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I am of the opinion that the evolution of consciousness in the maturation of Terrebios is such that mankind will eventually develop a telepathic breakthrough to the extent that we come to share in a single global consciousness, which will be the awakening and birth into consciousness of our planet, of Goddess.[2] The association of the manifest and immanent world with the Shekhinah (the divine dwelling/presence, understood in gendered feminine Hebew) is a familiar principle of Ḳaballah. –ANV I am also of the opinion that this emerging consciousness will continue to evolve and spread throughout the galaxy, perhaps the universe, as an increasingly omnipotent and omniscient Divinity, inevitably coming into contact also with other such emerging Deities originating with other planets.
It is my firm conviction that continually evolving unfoldment of limitless potential is the only ‘purpose’ of life, whether the life of a man, a snake, a tree, or a planet, and the only absolute duty of man is thus to become what he potentially is.[3] Cf. the “Human Potential Movement” (wikipedia) It is also my conviction that realization of all of these things implies a certain ethical standard, incorporating respect for all other life forms, a commitment to ecological harmony on the macrocosmic scale and self-actualization on the microcosmic scale, and the diligent application of life-affirming values in all my dealings with my fellow Beings.” (19 Ruis/AA10)
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I pledge allegiance to the Earth, To the Planet on which I stand; One Living Biosphere, indivisible, With freedom and responsibility for all! |
This earth pledge can be found in the Church of All Worlds’s newsletter, Green Egg, vol. 5, issue 47 (11 May 1972), p. 28. The quote, appearing after a line break of asterisks, concludes an essay by the newsletter’s editor, Tim Zell (a/k/a Oberon Zell-Ravenheart), entitled “personal affirmation of awareness.” It is the earliest earth pledge I have yet located (!) and may be the veritable inspiration of all that followed. –Aharon Varady
Source(s)
Earth Pledge in Green Egg vol.5 issue 47 (11 May 1972), p. 28
Notes
| 1 | In Hebrew: אתה אלהים (atah Elohim). The complete phrase in Psalms 86:10 is atah Elohim livadekha (“You alone are Elohim”), where Elohim is a divine name often translated as “God” or “Deity.” The use of this portion of Psalms 86:10 has a particular usage in Stranger in a Strange Land (1961) a science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein, of import to Tim Zell’s theology. Atah Elohim livadekha is found in Jewish liturgy and, adapted, is invoked as atah Elohim emet (“You are truly Elohim”). The term also has application in Jewish panentheism. –Aharon Varady |
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| 2 | The association of the manifest and immanent world with the Shekhinah (the divine dwelling/presence, understood in gendered feminine Hebew) is a familiar principle of Ḳaballah. –ANV |
| 3 | Cf. the “Human Potential Movement” (wikipedia) |
“Earth Pledge by Oberon Zell-Ravenheart in conclusion to his personal affirmation of awareness (11 May 1972)” is shared through the Open Siddur Project under the Creative Commons Zero (CC 0) Universal license a Public Domain dedication.
In his poem, “It’s your land boss,” (in The Violent West: Poems (1972)), the Pakistani-American poet Zulfikar Ghose (1935-2022) attests to earth pledges being a rhetorical feature of American counter-culture in that time. An excerpt of the poem (omitting line and stanza breaks):
Ghose observes that the old blood-and-soil trope of romantic nationalism on the political right has been largely abandoned, the mystique of land lost to real estate speculation, and in a sense the old sense of a country as synonymous with its land is an archaism as meaningless as any brand name past its prime. There are two counter-examples though: 1) the counter-culture youth who have reclaimed the primacy of the earth for rehabilitation (“more a problem for conservation than a banner across a jingoist breast”), and 2) the central import of the Land for “earth-kissing Zionists.” Earlier in the poem he writes, “I think of Israel and of the Jews who kill and die for it, the land worth the idea they fulfil with their dying, an absolute belief and trust that the earth has a mother’s claim to patriotic rites and sacrificial feasts.” While Ghose admits he cannot project such sacredness on the land that he inhabits himself, he admits he’s “not sure what this earth means” to him, that he doesn’t “take pride in the quality of the soil,” that he doesn’t need to, but feels “poorer because of this loss, this irrelevance.” While Ghose can’t participate in the romance of the land with the passion of indigeneity (i.e., the “primitive versions of truth”), he can still recognize his own alienation.
To identify with global environmental stewardship (or to be allied in solidarity with such a sensibility) does not necessarily mean being alienated from or abandoning concern for the land upon one resides, or on which ones’ ancestors resided. On the contrary, concern for the local can help to emphasize concern, practically and spiritually, for the global — and vice versa. And yet, a consequence of alienation is distortion, and the romanticization of indigeneity by those who, in their privilege regard themselves as “global citizens” can yield strange projections. For those concerned with sustainability of the Earth’s interconnected and indivisible “Living Biosphere,” what remains fundamental is the theory and practice of stewardship. The fundamental claim of indigenous significance to environmental causes is that indigenous traditions and life ways are adapted and integrated with the sustainability of local ecosystems. As a claim to authority, “indigeneity” should therefore be met with skepticism and a careful study of how those traditions and lifeways help to sustain (or even repair) ecological conditions. The imprimatur of “indigeneity” is misapplied when it fails to regard actual environmental stewardship and preservation of self-sustaining local and regional ecologies.