Shalom Continued

 

Shalom is a Hebrew word meaning peace, harmony, wholeness, completeness, prosperity, welfare and tranquility and can be used idiomatically to mean both hello and goodbye.


Although shalom is most heavily used as a greeting/departing message of peace, its definition also encompasses a meaning of harmony and prosperity. In relation to the environment, I find a connection between this location and placement with others along with their surrounding ecosphere. The existing binary between humans and nonhumans construes the “place” in which humans fall amongst nature. Are we to domineer, co-inhabit, or remain in wilderness? In searching for a belonging amongst community membership, shalom reminds us that we also have a place with nature. In my interpretation, humans' place in nature has thus far been one rooted in selfishness. Based on my rudimentary understanding of religion, selfishness has no place in the eyes of god. Shalom acts as a reminder that we are all evolved from the same planet, the same environment that shaped the trees, birds, fish around us. Shalom is a humbling reminder of what we could have evolved to, just one slight mutation in DNA could’ve set the entire world as we know it on a different path. According to my light research, shalom is “a permanent agreement”, a condition for peace. In order to establish a balanced relationship amongst the human and nonhuman realms, humanity must promote permanent peace with the ecosystem that supports our mortal livelihood. 


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