This posting clipped from the very beautiful publication Heron DanceCielo Myczack was another person whom I interviewed and who shaped the publication. Cielo and her husband, Leaf, founded the RiverKeepers, a group of environmental and wilderness protection activists in Tennessee. Cielo talked of the spiritual challenges of a life of activism:By becoming Riverkeepers, we turned our anger into a flow of creativity. It is something I have to practice every day—to let go into Love. Let go, let go, let go. It appears black, it appears violent, it appears tortured—but I know there is a bigger picture that I, with my small eyes, can’t see. Then comes the trust.When you come from ego, and are goal-orientated, you sabotage yourself. So many miracles happen at the level of paradox. When I start walking around thinking that I am making a difference out here—thinking that I am going to heal the Earth—then I am in for burnout. That is the wrong path. We are out here to create new paradigms, and it starts by recognizing that we don’t make a difference. We have to get out of our own way. That is how I do it—by realizing that I am not going to heal the planet, I am not going to save anyone. When I get off the grandstand, when I finally melt into the All, I look around and notice that stuff is already happening. But I have to humble myself before those things that are greater than self will occur.Who am I to say how the Earth should look? I trust that there is a bigger picture, a larger or Greater Good that I may not be totally aware of. I don’t have the answers; Something bigger has the answers. All I can go with is my personal truth, my integrity, and my intuition. Try to tap every day into that higher voice that I hear and trust—that is more than enough. I feel good when coming from that place, because if I don’t, I get lost in the darkness and the despair. You cannot know what the outcome is supposed to be. We cannot be goal-oriented. We have to believe that if we do the best we can, and practice harmony with each other and with the Earth, that Something larger will be served, though we may not see it. We may not see it.Preaching to the choir is very important. You deal with the people that are ready to listen. I don’t go toe-to-toe with loggers, especially as a woman. I don’t choose to go toe-to-toe. I don’t choose force. If someone challenges what I say, I state my truth as I continue to breathe deeply and stay as balanced as I can. I try to state my truth, then let it be. If they need to act with anger and discourtesy, and they do quite often, that shows the truth. The truth is most apparent by the way you state your truth. (October 1995)
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