A Celebrationist Manifesto

What's the meaning of life? Why are we here? What constitutes a good life? These questions cannot be answered from an individual perspective. Religion, atheism, all different kinds of dogmas, leave the big question standing – Why?

We cannot find the answer because we ask the wrong questions. The big existential questions are better to be answered from an organic, holistic perspective than from the individual one. If we see ourselves as a part of an organism, together with animals, plants, nature in general, in context of the whole universe, different paths present themselves.

We are part of an immense organism, call it Earth, Gaia or Mother. In this organism all of life is cyclical and lives in symbiosis with other species. Every species is completely dependent on the eco-system and thereby on all of the other species. We only function as a whole, all of us together.

The time has come to see ourselves as part of this cycle again. The question that then raises itself changes from 'what is the meaning of me, of you, of this or that?', to 'what is the meaning of the whole cycle?' The answer to this question can never be grasped from an individual perspective. The meaning of the individual, however, becomes immediately clear: to integrate and serve the whole, the cycle, Mother Earth. This renders the existential questions suddenly much more practical. Not what is the meaning of life, but what is our role in the organism of Mother Earth?

It seems obvious that she would be better off without the interference people. We rape and exploit her every day without even thinking about it. Follows that we would have to annihilate ourselves in order to strengthen the organism. Yet we too are children of Mother, children that she continues to nourish and look out for. Surely we too have something to contribute.

What is the role of people on Mother Earth? If Mother is a living organism she also has needs, just like any living organism. She might be healthier without us people, but without us no-one would love her, look at her beauty and celebrate her diversity. Our role on Earth is to celebrate Mother Nature. Love, art, creativity, spirituality – all the beautiful things of life on Earth thus become of utmost importance, a spiritual act, an offering to Mother. It is in this way that we fulfill our role as a species.

Hate, greed, anger, selfishness do the opposite. They separate ourselves from the organism, raise the individual on a pedestal, hurt Mother.

It is necessary to remember that we too are her children, each of us a manifestation of her infinite creativity. We thus need to celebrate ourselves as well: our capacity to love, to be creative, to celebrate, to enjoy.

It cannot be our role to guide her, to save her. We are her children and she is the mother. We are no policemen or rulers. If we try to regulate her, save her, we automatically distance ourselves from her, put ourselves over her. By changing our consciousness, by becoming spiritually aware of Mother, by celebrating her beauty, pollution and exploitation will stop automatically.

There is no one way to celebrate. Just as Mother teaches us, diversity is the trick. Indeed, it is the only way to survive. Sing to her, dance on her, spend time with her, be kind to her.

Celebrate difference, celebrate life, celebrate Mother.

We are her.