhardt is a coach, mystic and writer.

"If you stay in this place out of fear you will not find the landscape that your imagination is yearning for. The effort of the imagination is to turn the boundary into an horizon because there’s no end point for you. The boundary says, ‘''nd no further’. The horizon says, ‘welcome’." -Barry Lopez

Today, the 52nd Earth Day, I wonder what it will take for us to understand that we’re all in this together. That all 7.87 billion of us share this beloved planet, Mother Earth, Gaia, our home.


I’m deeply immersed in reading Anne Baring’s "Dream of the Cosmos: A Quest for the Soul." I find it a challenging read that is providing me with a better understanding of the long and deep influences that have separated us from revering Nature and one another. A deep and massive shift in our consciousness – individually and collectively – is necessary to move beyond the boundaries and barriers and conflicts that our cultural stories of separation have created and, indeed, continue to create.

As I pause, feeling the enormity of the shift toward recognizing our interconnectedness and interdependence and wondering how this shift can occur, Muse reminds me that the shift is simply from fear to love. That feeding the path of love and starving the path of fear is the way. Simple yes. And, not so easy in a world where fear is deftly used to manipulate, control, and dare I mention, profit. And, yet the shift IS happening!

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More and more of us are following the advice of the indigenous grandfather who, when asked by his grandson which wolf would win the war between a good wolf and an evil one that was going on inside him, replied, “the wolf you feed.” While the story itself is one of separation and conflict, it offers a reminder that every choice we make is a vote for how life will unfold. Are we "voting" consistent with the life and the planet that we desire? Am I?

Are we feeding our bodies the foods to create and maintain optimum health? Or are we voting for junk food? Are we feeding our minds information and ideas to create and maintain new horizons for the health of our planet, our society, our communities, ourselves? Or are we voting for defending boundaries and what the mainstream still considers "news"? Are we feeding our soul stories, imagined and real, of inspiration, compassion, and love? Or are we following the dictates of religion? Are we voting for fear or for love?

More and more, I’m turning away from the old, the tired, the stories and ways that no longer work. I don’t wish to feed these "wolves" and look for ways to disconnect from them without disengaging myself. I want to nourish and nurture new ways of living and BEing here on Gaia, and this week, I’ve found some beautiful films to celebrate Mother Earth that offer both nourishment and inspiration to do just that.

Watching "Earthrise," a short film about NASA’s Apollo 8 mission around the moon, I was reminded of those first profound photos of our home from space and that man’s artificial boundaries for nations are non-existent when Earth is viewed from space. You can watch it here. Perhaps you’ll be inspired to wonder, "What if we saw our home this way?"

The Barry Lopez quote above stopped me for several moments as I began watching the serendipitously discovered film "Horizons." on Emergence Magzine. Soul food indeed!

I’m "voting" for films like these and others from both Emergence Magazine and Films for the Planet to nourish, inspire, support me in making and sustaining the seismic shifts that both planet and people need to survive and to thrive. Let’s make some noise for remaking what is "news"! Let’s create horizons of welcome in our hearts, our minds, and our imaginations! Let’s be matriots for the Planet and Humanity!

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Loyalty, Democracy, and the Future of American Politics

Vice President-elect JD Vance and President-elect Donald Trump arrive at the 60th inaugural ceremony where Donald Trump will be sworn in as the 47th president on January 20, 2025, in the US Capitol Rotunda in Washington, DC.

(Photo by Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Loyalty, Democracy, and the Future of American Politics

The place of loyalty in this country’s political system has been at the forefront of political conversations since the November election returned Donald Trump to the Oval Office. Loyalty has long been seen as what the president values most in his relationship with others.

In his 2024 presidential campaign Trump did not try to hide any of that. “We love loyalty in life,” he said. “Don’t you think? Loyalty?”

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Two Minutes . . .

For This and Future Generations

Sunset over cracked soil in the desert. Global warming concept

Getty Images//Anton Petrus

Two Minutes . . . For This and Future Generations

I want to offer you a different lens through which to better understand the climatological and environmental crises that we—indeed all of humanity—are facing. I would like you to view these crises through the long lens of our planet’s geologic and evolutionary history.

From the beginning of our planet’s formation, some 4.6 billion years ago, to the present there have been five major extinction events which destroyed anywhere from70% (during the Devonian Period) to 95% (at the end of the Permian Period) of all living things on earth. These extinctions were natural events: caused by some combination of rapid and dramatic changes in climate, combined with significant changes in the composition of environments on land or in the ocean brought on by plate tectonics, volcanic activity, climate change (including the super cooling or super heating of earth), decreases in oxygen levels in the deep ocean, changes in atmospheric chemistry (acid rain), changes in oceanic chemistry and circulation, and in at least one instance, a cosmological event—the massive asteroid strike inChicxulub, near what is now the Yucatan peninsula.

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The Power of Outrage and Keeping Everyone Guessing

Question marks on a stack of small blocks.

Getty Images / Sakchai Vongsasiripat

The Power of Outrage and Keeping Everyone Guessing

Donald Trump loves to keep us guessing. This is exactly what we’re all doing as his second term in the White House begins. It’s one way he controls the narrative.

Trump’s off the cuff, unfiltered, controversial statements infuriate opponents and delight his supporters. The rest of us are left trying to figure out the difference between the shenanigans and when he’s actually serious.

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Trump’s executive orders can make change – but are limited and can be undone by the courts

The inauguration of Donald Trump.

Getty Images / The Washington Post

Trump’s executive orders can make change – but are limited and can be undone by the courts

Before his inauguration, Donald Trump promised to issue a total of 100 or so executive orders once he regained the presidency. These orders reset government policy on everything from immigration enforcement to diversity initiatives to environmental regulation. They also aim to undo much of Joe Biden’s presidential legacy.

Trump is not the first U.S. president to issue an executive order, and he certainly won’t be the last. My own research shows executive orders have been a mainstay in American politics – with limitations.

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