Journey to the Lower World and ask the Spirits for guidance on the topic of how human activities are causing environmental degradation and severe loss of habitat for wildlife, animals, birds, fish, insects all over the world, and especially in the Amazon and parts of Africa.

Listen to the entire Schapera Show here

Listen to the Spirit Report segment here

So the purpose of this journey for the Schapera Show,is to travel to the lower world and ask the spirits for guidance on the topic of how human activities are causing environmental degradation and severe loss of habitat for wildlife, animals, birds, fish, insects all over the world, and especially in the Amazon and parts of Africa.

So I’m going to my hollowed-out tree trunk, so already a connection with nature, and I’m looking down at the floor where the portal lets me go through for my descent to the lower world.

And there’s a spinning light, and I go through and I’m high in what feels like space, the darkness of space, and setting my intention, my wish to go down and down and down and down to the lower world.

And the spirits issue a sort of, they issue a statement that’s both mocking of humans and sad, they’re saying, “Thank God humans can’t get their hands on the Lower world.” Includes magnificent areas of jungle and the spirit life.

And I’m still going down, and the spirits are saying that as a generalization humans have spoiled the land, the waters, the environment, the habitat, wherever they’ve gone.

And yes, humans are, in many cases, struggling in their work to try and slow down the rate of environmental degradation and habitat destruction, but they do this in the face of huge commercial interests, and I know they’re going to come back to this point that they’re kind of making right at the start, understand it to be that commercial interests are fundamentally what’s driving this distraction.

And I’m going down and down.

And I’ve seen the land on the place I’ve been too many times before, which is characterized by numerous round, smooth, white, they look like stones or eggs, and it’s always been a good place to start a journey in the lower world, and one of my very large spirit helpers of the lower world comes and I usually climb onto his back, and he often will take me somewhere appropriate for the journey, and he’s taking me to the beach of a large hippo lake, which I’ve been to many times before, and he’s taken me across to the island, which seems to be a place in the lower world that’s very good for accessing information, and the message comes that if this were Earth, the Amazon or other areas that are being degraded and destroyed, we’d be lucky if we saw a vulture flying over a burned landscape.

So it’s a very strong image of destruction and desolation, and I get off the Spirit Helpers back sitting at a table with a bench, and at first I thought the tabletop was made of wood, but it might be made out of stone, and it’s the kind of stone that has numerous images, shapes, and in it that I know I could look into in access information, and I say that I’ve recently been reading a book about how the jungle in the Amazon is being destroyed, and I’ve read numerous online articles to the same effect, and it’s so tragic, it’s so tragic, and I say I personally don’t know if there’s anything I can do, and the whole issue is understanding it, and as if to emphasize the opposite of environmental degradation, the area now is swarming with birds and butterflies, and I’m being shown rivers full of fish and birds, and I say that the richness of the unspoiled environment is astounding, that we have no idea, or most people, besides the few that have gone into unspoiled areas, most people have got no idea just what the richness of an undegraded and undamaged by humans natural environment is like, in terms of plants, trees, water, animal life, bird life, insect life, that we, if we could have an idea of what that richness is really like in an unspoiled environment, we would be even more horrified than we are now, because we’re comparing damaged areas with less damaged areas, rather than with absolute, pristine, untouched areas, and they say, well, you know, let’s come back to the point that they mentioned on the agenda, which is commercial interests, and I think this, this is the bane of humanity, commercial interests, and that we’re at a stage, humans are at a stage of civilization where we’ve prepared a land to support so much of what we do, our food, our trade, our technology, mining, entertainment.

They say that the two aspects, the one is safeguarding what is left, and having the ideal of an absolutely strict no-go zones in terms of commercial and human activity, that having areas that are absolutely preserved and protected with absolute strictness, and then the other area would be the human, the human heart, the human mind, of trying to cultivate a generation for the environment and realizing the price we’re paying as we continue to favor commercial interests.

We’re reminding me of how as a kid, I would see these wildlife posters, these roadside posters with, I think it was a bear with a tear running down its face, and it was all about stopping fires and pleading with humans to be as careful as they can to not cause fires that would destroy the environment. Those are mainly about people being mindful of not causing accidents by negligence or unawareness, it wasn’t about deliberate fire-starting.

And the issue now is the damage that is being caused is so deliberate and every commercial interest is in on the act, they’re saying.

And at the highest level of governments who control those territories, the Brazilian government, the Peruvian government, etc, etc, there are those right at the top who are putting commercial interests and their own personal benefits that they’re getting from supporting commercial interests by giving that priority. And these are usually people who are already very wealthy. They, in some cases, they have enormous wealth. They don’t need more wealth that they’re supporting businesses, logging businesses for one, real estate-built businesses, property developers to enhance their own wealth and enhance their own power.

They say this is the flaw that’s been, that’s developed in the human soul. They’re even using the human soul, which I’m horrified. Wealth and power, the insatiable drive for wealth and power that is in the human heart of many people. I think they used the word soul just to kind of put a little note of terror into what they’re saying.

They’re saying that by rights, politicians should establish as their platform of electability the degree to which they are committed to protecting the environment, both in terms of establishing immediately these totally protected areas to save what they can and to deal with the insatiable greed, urge for power and wealth by businesses. That were politicians to have their platform of electability and desirability to be elected into office by the population beyond the basis of environmental protection. That’s one way that things could change.

I say there is a lot of ignorance, maybe deliberate ignorance about the extent and rate and rapidity of destruction of our environment of animal fish wildlife habitat. I don’t know what the actual figures are, but I know it’s something like acres and acres and acres of jungle being destroyed every day, all over the world.

And they say there’s an element which I’ve read about, I know about this, of how crime is included. It’s commercial interests both legal and criminal, making it even worse and violation and violence and bribery and corruption. And I say, I am aware of this, this is what I’ve been reading about and it sounds so awful and so bleak and so depressing.

The spirits say there’s absolutely no guarantee in any way, shape or form that humanity will be protected from whatever horrible consequences there are from what humans are doing. We’re not safe and we’re making ourselves less and less safe by the day. In so many ways, but the topic for right now is this environmental destruction.

They say this is self-harm. They say in psychiatric understanding, self-harm is a pathological condition where individuals hurt themselves. And the whole of humanity is doing self-harm.

And I say what can, what can an individual do to help in any way, can an individual do anything? And the spirits say there are already numerous, numerous organizations devoted to protecting the environment and the habitats. There’s really no need for a new organization, I say.

So, all we’re supposed to do is an option trying to join these organizations as in some way being active in the organizations or is it giving once many to these organizations? Can one even trust that they’re good stewards of donations that they receive? There’s so much skepticism that even the good guys are not being good.

They say that from the shamanic point of view, asking the spirits for their protection of these areas is actually something important to do. To request, they say it should be begging at this stage, begging the spirits to intervene and help to stop this loss of habitat.

I say that they’ve spoken about greed before.

And greed, you could say, is a fundamental deviation in human psychology, and it isn’t inherent. They say the good news is greed is not inherent in human.

I say people have needs in the same way as animals have needs. And animals will fight other animals to get their needs satisfied.

They say humans have taken it even further than not only will we fight other humans to get our needs satisfied, but we will destroy what would sustain us in the long term, thinking that it satisfies our needs and that it goes beyond our actual needs. They say we fight and destroy to get what we don’t really need.

The drums have changed to call me back.

However I’m continuing on this topic. I restarted the drums just to give me a bit more time.

They say there’s a line from, I think it’s a Crosby Stills Nash and Young, that has the word in something like, “Teach your children well.” And they say that that is really of great fundamental importance to do with this topic. To teach children to venerate nature. To enjoy it and to love it.

Because these children is that also the line, “The child is father of the man.” These children grow up to be people who will be in commercial positions, important commercial positions, important government positions. And if in their hearts is a core of loving the environment, that can be a bulwark, that’s the word, a bulwark against the temptations of the urges to wealth and power.

And they say wealth and power can come in other ways. It doesn’t have to be based on destruction of our planet.

So for children to grow up with a deep, deep love of the environment can be useful years from now.

And they say between now and years time, that’s a lot of destruction that is going to occur.

Which comes back to their point about immediately putting the brakes on environmental destruction. And having those with the power to do so, to proclaim completely protected and via areas that are unable to be violated. That would be a wonderful thing if that could happen.

And they say in some parts of the world there’s been some of an aligning of protecting the environment and reaping an economic benefit for the country, for the people.

So where there’s wildlife, safaris for example, and areas are protected and people can go visit those areas. And the local population are included in some way in being protectors of the land or involved in the tourist trade. They say that’s better than nothing.

I say the issue is in places like the Amazon where there are logging interests, where there are oil interests, where there are real estate interests. The amount of commercial benefit short term that comes from destroying the environment far exceeds the commercial benefit that comes from tourism. Which is an issue.

And they say that all these organizations all over the world are set up to try and protect the habitat and the landscape and the wildlife and the waterways. They’re in this struggle.

And they know that it’s hearts and minds just as in politics where there have been challenges with wars and revolutions. A doctrine that was espoused is to win over the hearts and minds of the local population and the government. That’s a very important area.

The irony is that in these wildlife areas, in these landscapes, the Amazon, the local people are actually being pushed out. They’re not pushing their interests as much as it is outside commercial interests, pursuing their greed and urge for wealth and power.

So it’s trying to change the hearts and minds of commercial interests.

And they say that’s really where the survival of our planet lies.

And the spirits say yes to the extent that you have time and ability. Certainly see if you can get involved more and more in the inner workings of an organization to bring added energy. Energy to their work.

And yes, if you can afford it and you know the money is going to be well spent, donate money.

And yes, if you can afford to go on safari or go on ecotourism, do that.

And yes, if you’re able to do shamanic journeys and connect with the spirit world and beseech the help of the spirits, do that.

And yes, teach your children well.

And it’s teaching them to love wildlife and animals and birds and fish and insects and teaching them to love landscapes.

And where it’s possible, there’s a small element that one can do of don’t support the commercial interests that are part of ravaging the landscape.

And certainly find out about and don’t support the politicians who are supporting these rapacious commercial interests and teach your children and your grandchildren about that.

I say, don’t become a Looney Tunes.

And I say, everyone should know what that means.

Don’t become a Looney Tunes,

Don’t become a Looney Tunes.

They say, remember the environment, it’s like money in the bank for a rainy day. And if we destroy that savings account, we’re going to find ourselves just pushing this analogy penniless and impoverished.

And they say, implore the politicians that you vote for to support the environment. And implore them. They say a wonderful change could be where it absolutely becomes recognized as a fundamental cornerstone of every politician’s electability. The extent to which they are an environmental protector. That would be a very big improvement.

If presidents ran on a ticket of their promises and their dedication to securing the protection of environment and reducing more degradation by commercial interests. And that was absolutely the first thing that voters looked at when deciding who to vote for.

And they said, as a parting statement, remember that quote, and it’s unclear about who exactly it was by this base, say that it’s attributed to Gandhi, but it may well not really be something that Gandhi ever said.

But that the way of civilization can be judged is the way it treats its animals. And that, of course, implies the environment that the animals live in.

They say, let it be on the ballot. Encourage the politicians to have this as part of their ticket.

And with that, they say that’s enough for today.

And I get back onto the back of my spirit animal. And we return through Hippo Lake back to the place of stones and I find myself gently drifting back up towards the portal that I go through to return to the middle world.

And I go through into the tree and now I’m back in ordinary, everyday reality, the journey is over.

Thank you, Spirits. Thank you.

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