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Back The Spiritual Ecology of the Boreal Forest by Josef Graf Reporting on the spiritual ecology of any given arena of nature becomes a fairly daunting ambition. Consider, for example, the starscape of a boreal night, or the endless conifer forest, or the billions of songbirds celebrating residence through the light-steeped boreal summer. Any of these aspects, while enticing on a journalistic level, wordlessly fill the soul with an experience that transcends estimation. And the depth and intricacy of nature reflects the nature-human interweave. Boreal terrain typically has acidic, shallow soil over rocky shield, interspersed with rich peat bogs and permafrost - a landscape that underlies a high level of genetic diversity. Lichens, labrador tea, fireweed, lupines, mosses, kinnickinnick, cranberry, blueberry, and soapberry are predominant over 90% of the non-arboreal ground cover. Thus, the rich genetic diversity is counter-pointed by a small array of species. Within the human profile, experience of the land reveals co-relations - counterpoints and minimalism, optimal diversity and verdant subsistence-survivors. When Winter rules. . . Creative streaming surges beneath Corona borealis and Polaris and Sirius. In the far north, one's soul wakes starkly in the winter, more vividly than in southern locales, to counterpoint the prolonged darkness. Conversely, through the long sun-steeped summer, the sail of soul retreats deeper into reverie. During the long winter that compels this inner wakefulness, much of nature's physical community is in a somatic state - including plant life, and hibernators like the bear, chipmunk, and ground squirrel. Some residents - beaver, muskrat, and fish - are subdued beneath their icy ceiling. And subnivean beings eke out a living, with fungi, small plant life, insects, and tiny mammals coexisting under an insulating layer of snow. Grouse, and even, on occasion, chickadees, during severe temperature declines, burrow into the snow, risking themselves even while seeking safety. And the doorway of death waits on either side - either by freezing or predation. Within lake and river, oxygen arrangements under the ice present an interesting contemplation. Muskrats, beavers and otters exhale air at strategic spots in the plutonian under-ice realm, maintaining a Author's Biography: Josef Graf is the coordinator of Insight21 - http://www.insight21.net and the sister site, Earth Vision - http://www.evsite.net - - - presenting answers for the 21st Century.
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