Page 191 - Dark Matter Issue5 Part II

What does it mean to be devoured? According to the dream, it means offering oneself fully to

the needs of others—in this case, earth and spirit. Doing so ensures there’s a future. Doing so

brings to life the shelled one, the beautiful barefooted woman in blue.

All of us learn early on in this culture that humans occupy the top of the food chain. We choose

what we eat. We call the shots! And do we ever do that: we eat and eat, and regard those who

dare nibble us or our food as vermin. In this dream, however, there is no ‘top,’ only the cycle of

life and spiritual transformation.

It’s time to give our old identities over. We must act—and the action required is to stop: stop

interfering, stop controlling, stop thinking we know best. Be naked, and surrender. Trust that

Earth, which has created us, knows what to do. Crab will take it from there. Crabs are

scavengers and meticulous cleaners. Sensitive and tough. They operate on land and water.

What better creature to consume our tainted selves, and create new life?

Our sacred task now is to dissolve pride of ‘first place’ and lordship, to give over our old

identities on behalf of the law of creation. Can we trust this earth? How can we not? The best of

who we are can feed the future of all beings. This is the path to becoming earth-human, spirit-

human—integrated human beings. Then there will be a future.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sharon English has published two collections of

short stories, Uncomfortably Numb and Zero

Gravity, which was long-listed for the Giller Prize.

Her new novel, What Has Night To Do With Sleep?

attempts to find convincing ways to evoke the earth,

its non-human creatures and the cosmos as

conscious agents in life. She's currently the director

of the Writing and Rhetoric Program at the

University of Toronto, where she teaches creative writing.