Earth Etude for 7 Elul

The persons I am lucky enough to claim as friends and family will tell you I have never been the type to take things at reasonable pace. My life is at best, a whirlwind. I somehow always find myself operating at breakneck speed, a cacophony of voices all vying for my attention and passions. The very real danger,however, of this kind of momentum is glance behind and a realization that a sense of self and awareness have been lost.

I was told as a child that our desires, at least in their most distilled and honorable form, were in fact the internal compasses guiding us towards a greater, God-given plan. Perhaps that explains those times in our lives, when not engaged in what brings us balance and fulfillment, we also feel farthest from God.

This is where the idea of t’shuvah - a chance to return and realign oneself with the idea of god and true purpose - applies for me on my journey. I have always done this through the sweetness of the earth around me, in fact it figures strongly into what constitutes my personal sense of spirituality. There is a sort of unwordly peace that inhabits my body when I am in the thick of the biological world. I slip my kayak into the same water that has cycled through an ancient earth, and am engulfed in the joy of God, the newness of the day, and a bold sense of possibility.

Carrie Schuman is a "Mainuh" and a very busy little bee working at a phytoplankton culture collection, and enjoying the vast amount of pristine Maine coastline. She is currently re-assessing her future, so felt writing this etude was a timely exercise.