Angeles Arrien

Earth Teach me

Earth teach me stillness
    As the grasses are stilled with light.
Earth teach me suffering
    As old stones suffer with memory.
Earth teach me humility
    As blossoms are humble with beginning.
Earth teach me caring
    As the mother who secures her young.
Earth teach me courage
    As the tree which stands all alone.
Earth teach me limitation
    As the ant which crawls on the ground.
Earth teach me freedom
    As the eagle which soars in the sky.
Earth teach me acceptance and readiness
    As the leaves which die in the fall.
Earth teach me regeneration
    As the seed which rises in the spring.
Earth teach me to forget myself
    As melted snow forgets its life.
Earth teach me to remember kindness
    As dry fields weep with rain.

                           –The Ute of North America

Practices

• Take each quality: stillness, suffering, humility, caring, courage, limitation, freedom, acceptance and readiness, regeneration, to forget myself, and to remember kindness—as a practice for one day. For example:

              a) Stillness for one day, suffering for one day, humility for one day, caring for one day and so on. Or,
              b) Use the entire phrase for one day as a practice, for example,
                         “Earth teach me courage
                          As the tree which stands all alone.”
                  Repeat the entire practice every eleven days, for each of the qualities.

• Notice which of the qualities are more accessible and comforting to you at this time, and which are more challenging.

• Commit the Ute invocation to memory, or read it everyday for the rest of May and June.

 

View all Reflections