Sangha of Auspicious Companions

Living Soil

Chloé Valdary reminds us through poetry that the word “human” comes from the Latin “humus” which means living soil. “You are living soil. And this is not a metaphor,” she proclaims, evident in the rich soil nutrients of which we are composed. She cautions us to remember this by slowing down and being present, and invites us to show reverence for ourselves, for the “fleeting finite weight of your own dust.” Chloé wants us to appreciate the sacred soil in everything from our morning coffee to our phones that operate by computer chips made of silicon that comes from sand crystals that conduct energy. “Life is fleeting,” she says. “Write poems and songs in celebration of this—because it will be gone in less than a blink of an eye.” “Perhaps the fate of our species depends on our willingness to be stewards of the earth and to remember that we are living soil.”

Be The Change

Chloé invites: “And when you rise in the morning, bless the dirt and the air and the water and the fire and the time that makes this possible, that makes you possible, that makes us possible. Learn to love each other.”