Being Another Being
All Creatures of Our God and Queen
[verse 1]
All creatures of our God and queen
Lift up your voices and with us sing
O praise them, alleluia
Thou burning with golden beam
Thou silver moon with softer gleam
Oh praise Them, Oh praise them
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
[verse 2]
Thou rushing wind that art so strong
Ye clouds that sail in heaven along
Oh praise Them, alleluia
Thou rising morn in praise rejoice
Ye light of evening find a voice
Oh praise them, oh praise Them,
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
[verse 3]
Thou flowing water coming near
Sing a song
Oh praise them, Alleluia
Oh thou fire so full and bright
That gives to us both warmth and light
Oh praise them, oh praise them
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The River by Johnny Flynn feat Laura Marling
All that I have is a river
The river is always my home
Lord, take me away
For I just cannot stay
Or I'll sink in my skin and my bones
The water sustains me without even trying
The water can't drown me, I'm done
With my dying
Please help me build a small boat
One that'll ride on the flow
Where the river runs deep
And the larger fish creep
I'm glad of what keeps me afloat
The water sustains me without even trying
The water can't drown me, I'm done
With my dying
Now deeper the water I sail
And faster the current I'm in
That each night brings the stars
And the song in my heart
Is a tune for the journeyman's tale
The water sustains me without even trying
The water can't drown me, I'm done
With my dying
Now the land that I knew is a dream
And the line on the distance grows faint
So wide is my river
The horizon a sliver
The artist has run out of paint
Where the blue of the sea meets the sky
And the big yellow sun leads me home
I'm everywhere now
The way is a vow
To the wind of each breath by and by
The water sustains me without even trying
The water can't drown me, I'm done
With my dying
An Introduction
“What matters is that I can feel stories everywhere. Stories that don’t depend on language. Stories that don’t depend on singularity. Stories that only occur interstitially, between beings, in the fertile, friction-prickled boundaries between differences.
It is the differences that seem crucial. Without difference there is no conversation. There is no need for the tender questions that catalyzes storytelling and generate landscapes. The gradient of the mountain allows the snowmelt and rain to braid into a stream that interrogatively carves and curves down through stone into the valley. The difference between the summit and the valley creates this nourishing thread of water that will irrigate the fields, fill the rock pools, wake up leathery lichen on the side of a stone thrown awkwardly in a field, millions of years before, by a glacier. The curiosity of a hyphae probing into unfamiliar soil and dead wood is what will make the soil that supports a forest.”
- Sophie Strand, author of The Flowering Wand
Becoming another
(adapted from the work of Joanna Macy and her organization, The Work That Reconnects’ activity — Council of All Beings)
Purpose: ATB believes that the Divine is inherent within all things. So much of organizaed religon has been human centric. We seek to recognize all the unique branches of the Divine through a multiplicity of species and realities.
This activity seeks to help us learn from a persepctive that is not human centric in order to better understand huamanities place in the larger family of all things.
Step One: Receive
Mike will read out some promptings. Spend 3-5 minutes walking, sitting, breathing, being… whatever helps. Trying to receive what other entity you will attempt to embody.
Step Two: Embody
Break into groups of no more than four people.
One-by-one in your group, have each person take 5-10 minutes replying to the below questions.
a) Introduce your life form, (ex: “I am Wolf and I speak for the wolf people.” “I am wild goose and I speak for the migratory birds.” “I am the Colorado River and I speak for the rivers of the world.”
b) Describe what it’s like to be this life-form, the powers and perspectives you enjoy, the games you like to play, the relationships that nourish you and that you nourish in turn, what sparks joy for you.
c) Describe the disruptions and difficulties you may be experiencing now, some things that might be hard or sad, due to loss of habitat, pollution, toxic dumping, drift nets, clearcutting, factory farming, etc.
d) Since humans are causing these difficulties and abuses, and only they can correct them, consider what strengths you can offer to the humans to help them make the changes necessary to your survival– and the survival of life on Earth. What gift of yours do you want to give humans?
Step Three: Return to the human
One by one, have people take turns becoming human again. When it is your turn, respond to each beast. You can pledge a change of action, highlight a charecteristic you wish to learn from, or issue an apology.
Further Reading:
Sophie Strand’s The Animate Everything. Read Here