A SONG OF AND FOR THE EARTH

‘An education in ecological responsibility is urgent’, Pope John Paul has said. One group who has responded to that challenge is EarthSong. Its Coordinator, Anne Boyd, speaks with Lee Beasley.

Anne Boyd, a Brigidine nun in Melbourne, is singing a new song with the EarthSong Project. The Project has a new journal that challenges our spirituality and lifestyle in relation to Earth. This journal–Anne is editor–is an extension of the work done by a group of religious from six different congregations who have sponsored the organisation Anne heads. ‘We hope to speak into the desire of so many humans who wish to realise the dream of our God for this Earth, by recreating our role on the planet as reverencing and fruitful members of the whole community of life.’

For Anne, the first step is to understand our role on the planet and the interrelation humans have with all other life forms. A resident of the western suburbs for most of her life, Anne has always sensed beauty in the city. She says her story is not extraordinary: she loves the garden, like a lot of other people; loves the sea, even though she can’t swim; and is drawn to camping but, to her, that seems normal.

Anne’s desire to find divinity in the earth started to take form in 1993 when she went with a friend to hear well-known physicist and psychologist, Diarmud O’Murchu speak. ‘I didn’t understand anything he was talking about, but I had the desire to want to understand. I wanted to know more.’

It was an ‘inkling’ that grew over the next nine years. Anne’s desire to grasp ecology/spirituality developed through the touch and teachings of many people. The work of Thomas Berry, author of Dream of the Earth, and Brian Swimme, co-author of The Universe Story, helped Anne tremendously on her quest.

In 2002, Anne resigned from her position in the Melbourne archdiocese and travelled to Ireland to eight centres established by religious communities to hear their stories about eco-spirituality. From there to England and then to the US where she studied earth literacy–learning to read how the earth operates and understanding how the earth functions–for three months at Genesis Farm in New Jersey founded by the Dominican Sisters.

All the time Anne was away, she kept asking the question, What are we going to do? Most of the centres she visited had property–land they used as teaching farms or land they were returning to wilderness. ‘We didn’t have any property so we decided to take it on the road. I have always considered myself as a teacher so it was important to me that this project have an educational focus.’

Anne put the proposal to her leadership team that they invite several orders into the conversation. ‘We went to the orders and asked who wanted to be in this. A number of these already had groups very interested in this field. We met for about four months.’ They came up with a mission statement and then took it to the leaders of the congregations. Six chose to be involved. In many ways, Anne says, none of us could see very far into the future. It was a radical step in the traditions of our founding visionaries.

At the launch of EarthSong, Dr Caroline Smith of Australian Catholic University said:

Earthsong is about education. Or rather about learning. Learning to renew and retell our story in relation with each other and with the earth. Learning that because we were nested within her ecological systems, we have a deep spiritual connection with the earth. Learning to re-embrace the earth dimension of our daily lives. Learning to enrich our lives with the Great Spirit of earth. Learning to live rightly and reverently so that all God’s creatures who come after us may share in earth’s riches.

‘The risk is if we don’t quickly revise our place on the planet, we will bring about the extinction of ourselves’, Anne says.

A commitment needs to be made to pull back from our existing way of thinking. To stop being consumers, stop thinking about instant gratification and stop limiting our thinking to exclude the future generations. ‘The deepest place to start which will change our behaviour is to change the sense of who we are. That’s the deepest place but also the hardest because everything in society is telling us something else.’

Even young people are showing the symptoms of dislocation in our society. ‘They’re the signposts of what is happening to us as a species in the western world …’

Anne adds, ‘A life choice has to be made. That requires contemplation, conversation, openness and in our way of life it’s hard to get that space’.

Even in recognising the urgency to promote a new consciousness, Anne is optimistic and enthusiastic. ‘There is so much of our humanity to celebrate.’ According to Anne, Earth has desired us, we have a role to play and nothing is here by chance. Everything is here to reveal beauty and expressions of divine magnificence. She sees the Spirit of life working through EarthSong.

The journal will be a tool that invites reflection. The primary target group of Earthsong will be teachers but is open to all individuals. The format is modelled on an American journal from the Quakers called EarthLight. Earthsong is a southern hemisphere companion.

The articles will explore the spirit of our land, with a focus on earth literacy, earth ethics and the consequences of human behaviour. Feature writers will include David Tacey and Tim Winton and each issue will have articles and discussion topics for teachers and students.

The journal can be ordered by subscription only and will be published in spring and autumn to fall in line with the school year.

‘We are coming out of a Christian tradition, so we are trying to find meaning within that context. The cycle of life, death, resurrection is really, in a way, the grammar of the universe: emergence, chaos, transformation. It’s not just a Christian belief. We have it only in a human context, but if you put it in a total life context, you deepen and expand the role of the human in the whole universe story.’

For further information contact EarthSong, 43 Glenelg Drive, Clayton South 3169. Tel 03 95512673, fax 03 9551 5656, email earthsong@pacific.net.au.