By Jeremy Berg
When I coined the term Gaianeering, obviously Gaia was on my mind. Ever since James Lovelock used the title The Gaia Hypothesis to describe his theory that the world was indeed a whole, living system, the term has been growing in use. For many the word Gaia now coveys the sense of a conscious, sentient planetary being that hearkens back to the primordial deity the ancient Greeks revered, the ancestral primal Mother Earth goddess.
But Gaianeering has echoes of engineering, a human activity. I had this also in mind. We are now seeing the negative consequences of human technology uncoupled from natural ecologies and unfettered by ethical concerns for the environment. It is now time to change that approach and put our creative energy towards a loving collaboration with the life and lives of our world.
Organizations like the “Bioneers” and many others are promoting new and ancient ways that move us towards ecological sustainability. But life extends well beyond biology. Countless other conscious beings occupy niches of size, scale and dimension. These beings: angels, fairies, post-mortems, elementals, nature forces, animal powers, gods and goddesses and many other “spiritual entities” appear regularly throughout humanity’s many religious and cultural systems. All are evolving with new potentials constantly emerging. Over the centuries, a lineage of seers have kept communication flowing between the various streams of earthly life — seen and unseen.
We tend to think of these unseen “otherworlds” if we acknowledge them at all as completely separate realms. But of course, as we have learned from ecological science, this is one intertwined world. It may not be possible for a new wholesome culture to emerge without engaging other dimensions of life that are being affected by our careless, world-altering actions.
In the distant past, we are told, there was a conscious connection between the life of nature, the evolving species of humanity and a parallel race of humanity, the Sidhe (or Faerie). We are now entering an era when it is imperative that these “pathways of peace” be widened for new planetary partnerships to once again blossom. In addition, we now bring our emerging technologies to this gathering of life-streams which must be incorporated into a whole new system.
So Gaianeering to me is the attempt to reweave the matrix of our world at a new turn of the spiral. It assumes that the Sidhe and other subtle beings have something vital to offer humanity as we evolve towards a new understanding of our role as caretakers of Gaian life. And it assumes that we have something to offer in our exploration and manipulation of matter. Working in concert with the Intelligences of Nature and Planetary Beings, we plant the seeds of hope for a new tomorrow.
For the Lorian Association, “Gaianeering” is an exploration of these potentials. As David Spangler puts it:
“Now we enter a time when understanding Gaia and, more importantly, learning to live in collaboration and harmony with this planetary life, becomes more essential than ever. In the face of climate change, it may even be a key to our survival as a civilization. We need to know the Gaian life in which we are immersed. We need to become Gaianeers.”
Editor's note: This material is adapted from a Gaianeering booklet shared at our 2017 Conference.