Including the Earth in Our Prayers describes the need for a spiritual response to our present ecological crisis and divisive world. This is a shift from the story of separation that defines our present materialistic culture—that we are separate from the Earth which is a resource to be exploited—to a new story of oneness and interconnection with the Earth and all of her inhabitants. This story returns us to a reverence for the sacred nature of creation, which will return joy, wonder, and meaning to our lives, as well as bringing real sustainability for all of life. The central theme of this book is that our individual spiritual consciousness is a vital contribution to making this shift, an alchemical catalyst for real change and transformation. The book describes different ways awakened consciousness can help the Earth in its time of crisis, working with the world soul as was known to our ancestors and to certain Indigenous peoples, uniting the inner and outer worlds, and working with love not just as a personal emotion or feeling, but as a spiritual power in life. This book describes in detail the attitude we need to participate in this spiritual or subtle activism, for example realizing that our spiritual practice is not just about us, but can be a real contribution to the whole of life. And how prayer and thanksgiving nourish not only our individual life but also the Earth and all of creation. It also looks at the danger of this present time as our materialistic nightmare covers the Earth in a dark cloud of forgetfulness of the sacred nature of the Earth and our own soul—and what this means for humanity and the Earth. Unless we go to the root of our present self-destructive ecocide we cannot make the shift that is needed to heal and transform the Earth, we cannot awaken into the future that is waiting to be born. Including the Earth in Our Prayers affirms the need for real change founded upon sacred principles, and the contribution we can each make through our prayers and spiritual practice.
Industry Reviews
"... this luminous book shows us the way to navigate these tumultuous times with a clear mind, a hopeful heart, and a renewed relationship with holy awe. In Including the Earth in Our Prayers, Vaughan-Lee, one of the great wisdom teachers of our age, invites us to participate in nothing less than the radical rebirth of all that is." --Mirabai Starr, author of God of Love and Wild Mercy
"Including the Earth in our Prayers is a call to place the well-being of the Earth at the center of our spiritual practice. With lucidity, grace, and wisdom, Vaughan-Lee has given us a cleverly disguised resistance manual for our time." --Fred Bahnson, author Soil & Sacrament: A Spiritual Memoir of Food and Faith, and director of the Food, Health, and Ecological Well-Being Program at Wake Forest University School of Divinity
"Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee is a rare mystic who honors the eternal truths of the wisdom traditions while recognizing the ever-evolving ways that these truths must be accessed and lived... this book opens our eyes and hearts to the true potential of spiritual practice to go beyond self-transformation to play a vital role in the well-being and awakening of the Earth as a whole. He suggests that ours is a time when new pathways are being revealed that use spiritual practice as a way of nourishing the whole of life, pointing the way to a form of spiritual service that belongs to the future." --David T. Nicol, author of Subtle Activism: The Inner Dimension of Social and Planetary Transformation
"The call of the soul in our time is to become loving partners with our world in manifesting the potentials of blessing and wholeness innately within us and within the Earth. In this wonderful book, Llewellyn eloquently shows us that we each have within us the power to answer this call and embody this partnership. In a time when we are beset with fear and divisiveness, he offers a vision of wholeness and healing, hope and empowerment. It is definitely a book whose time has come." --David Spangler, author of Journey into Fire
"The Earth is luminous. From being a dark and degraded "thing," the earth is in reality an angelic being. Our relationship with the Earth, not one of domination but one grounded in harmony, adoration, and contemplation is a powerful indicative of our relationship with the Divine, with the feminine, and ultimately with the entire realm of the Spirit. Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee opens up this connection in a lucid and luminous way. Highly recommended for devotees of spiritual pursuit and ecological sustainability." --Omid Safi, author of Radical Love Teachings from the Islamic Mystical Tradition; Professor, Duke University; Leader, Illuminated Tours
