• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Priscilla Stuckey

Reconnecting people with nature through writing and spirituality

Nature :: Spirit

the blog of Priscilla Stuckey

banner imagebanner imagebanner imagebanner imagebanner imagebanner imagebanner imagebanner imagebanner imagebanner imagebanner imagebanner imagebanner imagebanner imagebanner image
 

Seeing each other through

March 20, 2020

Panoramic view of Haleakala's largest crater. Description in first paragraph.The Haleakalā crater in daylight is a swirling abstraction of grays and tans, ochers, and chocolates. In late afternoon, fog typically creeps up the mountainside and peeks over the rim, casting fantastic shadows, ready to pour into the crater and flood it entirely at the end of the day. Haleakalā is “the house of the sun,” the volcano that gave birth to most of Maui. Its summit is a sacred place to the native Hawaiians, and it has become sacred as well to the throngs of visitors who drive ten thousand feet up in the dark of predawn to watch the sun rise from the top of the world.

But this daily ritual of gathering at sunrise, a highlight of many vacations, no longer takes place. The national park is closed. Public gatherings here on Maui, as in the rest of the country, have ended because of COVID-19.

Sheltering in place

The pandemic is upending our usual ways of living. Hardship touches everyone—sheltering in place, missing hugs from loved ones, adults missing work or paychecks, kids missing birthday parties and graduations.

The epidemic is upending as well our usual ways of thinking about life. Suddenly all kinds of policies that were not taken seriously before the virus—universal basic income or forgiving student loans—now look sensible.

Let’s change the rules!

Blue penstemon bursting in the foreground, a year after forest fire,against a backdrop of blackened pine treesWe have a huge opportunity here to change the rules. The epidemic reveals a truth that was hiding in plain sight: all those measures that strengthen society and provide a cushion of support during a time of illness are exactly the same measures that will strengthen society after this emergency is past. The pandemic is like a forest fire, sweeping through and changing the landscape, making room for new kinds of life to emerge out of its fiery devastation.

We can fashion a society that is more resilient. We’re going to need that as climate change advances. This pandemic can help prepare us for changes ahead by guiding us toward a society that works better for all people, not just a few. I hope we learn well, and wisely.

We are all connected

In the meantime, the biggest truth of all that the virus makes plain: we are all connected. A pandemic shows just how wobbly all our imagined borders are—between families, classes, neighborhoods, countries.

So let’s start by seeing each other through with compassion and kindness. Here is a website with links to many different strategies for strengthening neighborhoods and building community. As the website says, we don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Lots of resources already exist.

Let nature be part of social distancing

tiny fish-looking translucent creature with red and blue and green against a black night seaAnd, as much as possible, let’s take walks and sit on park benches—or, if that isn’t possible in your community, spend time looking at nature pictures. And here for your pleasure is a site showing closeups of plankton and their larvae—stunningly beautiful!

This is a time to soak up the peacefulness of trees and the radiance of newly blooming spring flowers and the wonder of birds flying thousands of miles toward their nesting grounds. Social distancing not required with birds or fish or trees! Enjoying the gifts of the other creatures relieves stress and lowers blood pressure as well as strengthens our immune systems. Nature is, as always, the great healer.

May you be well. Aloha!

. . .

Click here to subscribe to Nature :: Spirit and receive occasional posts by email.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)

Tagged With: climate change, COVID-19, epidemic, Haleakalā, pandemic, quarantine, resilience, social distancing

 
← Cracks of possibility
Earth is our witness →

About Priscilla

I am a writer and spiritual counselor with a passion for changing the modern story of nature and reconnecting people with the Living Source inside themselves and all of nature. I received a PhD in religious studies from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley and have taught graduate-level environmental humanities, feminist studies, critical thinking, and thesis writing at Prescott College in Prescott, AZ, and Naropa University in Boulder, CO.

Nature advocacy started for me years ago in Oakland, where I founded a small nonprofit land trust to preserve a nearby creek. In various places around the American West, I cleaned and restored urban creeks, fed baby birds in wildlife rehab, and cofounded a local rights-of-nature group.

My first book, Kissed by a Fox: And Other Stories of Friendship in Nature (Counterpoint, 2012), won the WILLA Award for Creative Nonfiction. Tamed by a Bear: Coming Home to Nature-Spirit-Self (Counterpoint Press, 2017) is a spiritual memoir of the first year of listening to Spirit’s voice through shamanic-style journeys.

My partner, Tim, and I live on Maui, where we are learning to know the life in the sea.

Reader Interactions

Responses to Seeing each other through

  1. Kathy Kaiser says:
    April 22, 2020 at 1:33 pm

    I agree totally that the best remedy is nature. We should all be stroking the bark of trees.

    • Priscilla Stuckey says:
      April 22, 2020 at 2:22 pm

      Yes, wherever trees are available to quarantined people! And pictures of trees if someone can’t go outside. Stay well, Kathy.

  2. MICHAEL L DELONGCHAMP says:
    April 23, 2020 at 2:58 am

    As usual Priscilla, just what I needed to hear at this time. Am enjoying long hikes in the morning, watching all the spring flowers emerge in the forest. Also, we have a new four-legged named Max (from a local rescue) who we are in love with.
    May you and Tim stay well!
    Michael

    • Priscilla Stuckey says:
      April 23, 2020 at 2:52 pm

      So glad to hear from you, Michael! And welcome to Max. You will send pics, of course! Sending love to you & Kate.

Primary Sidebar

  • Welcome
  • Tamed by a Bear
  • Kissed by a Fox
  • Spiritual Mentoring
  • Nature :: Spirit
  • View Priscilla’s profile on Twitter
  • Contact Me
  • Sign up for newsletters

Search this blog

Subscribe to Blog

link to @priscillast twitter feed

So all of you can enjoy these too. https://t.co/CDD8eh094L

- 11 hours ago

This is wow. Just wow. https://t.co/nYu1SJqskF

- 1 day ago

What a beautiful tribute journey through literature! Reposting for anyone else who might be interested. https://t.co/1Sfs9dE1YH

- 1 day ago

Recent Posts

  • Kissed by a fox: From the audiobook coming soon!
  • Looking toward the dawn
  • Cultivating nature spirituality
  • Where did we go wrong?
  • Seeing each leaf
  • An entwined place
  • What’s good for creeks
  • Why doesn’t everyone love diversity?
  • A duty of care
  • Going on a spirit journey

© Copyright 2022 Priscilla Stuckey All rights reserved.
Banner photo by Don Johnston. Author photo by Cyd Gallery.