After years of silence, Mother Earth speaks out

(Photos of the diary entry can be found at the end of the text).

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At 9:30 a.m., I open my eyes tiredly and squint out of the window at the awakening day. Dense fog lies over the tributary of the Trondheimfjord, which at 130 kilometers is the third longest fjord in Norway, 617 meters deep at its deepest point, home to over 90 species of fish and even stony corals have been found. I remember how the captain Werner Thieme ditched his Focke-Wulf Fw 200 transport plane in the fjord not far from here in February 1942. Due to a defective landing flap, a normal landing was not possible, which is why he was forced to bring his plane into the water in a kind of controlled crash. Thanks to the masterful feat of flying, all six crew members survived the accident. The machine sank to a depth of 50 meters and was raised by the German Museum of Technology in Berlin in May 1999. Since then, it has been rebuilt for posterity at great expense.

I’m just about to turn around again when a scattered ray of sunlight penetrates the wall of fog and is reflected on the still surface of the water. I watch in fascination as the wall of mist slowly turns golden yellow. Fractions of a second later, the water surface takes on the same color, so that there is hardly any difference between the sky and the surface of the fjord. Only now do I notice that areas of the sea are covered with a wafer-thin layer of ice and reflect the increasing daylight differently. On the other side of the bay, a few residential buildings huddle against the shore. They are covered in a dark shadow that is increasingly being consumed by the growing rays of the sun. As if a powerful spotlight were casting its focused beam onto one of the red wooden houses, it shines unexpectedly in a golden light. “Wow,” I say quietly so as not to wake Tanja, who still seems to be asleep. “What is it?” she asks quietly. “You have to see this. There’s an incredibly beautiful play of lights going on out there right now. You can see how the rising sun is merging with Mother Earth,” I reply. Tanja lifts her head to look out over the fjord. “Oh, that’s beautiful,” she whispers. “Yes, that’s it,” I reply and feel an unbearable pain pierce me at that very moment. How it takes possession of my body and mind, leaves me speechless and a thousand questions flash in my head. “Is this paradise? Paradise on earth?” “Yes it is.” “Are we humans about to destroy it with our endless greed, our pathological consumption, our quest for power?” “Yes, you are,” answers the voice inside me again, which I had already heard frequently during our crossing of the Australian deserts. A voice that accompanied me through the outback for three years, that was undoubtedly responsible for our survival, gave me good advice, cheered me up in bad times and catapulted me into new mental dimensions. I had gotten used to them, could ask anything at any time and always got coherent answers. Back in our home country, it became quieter and less frequent until it fell noticeably silent on the subsequent bicycle excursions. And now it can suddenly be heard again? Or did I just imagine it?

“Have we humans not yet understood the connection between the global crisis we are currently in?” I ask in my thoughts. “No, you haven’t. If you humans want to continue living on this beautiful Mother Earth in the future, you should definitely understand the obvious connections between pandemics, species extinction, the outbreak of dangerous viruses, rising sea levels, the increase in natural disasters such as massive fires, major torrential floods, tsunamis, etc. You humans, whether in rich or poor countries, are heading towards a world that you can no longer control. You humans, whether in rich or poor countries, are heading at great speed towards a world that you can no longer control. You must tackle the causes and not just try to repair the damage you have caused. If you humans continue as before and burn down your primeval forests, straighten your rivers for building land, tear out every drop of oil, natural gas, silicon and everything I have made available to you completely from within me, then you are sitting on a volcano whose eruption will throw your existence back centuries or even end it completely. If you carry on as you have done so far, there will be no more beautiful moments like this one. It is not only my health that is at risk, but yours too. People must understand that we are inseparable, that we, i.e. Mother Earth and you, humanity, are connected. Health for you humans means clean food, clean water, clean air to breathe, a protected home and bearable temperatures. I can only point this out again and again and send warnings in an emergency. If I let you live on my skin, nurture and protect you, you should not continue to hurt and abuse me. I won’t survive that and neither will you,” I hear and know that it is Mother Earth who is speaking here. “And what should we do? What should Tanja and I do? We can’t just sit in the forest and wait to die, can we?” “No, you’re not helping anyone. You have been doing what I have told you to do for many years. Travel my surface, seek out the different peoples, climb my mountains and wander into my forests, keep trying to penetrate my inner being and understand it. Admire my beauty, feel my pain and talk and write about it. You have experienced a lot of positive things on this journey. I have shown you my beauty again and again. I have protected and sheltered you. You were allowed to travel through this wonderful country while the virus was still on my skin. Meanwhile, many of your brothers and sisters have retreated to their homes. That was and is no coincidence. This is a gift to you and it is a good idea and a fantastic job to record your experiences so that your readers can feel and experience my beauty and sensitivity through your experiences. As a result, some will change their future actions. They will tell their relatives and friends about it, who in turn will pass it on and so the future will be positively influenced. Everyone can contribute to this and you as my ambassadors are doing a good job. Don’t give up and persevere. I am grateful to you for that.” “Phew!” I groan out loud. “What is it?” asks Tanja. “Phew,” I repeat and tell her what conversation has just raced through my brain. “Mother Earth has contacted us again?” asks Tanja. “I think so,” I answer skeptically. “You with your doubts. Mother Earth is an incontrovertible fact and not some esoteric nonsense. She’s ill and has contacted you. I’m quite sure it was her,” says Tanja, whereupon we lapse into prolonged thoughtfulness. “You’ve published a dialog with Mother Earth on our website, haven’t you?” Tanja breaks our silence after what feels like an eternity. “You mean what she said in the Australian deserts back then?” “Yes, exactly.” “And?” “Can you still remember that? There were strong similarities with what you just heard,” says Tanja, whereupon I open the laptop, call up our website and read it out loud. “Tell people that they can’t own my skin. How is that supposed to work? You humans can only borrow a piece of it for your lifetime. But you can’t own them. You can exploit the piece of skin, dig deep holes, throw your waste at it and then pass it on to your descendants. But don’t forget, you can’t own the skin of the earth. It is part of the general communication system. It is the rhythm of life and the food source on which you stand, walk or build your cities. But remember: the skin can never belong to one person. It always belongs to everyone, regardless of race or skin color. You only borrowed your own skin for a few years. When you die, it goes back into the general public, into Mother Earth. So think about what you do with the skin you live on. Remember that Mother Earth’s skin is just as hard to own as the air we breathe. It is the common property of all inhabitants of this planet. Earth and air belong to animals and plants just as much as to humans. It is important to understand that it is madness to start a war over the skin you call land. That won’t get you anywhere. Do you see how important it is to look at things from different angles? What connections are there between you and the animals and plants? Where can this realization lead you? Do you realize that this small insight can show you a path to infinity? So stop asking yourself about the sense and nonsense of your undertakings. The efforts guide you into other worlds, are tools to open your mind.

Always remember that we are the supermarket where you help yourselves and the plate from which you eat. Never forget that we are the water you drink by bathing yourself. That we are what you breathe. Remember how painful it is to thirst, starve, freeze, sweat or suffer from disease and die. If you continue to rob your own supermarket without restocking the shelves, if you continue to throw your waste on your own plate and tip over your last cup of water, you will cause endless suffering to yourselves and to future generations. We, the desert, the jungle, the forests and meadows, seas and lakes, rivers and mountains, in short, Mother Earth, will no longer be able to help you. We would be sorry for you because, and this is very important to know, we all love you because we are part of you and you are part of us.”…