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Welcome to another of my guide Melinda’s Friday messages about how to live life. If you’d like to know more about her and what she has to say you can find more in the first post in this series.

Last week I asked you to ask me what is on your mind. I would still like to hear your questions so please ask them. This week I am going to answers James Wells question.

James asked “What could be the best catalyst for the general public to shift from an industrial growth society to a life-sustaining society before it’s too late?”

Thank you for your question James. I think that before I answer I should speak about what I think the question is asking. If I am wrong please let me know.

You are asking what could happen, or might be done or said, to get people to change their relationship to the natural world and the earth before the earth is so ruined it cannot be renewed? I put it this way because I can tell you that technology and industry are part of the solution to the world’s issues. There can be no harkening back to the world of your youth, my youth, or any other lost time of natural splendour. There can be no closing the door on technology or the machinery of industry that makes it.

The solution is to diminish our impact on the earth and this is rooted in the act of filling our hearts so that people no longer look for fulfillment in things. I have in many ways been talking about this problem in all of my messages. Especially in the post “Stop Being Alone.” I have only partly answered your question because the solution is already known. It is truly the catalyst as you put it that is the mystery. There is no one catalyst, but you can find the catalyst in any person by looking at what opens their heart, helps them feel connected with others, and makes them no longer feel a hunger for anything. It is only by helping people connect with others that the awareness needed can arise and be turned into action.

This is so because the problem stems from the human heart and lives in the human heart.

From the Tarot we must first look to the Papess not as embodying her beneficence, but by approaching her and asking for love and connection in our lives. We must approach the Pope and ask him to awaken us to a life of self responsibility. We must cuddle in the bosom of Death and give over to it our fears and hurts so that we may be free. We must sit in need and allow these energies to wash, clothe, and feed us so we may become whole.

Do you see that it is only by not presuming too much of ourselves that the balance and healing that are needed can arise?

Let me take my answer a step further and say to everyone reading this post. It is your job to open the hearts of those around you so they may find fulfillment, not from you, but within their own hearts. Use your ears to listen and your words to buoy their grief and despair to the four winds so it may be carried away. Do this without hope of return and you will be part of the catalyst James asks about. In doing this though never let yourself be pulled down too if they are truly drowning. Not everyone can be saved.

It is in opening the heart that solutions to the practical problems can be found. Stewardship, respect, and cleaning up after themselves can then become common human traits in relationship to consuming resources and the natural world.

Thank you for asking.
Melinda

If you would like to get a reading with Andrew and Melinda to help you clarify the tangles of your life book here. Reading are available in person in Toronto or via Skype or phone around the world.

The Hermit’s Lamp is the blog of Andrew McGregor – Toronto Tarot reader, artist and teacher. The Hermit’s Lamp is also a storefront in Toronto selling metaphysical and spiritual supplies. Please visit The Hermit’s Lamp website for more information on readings and classes both online and in Toronto. You can also check out Andrew’s podcast here.

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“Nature” image by Syam used under Creative Commons License.