Finding My Way…  
by B Johnston 
December 1, 2006

A year ago last summer I drove out West, in search of enlightenment…about anything. I was at a turning point where every aspect of my life came into question. I was moving from the farm to the city. My business wanted redefining. My intimate relationship was faltering. My spirit hungered. I traveled for six weeks, drinking in the sweeping horizons, silent in the solitude threading through red canyons. Finally, I rounded a curve on Highway 101 to discover, in an explosive spray of saltwater, that I had reached the ocean. And, in the Barnes and Noble near the mall in Eugene, Oregon, I rounded the corner between Ecology and Periodicals to find the illumination I was seeking…not in a book but in the floor plan of the store.

I was reading about spirituality on that journey. I was learning about Taoism and Judaism and Aboriginal Shamanism. I was listening to Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers. I was asking questions about faith and love that I hadn’t asked before and I visited those shelves over and again, looking for answers. I was exploring alternatives to Western medicine. I dug through Herb Bibles and Natural Health Encyclopedias. I read about Reiki, Acupuncture, Vibrational Healing. My passion for the planet led me to the ecology and nature section. I read Douglas Adams’ Last Chance to See, about endangered species, and Julia Butterfly Hill’s book about what I could do to walk more softly on the Earth. Several times that week I found myself on the same path through the store…from spiritual studies, over by the bathrooms, to Health and Healing, in the far left corner, and finally, up by the magazines, to Ecology and Nature. It occurred to me that the skill of the Shaman is in direct relation to his or her connection with the natural world and that the job of the Shaman is often to heal physical illness through spiritual journeying. Where should I be looking for them? Under health? Spiritual Studies? Ecology? It made me curious, but the penny didn’t drop until, up near the periodicals, I found a book called Healing Trees. Kerplunk. “No separation,” I thought. “These books belong together.” My spiritual as well as my physical health is intimately and inextricably tied to the health of the planet. My spiritual and my physical health and the health of the planet are intimately and inextricably tied to yours and to that of my unknown friends in Croatia and the Sudan. AIDS has shown us that national barriers cannot protect us from a deadly plague. With an incubation period of up to 30 years, mad cow disease lies throbbing like the telltale heart, just below the surface of our awareness. Look up Crutzfeld Jacob Disease on the internet. There used to be a website that listed the names of those who died from this variant of bovine spongiform encephalopathy. My former mother in law was somewhere around #30, back in the 90’s when she passed away. Today there have been 149 reported cases. Evidence abounds, from hormone hyped, de-beaked chickens to fast food induced liver failure (SuperSize Me), that industrialized production has replaced animal husbandry at a dear price. And so it is, when we see ourselves as “other”. So it is, when we choose to turn our faces from one another. We become the Pale Rider…alone on a dustblown and desolate landscape. Our brotherhood with other creatures of the earth, from man to mouse, is inescapable and we deny it at our own peril. The devastation of the tsunami is our mutual cup to share. The blood of its victims, whatever their race or religion, is the blood of the universal Christ…is the blood of my son, the pain of my parents, the grief of my brothers and sisters. And whatever results from that great tragedy, whether it is the growth of a new disease, born of contaminated water supplies, or whether it is a beautiful and powerful, new and lasting expression of universal love, it is ours to own. It is the future which we will create. 

Love One Another.   

copyright © 2005 B Johnston