My rabbi, a dress- and boots-wearing woman who regularly inspires us, asked some members of our creative Open Temple community in Venice to share some thoughts about “the spiritual call of today’s world.” Here’s what I wrote, a few paragraphs that I think also serve as a spiritual summary of the ideals that continue to guide Vital Hemp:
The spiritual call of today’s world is to think carefully about tomorrow’s world, and act in joyful alignment with the world we want to leave future generations of life.
The spiritual call recognizes that we are not alone: that we share this phenomenal loving jewel of a planet with countless other species of life, whose lives intertwine with ours in miraculous and wondrous ways—many of which we have yet to discover, and whose health supports our own.
Connecting to the needs of other living beings—people, animals, plants and even fungi—is actually an act of self-preservation. The entire world is our neighborhood. There is really no “my backyard” when it comes to the havoc we bring on by ignoring scientists, verified journalists, environmentalists, indigenous people and generally sane people who again and again tell us it’s time to get serious with the truth. Global warming is not a hoax any more than fires in Canada or Lahaina, intensifying hurricanes, deadly/costly floods and tornadoes that get worse every year along with the rising temperatures that threaten millions of lives and livelihoods around the globe.
Solutions to global warming and ecosystem devastation abound. The political will to prioritize these solutions and implement them is, sadly, too little, too late. So it’s up to us to choose. Billionsof small choices add up: how and whom we educate, what businesses we support, how we farm and eat and move through the world….
Acting with the future in mind doesn’t have to diminish our enjoyment of the now. In fact, this orientation enhances the now, because we can live with a purpose that includes more than our well-being, that is generous to more species of animals than dogs, cats and horses, that sees the ways forests and coral reefs and healthy oceans in a cooling world ensure our survival, rather than being casualties on a heedless path of development.
The spiritual path recognizes we’ve been given one world for which to care; no need to look elsewhere. No need to idealize the past or give up on the future. It is still ours—to enjoy, preserve, revive and share, co-creating paradise if we dare….
Thanks for being vital,
Ron
Ron Alcalay
Founder/CEO/Hemperdasher
ron@vitalhemp.com
vitalhemp.com
~Let Us Hemp You Out!
