Grief as Love: Ecological Self-Contact

Grief as Love.

I’m walking on our little spot of earth, in what, only 6 years ago, was a thriving ʻōhiʻa ehua (O-HEE-YAH LAY-HOO-AH) forest. In fact, it was one of the healthiest groves in the area. The red flowering ʻōhiʻa l tree is native to Hawai’i- it the first tree that grows on a hardened lava flow. These trees have been here for at least four thousand years, and in the last decade, over 100,000 of the 850,000 estimated trees have died, from a previously unknown fungus. I sit here and remember how it was, while looking at the spindly bare tops, and wonder what it will be like 6 years from now. There is no cure for the fungus, the co-arising beetles, the rot - nor is there apparently a cure for the human unwillingness to wash their cars or their boots or tools before moving from one grove to the next.

This tree is said to represent the quality or core frequency of the ancient Hawaiian culture, the spirit of aloha, loving cooperation, resilient. A local medicine woman, Angela, say the trees will die unless the people come back to the frequency of Aloha, stop the violence, fighting, drinking, abuse, and return to love. So today, I’m grieving for the ʻōhiʻa lehua, for what was and what could be. I love the trees, I love the humans, I feel our impotent sleepwalking in molasses consciousness: unable to access.

While it feels hopeless to save a forest or an entire species, we do what we can: we plant uninfected seedlings, we quarantine the tools, we speak with other land stewards. I try not to feel disconnected, or to bypass my feelings and just assume that other trees will grow here. In meditation, I try to feel the trees and listen to what they are saying, and find that they don’t actually have an emotional quality. While they prefer to live, and are developing their own defenses, if their time is over, they will give way. They are, it seems, unattached.

Roots of Grief

2.7 sukhānuśayī rāgaḥ

सुखानुशयी रागः ॥७॥

Craving enjoyment is desire (raga) 2.8 dukha-anusayi dvesah दुःखानुशयी द्वेषः I

Rejecting pain is aversion (dvesha)

Grief is rooted in the attachment that we form to people, places, and things that are important to us, and by our expectations of how things should be. When we experience loss, we feel a sense of separation from something that we loved, or perhaps that was familiar to us, something we relied on.

Grief also speaks to how we are related, to who we think we are. If we consider ourselves dynamic expressions of the quantum world, and part of a web that is always changing forms, coming in and out of differentiated conscious awareness, we will feel our human grief and pass it through us, knowing that all things transform, change, die. We will feel it and let it pass through us, and not be attached.

If we think of ourselves as single units, as things or as meat bodies, then grief may challenge our sense of self and our place in the world. This thought process will undoubtedly create pain, and as a result, may potentially manifest in all manner of pain avoidance behaviors.

If we become familiar with ourselves as consciousness and body, and not identified with body alone, we can face the human pain or grief. In this way we may contact that Adrian Villaseñor Galarza calls the “deep transformative potential” of our own pain. We learn to feel the others in the web of life, and not see ourselves as separate.

Stoics and Amor Fati

As I come to terms with what is, whether its forest loss or extreme weather or the illness in my very own body that also stems from ecological imbalance, I might borrow from the Stoics. Even in ecological grief, I can cultivate a sense of simultaneous responsibility and detachment, and recognize that humans have a duty to take care of the environment and protect it for future generations, but know that ultimately, the fate of the environment is outside of my individual control. I would strive to maintain a sense of inner peace in the face of ecological uncertainty and adversity, and focus on taking action where I can make a positive difference. This is a similar philosophy to that expressed in Patanjali’s Sutra 1.15: Freedom from attachment (vairagya) develops with an attitude of evenness that releases all cravings for external stimuli and internal dialogue. I must be able to accept and love what is, and to know that even if I want I to be different, and I will work for things to be different, I will be okay if it doesn’t happen.

This doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t feel my sadness and grief. Using the principles of RAIN in Tara Brach’s work, I can recognize, allow, inquire and then nurture with self compassion my grief.

And from that, perhaps (like a clear channel or a reed flute, the transparent jewel, undistorted, the mani, unpolluted by an ego desire to be a good person) I might then act for the sake of all beings may. I might engage in Loka Samgraha, where, with no resistance, I act for the greater good, with compassion, humility, and selflessness, solely out of my deep love for the world.

“Pain is the price of consciousness in a threatened and suffering world. It is not only

natural; it is an absolutely necessary component of our collective healing.” -Joanna Macy and Molly Brown, Coming Back to Life

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Follow On Note on the Universality of Loka Samgraha

There appears to be a set of universal cultural ideas reflect a universal human desire to contribute to the welfare of society and act for the greater good. They emphasize the importance of compassion, empathy, community, and social responsibility as essential qualities for a fulfilling and purposeful life. In Buddhism, the Bodhisattva ideal emphasizes compassion, altruism, and the importance of working for the benefit of all

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beings. In Confucianism, the concept of Ren refers to the virtue of benevolence, which emphasizes the importance of fulfilling one's social responsibilities to contribute to the greater good of society. In Islam, the concept of Zakat emphasizes the importance of social justice, compassion, and the responsibility to help those in need. Ubuntu, from the Nguni Bantu language of Southern Africa, roughly translates to "humanity towards others". It refers to the idea that we are all interconnected and that our actions have an impact on others. Ubuntu emphasizes the importance of compassion, community, and working together for the greater good. Tzedakah in Judaism emphasizes the importance of charity, social justice, and the responsibility to help create a more just and equitable society. The West African idea of Wadja emphasizes the importance of cooperation, community, and working together to support one another and address common challenges. Nunchi in Korean culture emphasizes the importance of empathy, communication, and working together to create harmonious relationships and a more cohesive society.)

Bibliography

Albrecht, G. (2022, July 31). The Psyche, Solastalgia, Sumbiotherapy and the Symbiocene. Psychoterratica
Brach, T. (2017). The RAIN of self-compassion: A simple practice for clients and clinicians. Bryant. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.

Chapple, C. (2020). Living landscapes: Meditations on the five elements in Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain yogas.
Johnson, L. (2019, August 19). Practices for eco-grief
Loizzo, J. (2012). Turning the body wheel: Deep mindfulness and personal healing.

Sewall, L. (1995). The skill of ecological perception
Villaseñor Galarza, A. (2013). Eco-despair and eco-mourning.