Review of Ablutions of Humanity (Wednesday 13th September 2000)
Ablutions of Humanity is a meditative, eco-spiritual reflection that interweaves inner awareness with planetary consciousness, offering a deeply intuitive reading of the reciprocal relationship between human emotion and the natural world. Set on the shorelines of Manly Beach, this poem marks a turning point in the poet’s work — one where personal insight becomes inextricably linked with planetary healing, and where the act of observation gives way to a sense of cosmic responsibility.
The poem begins in a moment of personal stillness, with the poet standing beside the ocean, lost in thought:
“Yesterday, whilst standing by the ocean
On Manly Beach, absorbed in my thoughts…”
This quiet prelude immediately establishes a contemplative atmosphere. But what follows is not simply poetic reverie. The poet’s experience soon turns into a subtle experiment — a real-time observation of how her inner landscape appears to influence the ocean’s outward expression. She notes a mysterious, almost mystical correlation between her thoughts and the behaviour of the waves:
“I definitely observed
That the waves were responding to me!”
This intuitive insight becomes the foundation for the poem’s central thesis: that human thought and emotional resonance are not isolated phenomena but vibrationally entangled with the Earth’s own energetic systems. The ocean becomes both a metaphor and a literal participant — a responsive mirror to human consciousness, capable of reflecting inner turbulence or calm. Such an idea recalls indigenous cosmologies, animist beliefs, and holistic paradigms of interconnectedness, in which land, water, and sky are living beings — sentient and responsive to human intention.
At the heart of the poem lies the idea of the planet as a spiritual processor:
“For the Earth is constantly absorbing
All our fearful impulses, traumas and dramas…”
The poet articulates a metaphysical ecology in which the Earth, particularly its waters, functions like a collective emotional sponge — an energetic sink for humanity’s unresolved shadow. This idea deepens with references to “the saline oceans,” “ions and electrons,” and marine life like whales and dolphins, cast here not merely as animals but as custodians of vibrational harmony:
“With their global sonar communications
Frequency oscillations…”
These lines position marine life as participants in a planetary healing mechanism, echoing spiritual traditions and pseudoscientific beliefs that propose sound, vibration, and frequency as fundamental to universal balance. Through this, the poet elegantly fuses environmental awareness with energy healing, quantum resonance, and intuitive science — what could be called eco-energetic mysticism.
The poem’s title, Ablutions of Humanity, becomes a sacred metaphor. “Ablution” — meaning ritual washing or purification — frames the ocean not just as a geographical feature but as a global organ of spiritual cleansing. The ocean is portrayed as a healer, working in silent cooperation to harmonise the psychological and emotional waste that humans, often unconsciously, release. This concept is reminiscent of ancient purification rites, but rendered here on a planetary scale — an idea that draws from both esoteric traditions and postmodern ecological spirituality.
A particularly compelling strength of the poem is how it traces the link between the metaphysical and the material. Emotional disconnection is not only a spiritual issue but, as the poet suggests, manifests tangibly in ecological disturbance:
“The more negativity we put out
The more we perceive as disease
Or natural disasters…”
This culminates in the invocation of cause and effect, Hoʻoponopono, and the Butterfly Effect, drawing together Hawaiian spiritual philosophy, chaos theory, and karmic law. These frameworks are employed not as abstract concepts but as living systems of understanding — ways to interpret the world’s volatility not as randomness, but as response.
Stylistically, the poem flows with the rhythm of waves — undulating between personal confession, scientific reference, and metaphysical declaration. The language remains accessible, yet rich with meaning, mirroring the very dynamic it describes: the movement from inner thought to outer reflection. It also continues the poet’s practice of extended free verse as a vessel for consciousness-stream writing — capturing ideas in motion rather than locking them into rigid stanzas.
The final stanza anchors the message with clarity and urgency:
“Our very real and tangible contributions
Towards these occurrences
Which are merely reflections
Of our own spiritual disconnection…”
In these lines, the poet doesn’t merely lament environmental degradation but calls for spiritual reconnection — not just with the Earth, but with one’s own emotions, choices, and relationships. The poem thus becomes a ritual of remembrance, reconnecting the personal with the planetary.
Conclusion
Ablutions of Humanity is a luminous meditation on the entanglement of inner and outer worlds. Merging poetic intuition with spiritual ecology, the poem asserts that healing the Earth begins with healing the self — and that the waves we see in the ocean may well begin with ripples in the heart. Through its quiet observations and cosmic implications, the poem invites us to live more consciously, to see nature not as backdrop but as mirror, and to understand that our emotional weather may well shape the climate of the world.
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