My Calling

I went to church on Sunday. I know this may come as a shock to some of you, but I should clarify that it was a Unitarian Universalist church. The topic of the service was finding your calling: discovering your passion, your skills, and then figuring out how the combination of the two can fulfill a need in society. This message came on the heels of a conversation I had with Mom that morning, about how life in America is at a turning point. We can no longer afford to live the way we've been living. If we continue to drive our SUVs all over and eat processed foods that have been shipped from far away, we will not only bankrupt our finances, but our environment and our own health as well.

Over the past several years, I have pursued sustainable living practices. This is an ongoing journey, and one that I enjoy sharing with others. It is my passion. And writing is my skill. So I thought, why not combine the two and create a blog where I can share what I've learned - and continue to learn - with my friends and family all over the world?

Here's my disclaimer: I am not an expert in environmental science. The last "real" science course I took was my freshman biology class. In high school. Earning an English major in college did teach me how to conduct research. I spend a great deal of time reading about organic food standards, pesticides and other chemicals, harmful ingredients in everyday beauty products, and carcinogens in household cleaners. I'd like to share with you, whom I hope will become my faithful readers, what I learn.

This blog, then, is about my getting down to earth. Realizing that we have to change in order to survive. Facing reality. Eating real food. Buying locally. Driving less. Slowly changing for the better. I hope that you'll stay in touch with me by following my journey, and by sharing yours.

I'll leave you with some words from a book that changed my worldview in college: New Woman, New Earth by Rosemary Radford Ruether.

"We seem to be awaiting a planetary rebirth which can come about only when massive catastrophe decisively discredits the present systems of power. We scarcely know whether either the physical or the spiritual resources exist to make such a creative leap beyond disaster. So it is with fear and trembling that we even try to dream of new things.... Perhaps this...demands a letting go of that self-infinitizing view of the self that culminates in the wish for personal immortality. One accepts the fact that it is the whole, not the individual, which is that 'infinite' out of whose womb we arise at birth and into whose womb we are content to return at death, using the human capacity for consciousness, not to alienate ourselves from nature, but rather, to nurture, perfect, and renew her natural harmonies so that earth might be fair, not only for us and our children, but for all generations of living things still to come."

Namaste (I honor the Spirit in you which is also in me),
Jenny

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