Earth Grief: The Journey Into and Through Ecological Loss

Literally just finished reading this book and felt the need to leave a review. I can count on one hand the number of books/written pieces that have touched me deeply. This is one of them. I felt exquisitely and artfully carried through an exploration of dissociation and then into embodied feeling. The truth of our current "scenario" was written about with clarity, directness, poignance, and tenderness. The second half of the book carries the very gravitas that is written about, which truly can only come from the depths of true knowing. Stephen, you are a true guide and elder. And what a gift it is to learn from you. This book comes at such a pivotal time in my own personal journey and brings with it a deeper understanding of my own place in life. Thank you for this masterpiece! Thank you!

For many years now I have been struggling with the profound grief and loneliness of watching my beloved planet, kindred plants and animals, become ever more corrupted, damaged, diseased ... and extinct. The beautiful world I was born into no longer exists, and the world my grandchildren will inherit will be even worse. I have searched for solutions, participated in environmental activism, looked for something to be optimistic about, to no avail.But here is the book I've been looking for. An acknowledgement of the pain many of us are feeling, validation that it is very real, yet a surprising twist on how to cope with it. So many aha! moments! So many underlined passages! For example, there is a chapter in the middle of the book that was very disheartening to read ... powerful evidence of how much damage we humans have caused ... so much so that I could barely read it. But then at the end of the chapter there was a surprising twist that was well worth the effort to get through it.I highly recommend this book!

This book is a wakeup call – a wakeup call to reality. We as a human race need to face the inevitable, even though we are all afraid to face it. We need to take off the rosy-coloured glasses and look at the destruction of the earth without pretending this is somehow going to turn out alright. It is maybe one of the hardest things to do – to face the fact that the earth, as it once was, does not exist anymore and our way of life cannot be sustained anymore. People and other species on this earth won’t be able to exist on this earth in a peaceful and healthy manner as the environmental chaos that we caused is causing havoc on the earths ecosystem. Suffering will inevitably come. To us and to future generations, and it is mankind’s fault alone. I think it is only possible to face a tragedy like that fully when someone is holding your hand in the process. Someone who can catch us when the emotions overwhelm us and who understands. Maybe someone who has already been through the process of facing reality and grieving and has come out alive at the other side. To me, this book provides this supportive hand – it allows me to grieve without feeling like I am alone in what I am facing. And maybe this is one of the most important things we can do in these times – find safe, supportive spaces where we can still allow ourselves to see it all and feel it all so that we can go through our grief and stay human in this tragedy. Because once we can reconnect with our humanity - this is when the beautiful thing called “hope” can arise in our hearts...

Stephen Harrod Buhner is that rare human who is Mystic Scholar Scientist Poet and Artful Communicator and has tended the garden of his Soul to become the Elder that we long for in this journey asking- “What does it mean to become fully human”. In such times as these when humans fail to take in the overwheming substantial feedback that our disconnection from the Web of Life and our hubris of human supremacy and centrality is literally destroying and killing the miraculous living system, his wisdom and guidance for how to stay in our hearts and respect the heartbreak we experience amd feel is pure gold. Our species human habitation pattern is immature shortsighted and destructive and we feel grief because our body and our consciousness is made from, has evolved from sentient animate Gaia. As the body and life and health of Gaia is destroyed by our industrial growth society and our unfortunate psychic and physical sense of self is assumed as separate we are dying too- spiritually psychologically and physically. This is a book about allowing and respecting and expressing grief as a kind of wisdom, even as path back to our connection with the web of life and what we truly are made for- to participate humbly and gratefully with the incredible superior intelligence of Earth. We are the only species who falsely believe we can mine poison overpopulate and ignore the limits and truths of Nature and that is the most grievous truth. If we follow Mr Buhners advice and slow down and invite and allow our natural Earth Grief to express we might remember how to hear the way we are meant to belong and the ecological niche we are meant to fulfill in this miraculous web of life. Let your heart break for the Earth and all the creatures and ourselves overflow and let this extraordinary book companion you into the love and wisdom and belonging that is our true birthright. To dive deeper into the extraordinary science and beauty of Earths intelligence theough the skillful hands of Mr Buhner you might begin with Secret Teachings of Plants and Plant Intelligence and the Imaginal Realm by this Wise Earth Elder.