I WAS AT MY acupuncture appointment, looking up at a ceiling filled with beautiful pictures of nature, when it dawned on me. As I thought of the beauty of nature, I saw that human beings and nature are actually the same.

Nature is splendid and full of harmony, but so are humans. Just like humans, nature is also full of devastation and terror. The human being can be a work of art in physical form and in action - just as nature is. Yet, we also see the results of emotional outbursts, greed, lust, and avarice. Nature has her own set of outbursts: fire, wind, water, and earthquakes. The storms hit. Things are destroyed. Nature restores itself and new growth appears. We have outbursts, we can destroy or be destroyed by things, yet time is able to bring healing, and our lives can be rebuilt.

What this meant to me as I perceived this sameness was that there is no separation between us and nature, save through our perception. I've always thought of nature as a glorious example of Creator's intent, and put us in another category. Yet, it is ALL one creation! There is no separation between nature, animals, or us, except in our viewpoint. We are all bound by the same potential and challenges. We experience similar possibilities for good and bad, life and death, and are part of the same cycle, only having varying timelines for life and death based on our level of longevity.

What might happen if we were able to reconcile our connection to the rest of life? How would life change if we were to treat all of life as though it really mattered, nurturing it more lovingly, and consciously choosing greater harmony and mutual respect for life forms that we deem inferior to us?

I often consider how it was reportedly the human beings who tilted the balance of harmony in life through our insatiable desire. If the Adam and Eve story bears any resemblance to reality, everything lived in a state of grace during that phase of pre-history. It wasn't until the insatiable human desire for more and different caused the collapse of this integral unity implied by the Garden. From that point on, adversarial positions predominated in every way - humans to non-humans, and human to human.

Separation within our minds is a very dangerous avenue. It keeps us divided and apart from a system that we cannot divide. We are utterly dependent upon the Earth for our livelihood and survival. Without air, we cannot breathe. Without food, we cannot sustain life, and without water, we will perish. Yet we exploit everything on the Earth as though it were given to us for the express purpose of satisfying our need to dominate.

I have always shaken my head in sorrow that one word in the bible has been translated in such a way as to make humans believe they were superior to everything. That word is "dominion."

In its original intent, stewardship was a more appropriate translation, but because humans perpetuate a need to dominate, dominion became a favored and much leaned-upon wording. Each time we are reminded that we are not very good tenants on this planet - each time we want to justify our actions - out comes the "dominion" verse. We point to that word as we perpetuate unconscionable treatment of our animal food stock. We violate codes of ethics over and over again when it comes to soil replenishment and water safety. We spew our excesses in the air, contaminate the oceans, and don't understand how we could possibly be contributing to the warming of the globe and greenhouse gasses.

We have misconstrued the fact that we were tossed OUT of the garden... adopting instead an attitude that Earth is our own little playground on which we can do whatever we want. We violated a trust - and the only way to find home again is through recreating the garden from which we were cast. Respect for our mother - the Earth; eespect for our father - the Spirit... this tragic divorce, created by us, can only be re-paired through our own awakening, through our own recognition that we must be the solution we seek, and that the solution includes ALL of life, whether we understand its function and purpose or not.

We are one system... it's all the same. Our inflated egos have determined that we are the crown princes and princesses, but the reality is that Earth is the one who persists. She will go on, and if we insist on being slovenly, we will be evicted as were so many species before us. We'v ealready seen - through recent disasters like the tsunami, earthquake, and hurricanes -just how quickly nature can tilt the balance of our perceived indestructibility.

It's up to us at this point. We still have time to recognize our hand in destruction, and create solutions that will be healing to all. The question becomes... Do we have the wherewithal? The character? The humility? Are we willing to be stewards instead of dominators, or do we continue on a course of separateness? The Garden of Eden was maintained through stewardship: responsible care for that which is given. "Dominion" could never have achieved that level of harmony.

The news of the day states that not merely one polar cap is melting as previously thought. Both caps are - at an alarming rate. It is said that there is still time to find solutions to what will become an ecological disaster to the entire planet and all her species, but we must act NOW.

We have a decision to make as to whether we want to continue as we have, or if we want to make a positive difference individually. Small steps lead to big results, and we must become the ones we've been waiting for. Mother Theresa made a major contribution to life, and started a chain reaction. She was one person, as is each of us. It's up to us to choose whether we will re-create a garden... or perpetuate a living hell. We are one system. We rise or fall together, so our choice will tilt the balance. How do we proceed? Where do we go? What will we do? One person at a time... one action that makes a difference.

It's all the same system. What can you do? How do you choose?

© 2006, Kathleen Jacoby

Kathleen Jacoby is a professional numerologist with over 25 years of experience. She is also one of PlanetLightworker's founding contributors and an incredible spiritual teacher. She has been on radio and television, and has lectured and taught extensively.

In addition to numerology, Kathleen is the editor of a quarterly newsletter of ideas and inquiry called Seasons of the Soul, and author of the critically acclaimed spiritual adventure novel, Vision of the Grail. To read the three chapters which were excerpted in PLW, click on the link to our archives by author page that appears in the footer below. You can e-mail Kathleen with questions or comments at: KathleenEJacoby@aol.com or visit her websites: www.grailvision.com and www.key.isagenix.com.