Death
Gives shape to life
As life
Shapes death.
God
And the universe
Share this wholeness
Each
Defining the other:
God
Gives shape to the universe
As the universe
Shapes God "
And then, after a moment of silence, the last, the closing words:
"We have lived before
We will live again
We will be silk,
Stone,
Mind,
Star,
We will be scattered,
Gathered,
Molded
Probed.
We will live,
And we will serve life.
We will shape God
And God will shape us
Again,
Always again
Forevermore."
Some people whispered that last word—echoed it. Zahra quoted in a voice almost too soft to be heard,
"God is Change,
And in the end
God prevails."
Her husband Harry put his arm around her, and I saw that her eyes were bright with unshed tears. She and Harry may be the most loyal, least religious people in the community, but there are times when people need religion more than they need anything else—even people like Zahra and Harry.
Chapter 4
□ □□
From EARTHSEED: THE BOOKS OF THE LIVING
To shape God
With wisdom and forethought,
To benefit your world,
Your people,
Your life,
Consider consequences,
Minimize harm
Ask questions,
Seek answers,
Learn,
Teach.
from Memories of Other Worlds
Our coast redwood trees are dying.
Sequoia sempervirens is the botanical name for this tallest of all trees, but many are evergreen no longer. Little by little from the tops down, they are turning brown and dying.
I do not believe that they are dying as a result of the heat. As I recall, there were many redwoods growing around the Los Angeles area—Pasadena, Altadena, San Marino, places like that. I saw them there when I was young. My mother had relatives in Pasadena and she used to take me with her when she went to visit them. Redwoods growing that far south reached nothing like the height of their kind here in the north, but they did survive. Later, as the climate changed, I suppose they died as so many of the trees down south died—or they were chopped down and used to build shelters or to feed the cooking fires of the homeless.
And now our younger trees have begun to die. This part of Humboldt County along the coast and in the hills—the local people call these coastal hills "mountains"—was cooler when I was a boy. It was foggy and rainy—a soft, green climate, friendly to most growing things. I believe it was already changing nearly 30 years ago when I bought the land that became Acorn. In the not-too-distant future, I suppose it will be little different from the way coastal southern California was a few decades ago—hot, semiarid, more brown than green most of the time. Now we are in the middle of the change. We still get a few substantial fall and winter storms each year, and there are still morning fogs in the spring and early summer.