reverence for life

WINTER FAIRE AT NELSON WALDORF SCHOOL

| Lila Strand

This Saturday, Dec. 6 we will be enjoying friends, atmosphere and shopping at the Nelson Waldorf School Winter Faire, 10 am to 4 pm. In my little booth, besides books and mounted illustrations for a child’s room, I have Nature Treasure plates, all to encourage ways children can connect to nature. (More ideas are offered below photo.)

We have either a sweet baby bird, or a little star child, and many tiny things from nature to to be examined and fantasized about (what is this? where do you think this came from?) and rearranged (and joined by other things the child treasures). The real value of such a little world on a plate, in my mind, comes from opening doors to invite more interactions with nature when the weather warms up.

Did you know, Rudolf Steiner teaches us that the young child’s reverence is for their environment? While playing outside as much as possible is wonderfully healthy and good, reverence is not really experienced unless the child is in solitude, or they are with an adult that models reverence and care.

“What’s this? A little ant friend. Where is he going? Let’s watch…What is he saying?…I’m looking for my home.”

“Oh, look. A little snail person…Look, she’s worried… What does she say?… Please put me back where it is shady and safe for me…There you go, little snail…Let’s see if there is another snail house around that is empty.”

“Oh, look. Another snail shell. How beautiful!…Where is the snail?…It has died. Its life has gone back to God, (or Creator, or the Universe). What did the snail say?… Thank you for my life, good-bye….But it will come back….We can put this shell on our nature treasure plate. Thank you for making a beautiful shell, snail.”

“Oh look at the beautiful flowers (or nuts, or strawberries, etc.) May we pick you?… Yes, yes we may!… Thank you, thank you!”

“Oh look at this piece of wood. It has a very strange shape. Should we take it home to our nature treasure plate? – maybe our star child can sit on it (or hang from it).

The value here is learning to connect with loving feeling and reverence for LIFE around us, and the givingness of that life. The exact scientific accuracy is entirely unimportant – the small child relates to living things according to their own model of self (person) and family and home. The beauty of this is to develop a feeling for the sacredness of life, the care we offer to that which lives around us. Reverence.

I hope to see you there!

A New Paradigm

| Lila Strand

I feel a necessity to share SOME illustrations from the upcoming book, despite what I said earlier about intellectual property. This illustration is so pertinent to the conversation about Talking to Trees. 

Humanity is creating a new paradigm. Altogether we are arising in our consciousness to create something good, something of value, for the community of Life and its progenitor, planet Earth. We want to regain a reverence, a sacredness for all that lives and shares space on this planet, for the well-being of all. If not, we will be gone as a species. See an amazing talk from a remarkable physician, Dr. Zach Bush  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_EDQSp5ayU (this one or any one of his many talks). I don’t think a human exit will be a loss to planet Earth, our beautiful home that brought us all forth – over billions of years – in stunning fecundity and generosity. If we take into account all we have done to each other and planet earth in just a few hundred years, we have not contributed much of what is our great and beautiful potential of light and love. Read The Universe Story by Brian Swimme and Thomas Berry.  It really creates a new mindset.  I want to credit Brian Swimme for his uplifting thought (heard in one of his on-line talks) that the Universe is evoking or drawing forth, a new consciousness in us all, drawing forth what we and the planet needs now.          

“Thank you for being here.”