Hazel Henderson
for homepage“Cyberspace
is Sacredspace”
by Hazel Henderson
(published in the Merck Foundation publication ENOUGH
1999)
Earthbound
humans
Soaring at last,
In cyberspace.
A leap in their long
And painful journey
Upward: from Olduvai,
Altimira’s caves
Catal Huyuk,
Sumer, with waves
Of patient migration
To cover all the lands
On the bosom
Of Mother Earth.
Cyberspace:
Entrance to the Mind
Of God.
Sacredspace,
Full of promises
Sung by all our sages
From Nomad Gatherer – Hunters
To Agriculture: Gift
Of all our Mothers.
To Industrialization,
Materialism, Consumerism,
Onward to the vaunted
Information Age.
Triumph
of Technique
Yet mindlessly playing
Earlier childhood games:
Clicking on trades
In the Global Casino,
Dungeons and dragons.
Escapism from the Sacred Duties
Of Earthbound Life.
More ancient win-lose games,
Netizens crowing
Over Citizens,
Celebrating freedom,
Rights without Responsibilities.
Will we reach
The Age of Knowledge,
Learning at last,
To understand
The mysterious glories
Of Mother Earth
Teeming with Life
Symbiotic with our own?
Will
we move on
To the Age of Wisdom
Seeing all Life
As inseparable
On our planetary journey?
Will we use our tools
Of Communication
To reach Community,
And a new Communion
With the Cosmos?
Cyberspace
is Sacredspace.
See
Hazel Henderson, Building Win-Win World (1996), Acknowledgements
ix
To
an Unsung Hero
What
fortunate people
We who grew up under her wing!
This is true courage:
To toil each day for others.
This is true valor:
To keep faith with the future,
Without compensation or recognition.
Caring and sharing, honoring Nature
Are de-valued in narrow economics,
While guns, tanks and robots are paraded.
Yet the "love economies" of all the world's Dorothys
Foster life and reign supreme in the cosmic accounts.
The world will progress as it recognizes its Dorothys
Until, one day, we shall all see more clearly
The real heroes,
And follow their leadership into a brighter future.
Hazel
Henderson, loving daughter -- in gratitude
Barley, Hertfordshire, England
October 9, 1995
See
Hazel Henderson, Paradigms in Progress (1991, 1995), pp. 274
Cosmic
Economics
A
work of art
Lies buried in the morning sand.
A sad lover seeks her necklace
Eyes scouring
The glorious, pristine beach
At sunrise.
Remembering the panic of loss
The night before
While walking this same way
Companions joined the search
That moonless hour
Scudding clouds darkening the sky
The
lonely lover ponders her loss
Looking for meanings
As GAIA unfolds anew
Her morning splendor
Glistening pools of watery life
Diving white cranes slice
The breaking surf.
Oh!
The ache
Remembering the necklace
Silver and turquoise,
Blazing sun pendant
Of the Zuni People
Fashioned by her lover’s hand.
A gift of priceless beauty
From the heart,
Will the shining sand
Give back her hidden treasure?
Oh, cherished hope!
Or is the message deeper?
The
giver’s heart is full and pure,
Perhaps the soul who finds
The lost gem
Will feel hope and love restored
While contemplating
This sudden fortune.
Lost and Found.
Surely a bond between
Loser and Finder.
Is this the Message?
All
gifts must pass
To complete the sacred
Circle of Life.
Loss and Gain are
Narrow Terms,
Eclipsed
In GAIA’s cosmic economics.
The
lover’s search
Is rewarded with a sign:
Two majestic feathers
Lie in the sand
Discarded by a busy pelican.
Feathers of water birds
Are sacred to the Zuni People.
These gifts will now pass
From ocean to ancient
Desert Heartland.
Treasures
are everywhere
For all worship GAIA’s plenitude,
Nothing is ever lost.
A part of both lovers
Now forever in this place.
When we re-member Universal Love
We rejoice
In letting all gifts pass.
GAIA
does not need
To hoard her riches,
Nor do we.
Cast gladly all our gifts
Upon the water,
Sandy beaches, deserts, too,
Necklaces, bracelets,
Pots and arrowheads,
Glorious weavings, colors
Let them blend
Into the teeming
Multitudinous
Tapestries of Life
In Universal Giving.
