Our Co-Creative Impact on Gaia
A Conversation with Braden Alexander in April 2020
Our original contract with Gaia:
Andrea: In our very early history as human beings on this planet, I sense the earth’s energy was massive compared to our human presence. The main operating dynamism resided within nature itself, rather than with or through human beings. We can liken this to the way a child is ‘small’ compared to their adult parents’ ‘largeness’, not just in size but in the psychic space they inhabit. A really young child takes up a very small arena within the parents’ orbit while an adult’s world involves his/her jobs, taking care of the home, community responsibilities, etc. Beyond the initial, almost complete, focus a mother has with a young baby, the parents’ engagement with their environment is more like a ratio of 85% to 15% with the small child.
Our original/historical engagement with the earth demanded respect and cooperation. Like children, we were totally dependent upon the Earth for all our needs. Respect, awe and wonder, and humility were implicit in this relationship for we had little choice. If we weren’t in right relationship with creation, we were dead. It was as simple as that. In that respect, our presence in creation was less impactful on creation, though not insignificant.
Braden: I wonder whether this was a static relationship, or was it always known and expected that humans would evolve this relationship. In some ways it seems natural, exactly as things should be, us being one little animal with the other animals in the world; on the other hand, it doesn’t give us as much ability to create large, fantastic things, to make the world easier to navigate for people with disabilities or to make space for all the very different forms of human life.
Andrea: I appreciate what you are saying. I was seeing something in this initial vision, not that the original contract was perfect for human beings. It was just is what it was.
In deep earth time, the soul of the earth respects the evolving destiny of each species on the planet. The inherent design of each element, whether that is water, caterpillars, birds, or dinosaurs, or human beings unfolds within a larger matrix. There is an inherent respect for the evolutionary possibility of each element, just the way a parent loves a child but doesn’t know what s/he will become. The original contract with human beings is still the same: whatever each element’s destiny is can be fulfilled within the matrix of the sacred earth. I use the word ‘sacred’ because this implies a soulful presence, not just a physical or mechanical presence.
The human experience within that first matrix was a very childlike experience of dependency and necessary respect; that’s how the original contract was experienced from the human standpoint. But from the standpoint of the earth towards human beings, there was tremendous spaciousness for the humans to evolve and develop their own destiny over deep earth time.
Where we are now:
Andrea: At this moment in time, the ratio has utterly flipped! 15% of the operational dynamism is nature’s realm and 85% is affected by human consciousness. (Note: These ‘statistics’ are merely illustrative rather than factual!)
I have an image of Nature as an old person in an old folks’ home. A brash young teenager comes in and, with no respect for the elder, says, “I need some money. I know you’ve got some…” He’s arrogant and entitled and wants to get the last bit out of the old man before he dies. His attitude implies, “When you do die, I don’t want to have to pay for your funeral. Let others take care of burning your ashes.“ I feel a pain in my heart as I share this analogy but it’s very graphic and accurate for where we are now.
Braden: It feels true to me…
Andrea: I just have to sit with the pain; let me be with that for a moment…
Now I’m starting to see other people; some are in the care home, others are outside… There appears to be a matrix around this situation that would support the energy of the old person, but the people in this larger field are afraid to come forward. They don’t want to be too involved and the teenager’s aggressive attitude intimidates them. In actuality, they just don’t know how to step in. Hesitating, they wonder if it’s too late. I feel this hesitation, almost like a long gasp, in the whole matrix around nature right now.
As I look at the old man in the chair, I see that he’s very fragile, wizened and arthritic. His skin is very wrinkled and dry and he has a heart condition, and he can barely breathe. Full of pain and sorrow, he’s in a liminal space — half dreaming, half awake, hovering on the edge of death. It’s a tipping point of indecision, a suspended breath-time. Intuitively (and I say this carefully) this scenario feels like a two-year time of suspended possibility where things could go one way or the other.
The teenager sees nothing of this. Armed with arrogance, he’s also got a knife and biker’s chains on his belt. The old man doesn’t even have the strength to call out for support. It’s up to the others to feel what their part is and what they can do.
I’m going to pause here, having identified where we are now. Do you have a question or comment?
Braden: My feeling is that in this dynamic between the old man and the brash teenager what is sorely missing is the feminine. It won’t do to go to war with the teenager, if there is a righteousness behind that impulse. I don’t have a lot of experience of dealing with this kind of abusive energy. In the past, I’ve always had a kind of superior disdain for this way of being but that hasn’t put me in any kind of relationship with the teenager. It’s seems like a miracle is required in this dynamic, where there some forgiveness, understanding, compassion and grace — even the teenager.
Andrea: I sense that I should look at three people in the matrix around the situation, to tune in with each one and see what they are doing and why they are hesitating. Something green sprout of Life is active in each of them, but there is hesitation about bringing it forward. Do you agree that this could be something to explore?
Braden: I do…
Andrea: First, I see someone up in the branches of a tree, pruning the limbs. Within himself, he is wavering between the functional need to do the task while also feeling a call to commune with the tree as a living being. He goes back and forth within himself. “I just need to get this job done… What would happen if I honored this tree as a living being?” His inner wobble compromises his more complete and active engagement within the situation. Now, I’m going to take the same situation and allow it to be a whole-hearted engagement with the tree’s sacredness.
As I watch, the man’s breathing deepens and relaxes. Energy starts to flow up and down his body. The tree also breathes differently, almost as though it reaches its limbs out saying, “Take this one… Oh, I’m so glad you’re here…” The scene becomes a dance rather than a task. I can feel the energy ripple through my body as the tree delights in the man’s presence. Before, the tree was simply inert and static.
Turning my attention back to the old man, I see the faintest beginning of a smile on the corner of his mouth. Just a little upward turn. That’s the first example. I’m going to listen for another one…
A young woman, very overweight, looks at herself in the mirror and agonizes about her body. She’s heavy, not just with weight, but with shame. The layers of worthlessness, ugliness, bitterness and shame are piled on top of each other like a layer-cake. Turned in on herself, she’s lost sight of almost all of her gifts, except her exquisite sensitivity. That’s our starting point, recognizing the condition she’s in.
Now I’m going to give her permission to explore the gift of that exquisite sensitivity.
I see her reaching her hand out; as she puts it on a warm stone, her breathing changes. She begins to feel the pulse of the stone. As the energy of the stone starts to creep up her arm, it’s as though she is drinking in ‘stone.’ This was where she was intuitively called, to connect with the stone. As she feels a slight electrical current in her fingers and up through her arm, she realizes she’s being given a new understanding about ‘weight’. It makes her want to cry.
Now I see a little blush of pink in the old man’s face. That’s the second scene. Are we okay to go onto the third?
Braden: Very okay.
Andrea: I’m seeing a very angry man doing everything he can not to beat the shit out of his wife. It takes every ounce of self-control not to slam his fist through the wall. He hurts so badly and he’s doing the best he can, the best he can… I need to go deeper to see what is going on inside this man.
I hear his inner voice. “I’ve gone as far as I can; I don’t know where to go… I don’t know where to go.” He’s pinned in his own desperation. Now I’ll listen now for the gift is in that moment for him.
I sense he is at the threshold of a painful breakthrough of genuine humility in his heart. As I watch him let go, a flood of aches and wounds from things that have happened to him begin to pour down a pipe within him. He could cry for two years and not be at the bottom of the well. His sense of himself as a man, a father, husband, son, and dutiful member of society is all being washed away and he’s terrified nothing will be left.
Now he begins to slowly breathe through his back, into his kidneys. He begins to feel that well of yin energy that he’s never been able to access before. He has nothing left but this the glimmer of a new feeling in his body and he wonders if he can trust what he is feeling.
I look and see the old man put a hand on his heart as he breathes a little deeper.
Braden: Wow. I can feel how this scene has medicine for everyone. Telling a story about people who don’t really exist, makes it safe for us to explore each of these elements within us. I could see myself in every scene. I also knew exactly who the people in my life would benefit from the second the third scenes particularly. At first, they would resent me for bringing this until they heard about the gift. Each story had a different key that people might need at this moment for transformation.
When you told the third story, that was my father.
Andrea: Oh, Braden, I’m so sorry…
Braden: He spent his whole life trying not to hit us; his anger was always there just beneath the surface. We all lived inside the fear that this might happen and we’d try to behave and fall into line because it would be our fault if he did lash out. When you were speaking about this situation, it felt so true that he’s gone as far as he can, that his sense of self will be swept out to sea and he’ll be left with nothing.
Andrea: This is the beauty of listening within shared space, Braden. You are intimately implicated in what comes through in this type of deep listening. It’s not just me. I sensed with the first one was about the ‘good’ people, such as eco-activists who are aware of nature and the need to preserve what is left, but they aren’t really committed to or engaged with the sacred. There’s still a subtle yet essential detachment that compromises the fullness of their experience. I don’t want to speculate too much about this…
What I was aware of was how each individual action had an effect on the old man. There also comes a time, and you and I have experienced this, where a deeper bonding occurs within us. Our conscious mind comes into resonant agreement with our unconscious beingness. When that happens, even for a brief moment, we are of service to the whole of creation. The reality is that our unconscious is married to nature. As the pulsation of wholeness occurs within us, and our conscious mind is not split off from our unconscious, we begin to feel the co-creative potential of our humanness, no longer in separateness, but in dynamic relationship with the Earth.
This is one of the reasons we have such a fear of death. Instinctively, we know we are a part of that hovering old man, on the edge of death. That’s why the corona virus is so terrifying to our collective psyche.
We’ve been talking about resonance. When you and I meet, having contracted to experience a co-creative relationship, our conscious and unconscious minds begin to conspire together to create a coherent field of resonance. Immediately, a stronger, quicker and deeper pulsation occurs, not just in you and me, but also in the field between and around us. Even as I describe this, I can feel the old man take a huge inhale. It’s as though someone opened the window and he said, “I’ve been waiting for that!”
It’s within the enlivened space between conscious human beings that Nature is deeply nourished. Earth restoration is not solely dependent upon individual actions. Those are important because, in our private interactions with Nature, we engage in a process of cultivating personal wholeness. Committing ourselves to maintaining a consistent pulsation between our upper and lower chakras, our conscious and unconscious mind, also helps to bring us into harmony with Nature’s pulsations. Then, when we meet with others in a respective co-creative fashion, our more expanded field comes becomes activated, and that’s when Nature breathes again! A co-creative field with Nature is sacred. Nobody needs to shape or control a sacred field for it is intelligent and alive in and of itself.
I’m going to stop before I go too far… My sense is that we’ve covered all we can today…
Braden: I agree; something has been completed.