Looking Over My Life

My excitement at life grows ever stronger; my health as I round the bend to my sixtieth birthday has never been better. I thank all my cells and all my subtle bodies daily for keeping me healthy, for I have learned to know my body can heal whatever may ail it from time to ever-rarer time. I have learned from indigenous people to save time for rest and play; I do not ever suffer burnout (a nasty western-cultural disease); I have learned from spirit to shelve any task that does not flow and find another that does. A larger intelligent system surrounds us and works for us--call it by any name you choose--if we acknowledge and let it.

Looking back over my life I am grateful to a father who taught me to feel secure even when material resources were slim, to a mother who let me explore nature on my own, for the conviction they both held that their children would succeed through their own resourcefulness. The hard part has been to gain the courage of my own convictions in the face of established authorities: political, religious, intellectual or other. Even a natural rebel seeks approval. Only slowly have I learned to trust the inner voice, to value and follow its guidance even in the face of disapproval from the old authorities, many of whom are rapidly becoming obsolete. If we are to move into the future, we need to shed the baggage of the past whether it be material or cultural and take along only what serves us well, such as the ancient laws of harmony and balance indigenous people have followed all along, such as the timeless lesson that only love is stronger than all the negativities put together.

--Elisabet Sahtouris (a biologist, author of several books, business consultant, retired MIT professor, UN consultant on indigenous peoples; more)