Compassionate Coexistence

The Compassionate Coexistence project aims to help people cultivate connection and honor earth through four main pillars to peace:

*Peaceful Connection to Self: Introducing creative practices, tools, and psychological concepts to help people cultivate peace in their minds and homes

*Peaceful Connection to Others: Spotlighting communities working to cultivate peaceful coexistence with each others and the natural world, as well as the communication and interpersonal skills and conflict resolution frameworks they use to find compromise in soul-giving ways that honor people’s dignity.

*Peaceful Coexistence with Other Sentient Beings: Every living being wants to live a life free from pain, suffering, fear, distress, and in a way that is natural for them. Every choice we make as humans — from the food we eat to nourish our bodies to the way we perceive and talk about animals — can be a choice for compassion.

*Peaceful Coexistence with the Natural World: Future generations deserve clean air, clean water, and land free from pollution and toxins. But this project also sees the natural world as having intrinsic rights — including the rights to exist in a natural state of balance and to be free from avoidable exploitation and pollution.

THE BACK STORY

My senior dog and I were hiking in the Ahtanum State Forest in eastern Washington when we heard a rustle in the nearby foliage. Through the leaves and branches, I spotted something brown. A transplant to the state, I started sorting through what wildlife it could be.

My dog, his head cocked inquisitively to the side, likely was doing the same — although his thought process may have gone more along the lines of: To chase, or not to chase?

Then the animal made a sound and, within seconds, shot 50 feet up into the tree. I realized: That’s a bear cub.

I called to my pup. He listened. We quickly exited the way we came, and once a safe distance away, I called to the cub and thanked him — and his mama — for not hurting us. I dropped to my knees and thanked the earth for the peaceful and humbling encounter.

As we walked out of the woods, I felt tears streaming down my face. I was in awe. I was very aware the bears could have harmed us, easily, but they had chosen not to. They appeared to want nothing more than to go about their lives in peace, unbothered — as did every other living thing.

The bear encounter planted a seed deep in my soul. Before I left the forest that day, I promised the earth I would do whatever I could to peacefully coexist and to advocate for humanity’s peaceful coexistence with the natural world.

As such, the cub has become the face of this project and is a perpetual reminder to me of that moment, but also of that promise I made to the Earth.

It took five years from the day of the the bears’ honoring us in the woods to the day I finally trusted my Spirit enough to leap full-time into the Compassionate Coexistence project.

In the meantime, I continued my career in the world, largely ignoring nudges from my Spirit that something wasn’t sitting well anymore with my soul and that I was “burning out.” My work had always led me to places where I witnessed corruption, suffering, poverty, inequality, and trauma. But I believed that answering Creator’s call to bring light and ease suffering also came with Divine Protection — something I refer to as my “Shield.”

Then one day, after 14 years of witnessing as a teacher and investigative reporter, and without any major catalyzing event, I found myself lying in bed, with tears streaming down my face, and I realized —  

My Shield had cracked.

All the destruction and violence I had witnessed people commit against themselves, each other, animals, and the natural world flooded in. All the pain caught up to me.

After a time of despair and groundlessness, I recognized that Spirit was asking me now for the same work but with a different focus — on solutions, the good, the light bearers, and the hope and the healing that can come with compassionate coexistence with ourselves, each other, other sentient beings, and the natural world.

I believe wholeheartedly that the natural world can help us, heal us, teach us, and show us the way — if only we can learn to listen and honor its lessons.

This project is my offered prayer for healing. Collectively, we can build a better world — a world in which all beings are free.

THE TEAM

The People: Hi, we’re Lex and Rob Silvie. Lex does the writing, researching, and interviewing of the generous light bearers who have signed on to bring their collective wisdom into this project. Rob supports Lex during spells of self-doubt and helps with everything technological when things break.

The Supervisors: Companion cats Canyon and Apple ensure Lex stays at her computer and makes progress by sitting on her lap for hours on end while she works. Dog Kody ensures Lex takes breaks to throw his ball, give him treats, and go for walks in the woods. A frequent hummingbird visitor ensures Lex never forgets the awe, wonder, humility, and beauty of the natural world.

And in loving memory of Joe Stierheim, R.I.P. 2022

Architect, philosopher, mentor, guide, teacher, champion, friend, visionary, and firm believer that a more peaceful world is possible. From one of our last conversations: “Write from your heart. Just do it. Don’t care about where it’s going. What the hell is this one-sentence paragraph crap you’ve been writing? It seems like newspaper reporting to me.”