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We Are the World
by Donna Henes
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Recently, I was asked to speak to the ministers who are being trained to serve as resident chaplains in the Pastoral Care
Department of the Westchester Medical Center. Specifically, they asked me to present the shamanic point of view of team building with an emphasis on creating alliances and community.
Once I got over my surprise and delight at having been invited in the first place, I sat myself down to give some serious thought to the substance of their request. After much rifling through of books
and files as well as several periods of deep meditation on the topic at hand, I realized that there is no such thing.
From a shamanic point of view, it is redundant to think of reaching out to build teams, alliances, and communities, as we are already all connected, allied, joined together as one. There is no
us and them. There is only us. We — all of us who occupy this planet: organic and inorganic; living and not; past, present, and future — are the world.
Our connection to all that is is inextricable. We couldn’t separate ourselves even if we wanted to. Where could we go? This is all there is. There is no away.
We come from the earth and return to Her belly. We are made of the same substance as the sea, the soil, the stars. There are, and ever have been, only so many molecules in existence, and all the rest —
birth, growth, death; development, change, evolution, species — is really just about recycling.
We breathe the same air as our cave-dwelling ancestors; inhaling and exhaling, exchanging carbon dioxide and oxygen with our plant relatives untold billions of times over the millennia. And the same
holds true for water. It rains, it pools, it evaporates. We drink, we pee. Again and again and again in a grand scale cosmic round robin.
All borders and boundaries and separations are pure illusion. Each time we touch someone, we leave some of our skin atoms behind and pick up a parcel of new ones. Thus we merge, literally becoming part
of each other. I am you and you are me and we are we.
We are all in this together, inextricably bound on our beautiful blue planet spinning through space. We are one team, one community, one race, one world, one living, breathing entity. And the sooner we
realize it, the happier, safer, and saner we will be.
© Copyright 2007
Donna Henes. All Rights
Reserved.
Mama Donna Henes, Urban Shaman, is the editor and publisher of the highly
acclaimed quarterly, Always In Season: Living In Sync with the Cycles. She is
also the author of "THE QUEEN OF MY SELF: Stepping Into Sovereignty in Midlife
," "Moon Watcher's Companion," "Celestially Auspicious
Occasions: Seasons, Cycles and Celebrations" and "Dressing Our Wounds In Warm
Clothes," as well as the CD, "Reverence To Her: Mythology, The Matriarchy & Me."
In 1982, she composed the first (and to this date, the only) satellite peace
message in space: "chants for peace * chance for peace."
Mama Donna, as she is affectionately known, has offered lectures, workshops,
circles, and celebrations worldwide for 30 years. She is the director of Mama
Donna's Tea Garden & Healing Haven, a ceremonial center, ritual consultancy
and spirit shop in Exotic Brooklyn, New York.
For further information, a list of services and publications, a calendar of
upcoming events and a complimentary issue of Always in Season: Living in Sync
with the Cycles. contact:
MAMA DONNA'S TEA GARDEN AND HEALING HAVEN
PO Box 380403
Exotic Brooklyn, NY 11238-0403
Phone/Fax 718-857-2247
Email: CityShaman@aol.com
www.DonnaHenes.net
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