From the editor
On a recent Sunday winter’s afternoon, I drove from my suburban home to the
foothills of the Dandenong Ranges in the hinterland of Melbourne, just beyond Ferntree
Gully. The sky was overcast, with a brisk westerly blowing. In the picnic grounds at the base
of several walking tracks, were intergenerational groups of families and friends picnicking
and playing.
As I travelled along the tracks, most of my companions were children and young adults. All were enjoying themselves and I began to wonder what it is that draws people to the bush. Some of the walkers were tourists. They reminded me of my own time in overseas countries where, beautiful as the landscape was, I quite often felt a strong sense of nostalgia for our wide blue horizons, the olive green haze and scent of gum trees and familiar bird calls. Frequently the most disorientating experience was that of the sun tracking across the sky in the ‘wrong’ direction!
I realised that it is all about a sense of place, a response to the lure of belonging. For us Sunday bush walkers, the attraction of fresh mountain air, eucalypt fragrance, fern-lined valleys and white cockatoos screeching over the calls of other songsters, actively confirmed our identity.
Judith Wright in her poem ’Forest‘ revels in her intimate knowledge of the vines and flowers amongst whom she lives, yet she says,
My search is further.
There’s still to name and know
beyond the flowers I gather
that one that does not wither —
the truth from which they grow
(Collected Poems, HarperCollins, 1994, p. 185)
EarthSong is a new journal that offers an invitation to journey into the ‘truth from which they grow’. At the centre of our island continent are the mythic presences of the Kata Tjutas and Uluru exuding powerful attraction. Songlines radiate in all directions from the deep red centre to lands of great diversity, each with its own ecology, each with its own mystique. This journal seeks to hear the voices of the diversity at the deepest level and to sing their praises with delight.
We live in times of rapid and unprecedented change. A functional cosmology and the consequent
spirituality is the critical need for our current global culture as it dabbles with the potential of its own death. Across this land, traditional religions are finding fresh and deeper meaning and relevance in the newly understood story of creativity that has emerged over thirteen or so billion years. This story offers a magnetic attraction into the heart of Divine Mystery and strongly challenges the beliefs
and mindset that currently support our economic, political, educational and religious institutions.
This story invites new ethical imperatives and a new articulation of the human presence within the wider community of life.
As part of the movement into such a new consciousness, the EarthSong journal will offer perspectives in ecology, spirituality and education through Australian eyes. This first issue is rich in such perspectives. Betty Pike extends a welcome to country and endorses a new melody in the song of our land. David Tacey takes us on a deeply reflective journey towards reconciliation with the spirit that calls us to the heart of this place. Mark O’Loughlin reflects on what can happen on the journey.
Contributors such as Felicity Harris exemplify an understanding that defence of our precious
inheritance is a necessary condition for the survival of the human species. We cannot allow the destruction of life to continue. There are those who have found their place in positive lifestyles and committed their all as illustrated by Veronica Littleton, Aidan Smith and this issue’s Earth Saint, Angela Cameron. Others are on the way and enjoying it, as Jenny and Tom Kingston record.
We draw on ancient wisdom in new times to educate the young to a knowledge that they are of this land in the deepest of ways. But no longer can educational institutions fail to take into account the dimensions and implications of the New Story, as some now call it. There is a need for a re-invention of the human in relation to the revelation of an emerging universe and the interdependence of all that is. In the interests of such education, Caroline Smith opens the conversation about the role of science in removing mystery from matter whilst Harvey Corish and Gill Baker begin a practical exploration
of the restoration through education.
There is much more in this first issue. I hope you will discover both nourishment and challenge in its pages. You will also find invitations to contribute to future editions. The EarthSong journal is at heart a forum for sensitive dialogue and conversation amongst searchers and we look forward to a rich and
fruitful exchange over the coming months and years.
Finally my sincere thanks extend to so many who have nurtured this journal in its gestation period and the midwives who have brought it to birth. It is awkward to single out some in a milieu of enthusiasm and support such as the concept of this journal has enjoyed, but without Gill Baker, Tom Kingston and Caroline Smith’s commitment, creativity and competence as the members of the Editorial
Committee, it simply would not have happened. To them and to all who cooperated so generously with their requests we join Earth in a song of deep gratitude.
