These fairy stories are the gestalt of both our basest desires and our highest aspirations. They are actually the same story. The universal story. The archetypal story. They speak with a thousand voices about the human journey.

We die unto those who have gone before us. Our task is to leave as unobstructed a path as we are able. Our task is to be an ancestor worthy of having come from.

Baba is well known in the Russian and Slavic fairytales where she is a paradoxical figure. The hero or maid who approaches Her at the edge of the tangled dark forest, best be prepared. Wits, not intellect is required. Not egoic purpose. We must be prepared to be seen, exposed, and maybe for the first time in our life, known.

Do we need to realign our economic and social attitudes toward sustainability? Absolutely! But I am not so arrogant as to believe that humans can control the climate, save the Earth, or virtue signal our way to atonement.

A memory on social media reminds me of what I had almost forgotten. To slow down. To notice. To appreciate.