For me the Ruhr area in Germany has always been the symbol of environmental disaster. So when Gisela from the integral group in Dortmund invited me to come and see how the area has changed, I really got excited.

We have been around in the area and seen how the landscape has been shaped by the coal mining during the last centuries and how it’s now reshaped for our time. The spoil tips turned into parks with sculptures and view towers on top and the industry grounds turned into lakes.

Sitting on the top of a spoil tip, looking out over the green landscape we contemplated all the effort the previous generations has put into building the society we benefit from today. Gisela’s father was an engineer in the coal mining industry and they had big disagreements. I’ve been active in the environmental movement since I was a child.

We both sat there and felt into the energy of modernity; of building big industries, to harvest the resources from nature in order to make life better for humanity. We felt the power and beauty in that impulse and we felt gratitude for all their hard work. Work that we benefit from so very much today.

Today we can see the downsides of coal mining, heavy industry and not thinking about nature. They couldn’t then, they had other priorities.

Got a newsletter from Adyashanti this morning, with a quote:

“When you feel and watch presence expressing itself through your humanity, you see it moves in an entirely selfless way, not because it is morally the right thing to do, but because it is selfless to begin with.” ~ Adyashanti

Took that sentence and changed “your humanity” to “nature”. Why don’t you try that yourself now … 

Then I sat down to meditate
and the sunflower was there in front of me
and we met in that space of selfless presence

No guilt, no projections, no suffering
Only presence and love

What if, not only now and sunflower …