Elteria

If you were here on planet Earth in 3000 years, standing barefoot on the ground somewhere in nature near where you currently are, perhaps crunchy leaves crinkling and cracking under your feet, or maybe a sun-warmed stone radiates heat into your skin and bones. Maybe you find yourself standing in soft mud or even sand, feeling it between your toes as your weight sinks. What memories of the previous 3000 years would seep into your feet from the Earth and make their way to your brain? How would you understand those memories?

In Elteria, Earth would have changed her name, and you would know this, even if this was the first time you ever stopped to feel your bare feet listening to her. Elteria would whisper her name through the nerves in the soles of your feet, Elteria would echo through your bones and veins, each heartbeat repeating Elteria until your mind would start singing it, over and over. You would feel more alive, the pain of your problems, your loneliness would melt away as Elteria’s song filled you. You would know how many millions of living beings are singing this song with you, the same rhythm, the same melody, and you would know that you would never be alone again.

If you stayed, listening barefoot a bit longer, you would know more and more about Elteria, her past, her present, and her future. The knowledge would stretch you wider inside than you have ever been. You might not be able to bear it all at once. She knows when you can stretch no wider, as she is listening to you as well. She can tell when you are full and urges you to move, to live your life with what you already know, and return when you feel a hunger for her memories, her knowledge, her vastness.

If you stayed longer, wondering what she might tell you, perhaps posing your own questions about the world, your life, life in general, she might give you visions, flashes of memory, hints at answers. 

She might hint at those who live in our present time who felt her need for change. They learned to listen to her pulse and welcomed her offers to change them. They retreated to caves away from the rest of humanity, who were still deaf to her call. They listened deeply, holding vigil for answers to their singular question: How to transform humanity from a cancer on the planet back into a harmonious part of the Earth?  They grew roots from their feet. She gave them answers and more questions. 

She might show you how sick she became, little by little, overrun with one type of organism that was too greedy and took too much. She tried to teach the ones who listened, but they were torn by rage against their own kind. This ignited her fever. The forests burned. And the towns. And cities. There was nowhere to run for most people.

You might try to turn away from the heat of the Burning Times, but you won’t be able to, for she requires all who listen to face it truly. To know the pain the human disease caused. To take responsibility for healing it.

She would show you the slow emergence of life from protected hiding places into the ash and coal, into the silence. There, you would hear the Song of Life ringing from the green sprouts breaking through the cracking dust. She would show you those who survived, who chose to sing along, learning to listen and give. You would see them standing rooted, veins glowing with crystalline light, hear them singing to the new growth, accelerating the renewal with their harmonies. She would offer to change you as she changed them. 

But she would also show you those who were still sick with greed and fear, how they relied on violence to take more than their share. She would point to the ache in your own heart where the connection to her and all of life was broken by an ancient trauma that taught humans to fear nature and try to control it. A flash of this original pain blazes through your mind, fire from the sky, and then darkness, cold, hunger. 

Elteria would whisper her name to you again, and hearing it would promise to mend the rift, reconnecting you to all of life. You would feel fibers weaving across the void inside you, creating bridges across the chasms of separation and lies. Partage, she would whisper, and you would discover a well inside of you that overflows with glowing water. It would taste sweet and quench your infinite thirst for validation. Suddenly, you would know you are inherently valuable, and your value is enhanced by sharing, giving, and recognizing the value in others. 

All of this would feel shaky and new. Your knees would wobble and your breath trembles. Perhaps you would take a step, pulling one foot up into the air for a moment. Perhaps you would sit down and put your foot on your knee, rubbing the sole where the intensity of the connection with Elteria has made it feel a bit raw. You cannot forget what she has shown you, though, and soon you will be ready to ask more questions, listen to more stories, and perhaps allow the next phase of your own transformation.

Welcome to Elteria.