Brian’s Reflection: Tuesday, November 27, 2007



Kiss the Earth

Walk and touch peace every moment.
Walk and touch happiness every moment.
Each step brings a fresh breeze.
Each step makes a flower bloom.
Kiss the Earth with your feet.
Bring the Earth your love and happiness.
The Earth will be safewhen we feel safe in ourselves.

- Thich Nhat Hanh, poet, Buddhist


A lovely human being he is. At least I think so ….. at least in his public persona. He exhibits character that I find winning and true. I have heard Thich Nhat Hanh speak in the vast space of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York, and I have heard him in a garden in California. He has that so attractive quality of ….. serenity. He sees Life as the Big Picture. Where everything is part of everything else. I admire that kind of vision. And I admire and respect his understanding that, while we may be on different paths, all paths call us to find what it is to be authentically human.

I have always felt a part of the Earth. I was lucky enough to spend my childhood summers in the lakes and mountains of the Laurentians. Lying on sun-warmed rocks, or on the still warm grass at night, or floating in the warm-cool waters of our lake, I had then and still have the sense of being one with It.

The Earth, our Mother, is in danger. It is sick and dying in many places. Is it because we do not feel safe in ourselves? I hadn’t thought of that until I read Thich Nhat Hanh’s poem.

It is hard to feel safe in ourselves when so many human beings are threatening others, over religion, or power, or greed, or fear.

Unless we learn to make Life safe for all, Mother Earth will die, and we with Her.

Kiss the Earth with your feet.

Brian+