Deep Listening and Awareness

Seek connection with nature through deep listening and inner awareness

Edward Osborne Wilson, highly awarded American Biologist and Naturalist once declared that humans had an innate tendency to seek connection with nature and other life forms (Biophilia), concluding:

“nature holds the key to our aesthetic, intellectual, cognitive and even spiritual satisfaction”.

In this article we reflect on the practice of deep listening and awareness, known as Dadirri to our First Nations People. Having possible application to society today, the fusion of ancient and modern healing methods.

 

Dadirri, deep listening and awareness

Our First Nations People passed on stories orally for tens of thousands of years.

Having respectful regard for elders, listening to their wisdom, nurturing the growth of family, community, heritage and culture.

Dadirri is the process of deep inner listening and awareness. What we might term “contemplation”.

It is also about waiting, not rushing but flowing with the natural course.

Questions arise today around impatience, aggression, demands, disrespect and need for self-gratification through social media.

Could Dadirri hold the gift or guidance modern society is craving for?

It is the healing power or spirit (“a deep spring inside us all”) for dealing with trauma.

Chance to explore common threads between ancient and modern ways of healing.

Dadirri spreads across all life, the struggles, understanding and learning.

Wisdom is retained deeper inside when shared face to face.

In deep listening and awareness we find the spirit, the rights of passage through life.

Maybe reconciliation.

Legendary bushman, RM Williams spent many years trekking through the Australian desert, living with Aboriginal communities, learning how to survive the harsh conditions.

His advice to us was, “you learn more from watching and listening”.

 

The artificial side of life

An open mind and modern science suggest our disconnection from nature is harmful to our psyche and well being.

Could the industrial influence on society be diminishing mankind’s vision, beyond materialism and consumerism?

Middle-class consumption is supported by soul-suppressing jobs.

We live and work in artificial environments, from building materials and design, to  lighting, air-conditioning, screens and noises.

Significantly the word “noise” comes from the latin word “nausea”.

We risk disconnection from our natural biology by an over-stimulated mind.

City life is dominated by mechanical time (punctuality and deadlines), while our bodies and minds are geared to biological time

Incessant attention grabbers clutter our lives – the need for retreat and relief.

We know what happens to native animal species on losing touch with their natural habitat? Mammal extinction in Australia is high and concerning.

We risk seeing ourselves separate from or having dominion over nature.

Through Dadirri and contemplation in nature we rightfully find ourselves in harmony with the whole living system.

David Suzuki, zoologist, science broadcaster said of the sacred balance:

“There are some things in the world we can’t change – gravity, entropy, the speed of light. Our biological nature requires clean air, clean water, clean soil, clean energy. Biodiversity is critical to our health and well being. Protecting the biosphere should be our highest priority or else we sicken and die”.

 

Albert Einstein once said – ” The joy in looking and comprehending, is nature’s most beautiful gift

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