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Ryan Rose Weaver (she/hers)'s avatar

Thank you for this beautiful reflection on the holiness of dirt. When I taught gardening classes to kids a few years back, the lessons on compost bordered on the spiritual. It was miraculous to watch children awakening in real-time to a deeper understanding of the life-death-life cycle, and where they fit into it. I love the way you’ve brought millipedes, as real animal and also as metaphor, into the picture. I’ll be thinking about that one for a while.

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Swarnali Mukherjee's avatar

Thank you Ryan for spending time on this. I can only imagine how fulfilling it might be to watch children awaken to the awareness of life and death through soil. We share a profound connection to our great green mother, I wonder how many more decades before we collectively agree that she exists not be extracted from but to live in relationship with.

Hope you have a peaceful and safe week ahead 💜

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Ryan Rose Weaver (she/hers)'s avatar

Wishing you the same 💚

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Jonathan Foster's avatar

Wonderful as always, Swarnali. Such beautiful writing and grounded thoughts.

“It is the slow erosion of genuine goodness in ordinary people that worries me.” Like the ever growing garden this will return when the powered classes stop spreading division and hatred. Goodness isn’t eroding, it’s hibernating :)

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Swarnali Mukherjee's avatar

“Goodness isn’t eroding, it’s hibernating” I love this perspective Jonathan. It implies the strength of goodness might weaken but it never extinguishes. I am more likely to believe in a world that is still intact at its foundation of values and ethics, a world that won’t stop spiralling forward towards integrity and kindness. Thank you so much for bringing in optimism to this conversation my friend 💜

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Chloe Hope's avatar

As she circles her last moments, I've been revisiting much of the wisdom of Joanna Macy, and I can see that you've been blessed with a knowing and a seeing not dissimilar to hers. It's so important. This kind of clarity. Thank you for sharing it 💛

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Swarnali Mukherjee's avatar

Wow I never heard of Joanna Macy, thank you for introducing her to me Chloe. She has such beautiful pulse of animism flowing through her work.

Thank you, it is such an honour to be seen by you in resonance to such awakened souls. I am so overwhelmed and grateful to be in the field of your love and adoration dearest friend. 💜

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Sarah Kokernot's avatar

"nothing is too broken to begin again." The global events of this year, and especially this summer, feel so broken to me, but I hope you're right, Swarnali. This was gorgeous writing.

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Swarnali Mukherjee's avatar

Yes Sarah, the world is a raging wildfire of madness right now but the least we can do is hold on to our own dear hearts and stay softer, kinder for times when life will call us to be the yielding ground for the future hope.

Thank you friend for listening deeply 💜

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Kimberly Warner's avatar

Dirt is so very sacred. From which everything came and everything returns. Thank you for this gentle, reverent meditation on our one true mother.

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Swarnali Mukherjee's avatar

Thank you for arriving here. I genuinely love your work and have been following your space for sometime now. Yes to the sacredness of dirt. 💜

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Kimberly Warner's avatar

Aww, thank you Swarnali. 🙏

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Jo Morris's avatar

Beautiful. 🩶

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Swarnali Mukherjee's avatar

Thank you Jo 💜

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