What side are you on?

Most of those passionate about Nature, when speaking about the Atlantic Forest, are referring to the Serra da Mantiqueira, or the mountains of Florianópolis and the Serra do Tabuleira, or the Tijuca Forest, to the Serra do Caparaó, some island of the Araucárias Forest in the South, some mangrove forest in the Northeast, Serra do Mar in Paraná, Fernando de Noronha. What few realize is that all this natural beauty, which still exists, is just the remnants!

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Remnants of a time when only people considered backward by modern man lived here, but who lived in harmony with Mother Earth for thousands of years, while our technical civilization did not need much more than 500 of those years to devastate almost 90% of the original biome. In its place are the largest cities of the country, 80% of the national economic production and about 72% of the Brazilian population.

Someone with a less discerning eye may ask themselves: So did we come out winning? The best answer is: it depends on the point of view. And another question could be added: which side are you on? For either we are allied with a materialistic and exploitation-oriented culture, invasive and enslaving, which is moving toward self-destruction without realizing that humankind cannot exist apart from the natural environment, which provides them with the basics, to use  elements objectively: oxygen, water, and food (and as incredible as it may seem to the materialistic mind, free of charge – thanks to Grace); or on the other hand we are allied with an emerging culture, which is expanding its consciousness toward a Unity of Life, and is known as part of a Great Whole, composed of the four Kingdoms of Nature – a culture in which it is known that all actions have a reaction, that small attitudes can have a great transforming impact if they are developed with the correct attunement, that something exists that transcends material life and interconnects all beings in a great planetary network (which is confirmed by the most modern branch of Physics: Quantum mechanics).

@planet_sacrednature @planet_sacrednature

Anyone who has come into contact with Father Anchieta’s texts, from the 16th Century, can glimpse the richness of the biodiversity of this continent at the time of the arrival of the first Europeans. It reports an infinity of plant species, and an enormous amount of colors besides the immense green mantle that covered the Atlantic Ocean coastline, expressed in the most variations of flowers and animals: it describes jaguars, anteaters, tapirs, snakes, fish, birds… How many today can say that they have seen a wild animal living in its natural habitat? Either they are known through videos, or – what is worse – in zoos. We stop here so as to not mention animal trafficking.

Starting with this extreme of exuberance, biodiversity, and a multiplicity of life in other times, today we experience another extreme, of impoverished soils, which are dependent on chemical products to be able to develop vegetables (and the word “develop” is used, rather than “nourish”), of contaminated water, of polluted air, deforestation, devastated mountains, life in extinction. We are unconscious victims of our own ignorance about the Unity of Life, because all the harm that we do to the natural environment around us is reflected in our quality of life, in ways that we often do not associate with this, such as cancer and other degenerative diseases.

 @planet_sacrednature

But there is another way to experience life on Earth. There is another way of relating to the world around us. The words of Chief Seattle, in 1855, have already echoed in many consciousnesses, which woke up and are seeking to act as antibodies in a sick, feverish organism that is beginning to convulse. We are the cause of our planet’s disease, but we can also be the cure. It all starts with a reflection and a positioning: which side are you on?

During a certain block of time of the year an infinite amount of fish is caught; the Indians call this pirá-iquê, which is to say, “entry of the fish”; since countless numbers of them come from different parts of the sea to enter places with a narrow and shallow seabed in order to lay their eggs.

There are also lizards that live in the same way in the rivers, and which they call jacaré (crocodile) (…)

There are also other amphibious animals called capiyûára (capybara), which is to say, “that eat grass,” much like pigs (…)

There are many otters that live in the rivers (…)

It would be tedious to mention the abundance of crabs, and their varieties and various forms. (…)

So far I have spoken of the animals that live in the water; I will  deal with the terrestrial ones now, some of which are unknown in that part of the world. First, I will mention the various species of poisonous snakes.

Some, called jararacas (pit viper), are abundant in the countryside, in the forests, and even in the houses, where we often find them (…)

The other variety, they call bóicininga (rattlesnake), which means “serpent that jingles”, because it has a kind of rattle on its tail (…)

There are also others beautifully marked in various colors of black,  white, a red similar to coral (coral snake) (…)

There are also others, which the Indians call bóiguatiára, which is to say “painted serpents”, because of their diverse varieties of color (…)

What can I say about the spiders, the quantity of which cannot be counted? Some are a little redish, others the color of earth, others colored, all hairy; one could judge them to be crabs, they have such large bodies (…)

Among us there are also the panthers, of which there are two kinds: some are the color of a deer (cougar), smaller and more fierce; others are mottled and painted in various colors: these are found everywhere (jaguar)(…)

Here there are also other animals (they want them to be lions), also very fierce, but rarer.

There is also another animal with a fierce nature, which the Indians call tamanduá (anteater). (…)

There is another animal, quite common, suitable for eating, called by the Indians tapiírae, and by the Spaniards “tapir” (…)

There is another animal that the Indians call aige, and us “priguiça” (sloth) because of its excessive slowness when moving (…)

There is another similar to a little fox and which the Indians call sariquéa (skunk), that gives off a very bad smell and likes to eat chickens a lot (…)

There are also certain small animals of the hedgehog genera, covered with long and very sharp bristles (…)

There is an infinite multitude of macaques, of which four varieties can be counted.

There is also another very common animal among us, called tatú (armadillo), that inhabits the fields in underground caves.

There are two genres of deer, some like ours with antlers; these are, however, rare; others, white in color without antlers, and that never enter the forests; they always graze in quantities on the planes.

There is an abundant amount of very fast wildcats, fallow deer, wild boars, of which there are various species.

There are many other animals of diverse species that I understand I should omit, since they are not worthy of being known, nor of being counted.

It would be very difficult to represent in words the various species of ants, among which there are various natures and names; what I can tell you in passing is that which is very common in the Brazilian language, which is why they give different names to different species, and seldom are the genres known by a proper denomination; thus, there is no generic name for the ant, the crab, the rat, and many other animals; of species, however, which are almost infinite, none fail to have their own name, so that you would rightly be amazed at so great a reproduction and variety of words. (…)

There are almost twenty diverse species of bees, of which some make honey in the trunks of trees, others in dense nests built between branches, others under the earth (…)

In the forest there are a great number of flies and mosquitos which, sucking our blood, bite cruelly, mostly in summer, when the fields are flooded (…)

Others called mariguî (sand flies), that live by the sea, are a terrible plague (…)

In fact, it is not easy to say how great a diversity of birds there is, ornamented with various colors. The parrots are more common here than crows, and of different species (…)

There are also ostriches, which cannot fly because of the extraordinary size of the body (…)

There are also other little birds, called guainumbi (hummingbird), the smallest of all (…)

There is another bird similar to the crow, like the goose because of the beak, that diving in the rivers, spends a long time underwater to eat fish.

There is also another, of less size, but when it flaps its wings, it makes so much noise that the trees seem to fall to the ground.

There is also a sea bird, named guará (ibis), just like the grebe, but with longer legs, with an equally elongated neck, long beak and hook (…)

There is yet another sea bird similar to that, which instead of wings, has small limbs, dressed in soft down; it has the feet almost on the tail, so that they cannot support the body and only serve it for swimming, when it is unable to fly or walk.

Of the birds of prey, there are many species, of which some are of such a size that they kill and tear apart even deer (…)

There is another bird that is called anhinga (screamer), very large; when it calls, it sounds like the braying of a donkey. (…)

There are also wild chickens, of which there are three species: partridges; pheasants; and other birds all purple, others green, others brownish, showy in their multiple variety of colors.

This is the animals.

Of the plants and trees, I have this to say, that the roots of what they call manioc (cassava), which we use as food, are poisonous and harmful in nature if not prepared by human industry to be eaten (…)

There are other roots called yeticopé (yam bean?), similar to the radish, unpleasant taste, very appropriate for calming the cough and soothing the chest. (…)

Among others here, there is a certain plant scattered everywhere and that we often saw and touched, that we call living, because it seems to have just such a feeling: for if you touch it lightly with your hand or anything else, immediately its leaves close in on themselves, coming together as if sticking together, then after a while, they open up again.

Of the trees, one seems to be worthy of notice, unlike others where they distill a liquid similar to resin, useful for medicine; this one drips a very smooth juice, intended to be a balm, which at first runs like oil through small holes (…), gives off a very strong smell, although very smooth and is great for healing wounds (…)

In the village called Espirito Santo, a certain very tall tree is very common, the fruit of which is wonderful. (…)

Besides that, there are pine trees of stupendous size; they propagate profusely, occupying the space of six or seven miles. (…)

There are various fruit trees excellent for eating, many with a very subtle scent, and delectable taste.

Useful in medicine, there are not only many trees, but also roots of plants (…)

There is a certain tree, that when the bark is cut with a knife or a branch broken, lets flow a white liquid like milk, but more dense, of which, if you drink a small amount of it, relaxes your belly and cleanses your stomach through violent vomiting: but if you exceed  the dose by just a little, it kills (…)

There is a certain root, abundant in the fields, extremely useful for the same results (…)

Even in the stones something can be found to admire and with which to exalt the omnipotence of the supreme and great God (…)

At a certain river inhabited by enemies,  about 50 miles from Piratininga, many shells can be found in which they create certain transparent little stones, that they want to be pearls (…)

This is all that I can think of to say about trees, plants, and stones. (…)

Of these Brazilians I will finish by saying that almost none are found among them affected by any natural deformity; rarely, someone blind, deaf, dumb or lame is found, none born out of time. (…)

I narrated these things as briefly, as I could, so  no doubt there are many others worthy of mention, which are unknown to us, although not very practical here (…)

Written in São Vicente, that is the last Portuguese settlement in the Brazilian Indies facing south, in the year of our Lord 1560, at the end of May

The least of the Company of Jesus

…)How can you buy or sell the sky, the warmth of the land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the freshness of the air and sparkle of the water, how can you buy them? Every part of this earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every clearing and humming insect is holy in the memory and experience of my people.

We know that the white man does not understand our ways. One portion of land is the same to him as the next, for he is a stranger who comes in the night and takes from the land whatever he needs. The earth is not his brother, but his enemy, and when he has conquered it, he moves on. (…) His appetite will devour the earth and leave behind only a desert.

(…)The air is precious to the red man, for all things share the same breath–the beast, the tree, the man, they all share the same breath. The white man does not seem to notice the air he breathes. Like a man dying for many days, he is numb to the stench. (…)

If all the beasts were gone, man would die from a great loneliness of spirit, for whatever happens to the beasts, soon happens to man. All things are connected. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth.