What if our religion was all living things ? If our practice was our life, if prayer, our words. What if our temple was the earth, if forests were our church, if holy water the rivers, lakes, and ocean. What if meditation was our relationships. If our teacher was life, if wisdom was self knowledge and if love was at the centre of our being ?

Christmas in England seems to have become a festival of gluttony for many people which is the exact opposite of its original meaning. Drinking too much, over eating and buying lots of stuff that many people don’t need or even want. In a previous life Christmas was never the best time of year for me  For ages I spent it with people who didn’t share the same values in life as I do. I’d watch the piles of plastic rubbish and paper amount –  children overwhelmed by the sheer amount of presents they had to open. The longer I spend on planet earth the more sceptical I become about religions. I think everyone should be free to believe what they want as long as they do no harm to any living creature. But imagine how the world would be if nature was the principle human belief ? Our oceans wouldn’t be full of toxic plastic and our forests would be largely intact. Instead of Christmas being a time of gluttony it could be a festival of nature – a chance to revel in the wonders of our beautiful planet. As Hubert Reeves said “Man is the most insane species. He worships an invisible God and destroys a visible nature. Unaware that this nature he’s destroying is this God he’s worshiping.”

This year has been the opposite – beautiful and inspiring. On Christmas day morning I spent some time cleaning plastic from a beach in Lembeh, Indonesia – the best Xmas I’ve ever had by some degree. I’ve been in Indonesia for 10 weeks now totally immersed in nature. Half my time spent in the forest and the other half exploring a pristine marine environment. I’ve met some incredible people on this journey and its been an honour to spend time with each and every one of them. The orangutan project I’ve been working  on for nearly two decades has planted 22,000 trees and the forest is actually growing in this part of Borneo. Hope for the wildlife and people who depend on this habitat.

I hope you have a peaceful, loving and inspiring festive season whatever part of our beautiful planet you are spinning around on. May it bring you as much joy as my friend below !