The purpose of this site is to acknowledge, admire, and help protect the natural world in which we live. Our planet is an imense system of lifeforms interconnected through everyday life, which in effect bestow life upon each other. A remarkable example of cooperation and balance witnessed in all of its many areas. The only visible flaw notable is in the fact that the great majority of humans have decided to no longer live by this example therefore off-setting this balance sending us spiraling into an unknown future. We are not here simply to harp and complain about the many problems we face as a society but instead to reflect on the many wonderful things our planet posesses. Hopefully by concentrating on the positive we will grow more appreciative as a society and in effect learn to respect the home in which we all live.
"The Great Chief in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land. How can you buy or sell the sky-the warmth of the land. The idea is strange to us. Yet we do not own the freshness of the air or the sparkle of the water. How can you buy them from us? Every part of this earth is sacred to my people. "We know that white man does not understand our ways. One portion of the land is the same to him as the next, for he is a stranger who comes in the night and takes from the land whatever he needs. The earth is not his brother but his enemy and when he has conquered it he moves on. He leaves his fathers' graves and his children's birthright is forgotten. "There is no quiet place in the white man's cities. No place to hear the leaves of spring or the rustle of insect wings. But perhaps because I am a savage and do not understand the clatter only seems to insult the ears. And what is there to life if a man cannot hear the lovely cry of the whippoorwill or the arguments of the frog around the pond at night. "The Whites too shall pass. perhaps sooner than other tribes. Continue to contaminate your bed and you will one night suffocate in your own waste. When the buffallo are all slaughtered, the wild horses all tamed, the secret corners of the forest heavy with the scent of many men, and the view of the ripe hills blotted by talking wires. Where is the eagle. Gone. Where is the buffallo. Gone. And what is it to say goodbye to the swift and the hunt, the end of living and the beginning of survival." - The Chief Seattle to President Franklin Pierce, 1855.
I hope that it will be of some use to you. It still amazes me how words so very ancient still ring true in our time. Do we feel any different than Chief Seattle did? I think not. I find, and I am sure that you will agree, that his words were nothing short of a Prophecy. It is so very plain to see that we now live in the world which he described. His vision has become a reality. I believe that the Crane Foundation can in some way be a synbol hope for all of us who feel the weight of the great burden that has been left on us by the centuries of mindless neglect to ourselves as a race and to our world. There are alot of problems facing us out there, but I truly blieve that by striving to live a better quality of life devoted to a higher purpose, the individual as well as the world can slowly be transformed. Perhaps we will not live to see it, but we are the pioneers of a new era for mankind. "Acomplish the great task by a series smaller ones." - Lao Tzu, The Tao Te Ching. Peace be with you all.
KINDLER AND REKINDLER
from "Providence"
by Daniel Quinn
of universes, the fire burns forever. It is the flame of life that courses through all generations from first to last, that burns without consuming, that is itself consumed and renewed inexhaustibly, life after life, generation after generation, species after species, galaxy after galaxy, universe after universe, each sharing in the blaze for its season and going down to death while the fire burns on undiminished. The fire is life itself, the life of this universe, of this galaxy, of this planet, of this place and every place: the place by the rock and the place under the hill and the place by the river and the place in the forest, no two alike anywhere. And the life of every place is god, who is the fire: the life of the pond, god; the life of the tundra, god; the life of the sea, god; the life of the land, god; the life of the earth, god; the life of the universe, god: in every place unique, as the life of every place is unique, and in every place the same, as the fire that burns is everywhere
THE FIRE OF LIFE
My Favorite Links
BECOMING ONE (A look at ancient cultures, practices, and their forgotten skills.)
IMAGES OF THE WORLD...
