Are you on Team Symbioscene?

This Winter Solstice is the one-year anniversary of All of Us Stardust.  

The name for this course and community hub comes from the Carl Sagan quote:  

“The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of starstuff.”  

Sagan is talking about science here, but for me it’s all about magic.  

Everything is connected. We are all a part of one infinite community of existence. It’s scientific and it is divine. The two don’t need to be separated.  

Yet for too long in the Western World, our consciousness has been deeply divided between science and spirituality. Unfortunately, this has resulted in a giant fissure away from animism, the belief that all beings are alive and ensouled, that all beings are connected and in support of each other. And this has directly led to the current climate disaster that we are facing and often ignoring. 

Have you heard of the term Anthropocene?

This is a proposed name for the current geological epoch describing a time when humans began to have a significant (read: negative) impact on the Earth. This includes the proliferation of plastic particles, increase in carbon monoxide, global warming, ocean acidification, rainforest demolition, habitat destruction, mass species extinction, widescale natural resource extraction, and other signs of the planet being altered due to human causes. This age would begin in the 1950s, a post-industrial time in which technology allowed for an explosion in human population growth in a world set up for a linear economy where we extract, produce, consume, and waste without any thought to sustainability or regeneration. 

For us nature lovers, this is a very depressing concept.  

It doesn’t have to be this way though.

If humans understood that we are nature, an intricate part of the natural world and that the way we treat nature directly reflects the way we treat ourselves, they would stop this destruction. If humans respected that all beings are alive and worthy of the same respect we give our human neighbors, they would stop this mindless extraction. 

Have you heard of the term Symbioscene? 

Symbioscene is a term coined by Australian philosopher Glenn Albrecht, which literally translates to “living together” or “companionship.” The Symbioscene would represent a period in Earth’s history where humans symbiotically reintegrate themselves on all levels of existence--emotionally, psychologically, spiritually, and technologically--into the natural world. This would include such principles as circular economies, regenerative agriculture, renewable energy, and all that good stuff. It would also entail moving away from our belief in our inherent separation from the natural world and returning to our ancestral worldview of animism. 

While the idea of Anthropocene feels hopeless and depressing, Symbioscene gives us hope. Which do you prefer? Which epoch do you want us to be entering? 

If you are here reading this, then I know you are like me, Team Symbioscene. 

By shifting our consciousness to understand our deep interconnectedness with all of existence, united in the great web, both scientifically and spiritually, we can begin to change the world and to help the planet.  

As a beautiful byproduct, we also heal ourselves. Reconnecting to nature is connecting to ourselves, our wild soul that craves this reconnection. We have neglected our inner wild child for too long. 

The good news is that in one year alone, All of Us Stardust has welcomed over a thousand new subscribers and our community is growing. That’s all of you. You are ready to make a difference in the world and in yourself. Thank you for being a part of the shifting consciousness.  

Go Team Symbioscene!