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Gaian Rants | ||||||||||
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Caring for the Earth and the Next Generation by Linda Marks | ||||||||||
Living in our society is becoming unbearable for many of us. We are confused because we know that we are supposed to be the greatest society ever conceived, and yet we see around us signs that things are not going well . . . We are told by the people in power not to worry . . . We are told that with enough power we can be in control of everything . . . We have been lied to. - from www.Sacredlands.org | ||||||||||
As environmental and cultural challenges grow each day, the need for visionary leadership to remedy these difficulties also grows. I find it particularly inspiring to find members of the next generation emerging as leaders, working towards positive evolutionary progress. Fueled by a desire to make a difference, these young leaders are creating vehicles that facilitate personal and cultural healing and change. Two visionary twentysomethings are Luke Entrup, 25 and Amy Hughes, 26. Luke is the founder of Beyond the Machine, a weekend experiential training and gathering for young people, ages 18 to 35. Beyond the Machine is centered around taking a look at our culture and what’s working and what’s not working. The first gathering was in May 2002, and close to 100 adventurers have gone through the program so far. “We have a 2-to-1 staff ratio, so there have been nearly 250 people who have experienced Beyond the Machine in different roles.” One role is being the mentor or elder. It is amazing the transformation that occurs in the mentor or elder role. Luke continues, “There are few opportunities to be mentors or elders in this culture so when someone is asked to step into that role of carrier of wisdom and experience, they can step into their essence and rediscover their life force.” Luke recognizes the interrelationship between healing the Earth and healing our own souls. Beyond the Machine invites its “adventurers” to take steps towards both kinds of healing. “The design is to meet each adventurer where they are rather than leading anyone to any political viewpointregarding the culture. We invite each adventurer to ask questions for themselves about what is and isn’t working in the culture. We hold up societal projections for them to examine and we hold up a mirror to the projections. “We do a version of shadow work that is more eco-based, using as context the Gaian principle that we are all part of one organism, the Earth. We serve only organic meals. We teach people about the difference between organic and conventionally grown food. We teach ‘leave no trace’ at our gatherings. We do some education around what it means to be eco-friendly. When we give our subselves voices, we are also giving voice to parts of the Earth. “The heart of our work is providing an opportunity for each individual to look within and see how in line they are with their idea of spirit. It’s a tribe of young people doing soul work, seeking questions about spirit with the support of mentors and elders. Each adventurer has the opportunity to explore ‘what does it mean to be me living the life I am living?’” While Luke feels a strong sense of mission, he has trouble with the common use of the word mission, because of its focus on doing. “My mission includes a lot of beingness,” reflects Luke. “ There’s a Tibetan Buddhist practice of Tonglen which involves taking in the darkness, the discomfort and the poison, and transforming it through a heart of compassion into openness, light and release. It’s like being an alchemist of compassion and consciousness. “We have the ability to make the choice to be a vessel. It takes vigilance not to fall back asleep,” reflects Luke. “Our culture creates zombies to a degree. To be a vessel, I need to be awake myself to remind others to wake up and stay up. So we have a mirror to remind ourselves what it means to be awake, especially as Americans with all the power we hold right now.” Amy is part of the founding circle of www.Sacredlands.org, an organization founded to educate people both through programs and living example, about a more sustainable way of life. Their website offers information, and face to face gatherings allow for community interaction and discussions. “We can’t live without the planet. It would be absurd to think we can be exempt from the laws of nature. But that’s exactly what our culture is trying to do,” comments Amy. “I was recently forwarded an article that the Shell corporation is soliciting writing samples on the question ‘Do we need nature?’ They are offering a $20K prize to the winner of this contest. This is an insane question to ask! We are an embedded part of the natural world. Our denial of this has caused so much damage to the planet. “Sacredlands is a very macro project. Many people focus on individual issues such as the salmon who cannot swim upstream because of human made dams, nuclear power plants, and forests which need to be protected. Sacredlands is about changing people’’s minds, not just changing what they are doing. We are working to bring more consciousness to what people are doing. Most people are not aware that in North America we are consuming 95% of the resources produced in the world, and we have 5% of the world’s population. “The vast majority of people are simply not aware of the damage we are doing, culturally speaking. We are distracted by the pleasant things we are doing in life and our privilege. The mark I can make on the world is to make people aware of the damage humans are doing to the world and to convince people to care. In times past, society’s rebels thought more. The rebels of our generation are the ones who think less. Noboúdres about truth now. It used to be that forbidden knowledge was banned ... Now you don’t have to ban the knowledge. People don’t seek it because they are distracted.” The process of making people aware and convincing them to care is a slow one. “We have discussion groups where we actively encourage people to think outside the prescribed lines. We invite people to consider possibilities that aren’t comfortable. It takes the support of a group of people that say ‘you aren’t crazy,’ ‘you aren’t the first ones to think of this,’ and ‘here are some resources.’ Like confronting the Shell essay concept, giving people not only the resources where to go for more information, but also giving them the thinking tools to have more effective opinions.” Amy finds it amazing how edited the news we get is. “For example, a piece of a part of what could be linked to a nuclear weapons program that was buried under a rose bush for 12 years in Iraq behind a scientist’s house made headlines all over the world. The message was, ‘We found it! Weapons of mass destruction!’ In contrast, the fact that this amazing solar wing, which was an experimental solar-only powered device—a major concept in how we might get around, was only a footnote in a Yahoo side page that I just happened to look at.” STEPS WE CAN TAKE TO CARE FOR THE EARTH I asked both Luke and Amy for suggestions on how we each can take positive steps to care for the earth. Here are some of their thoughts. 1. Examine where we are getting our information and how much thinking we are doing for ourselves. Amy notes, “We need to be conscious of how much we are doing our own thinking versus accepting what someoneY else might have to say. If we are taking someone else’s ideas, we need to ask what their motivations are. In the case of the mainstream media, it is the profit motive. 2. Unplug from the culture. Luke encourages us to unplug from the technology culture, just for a moment, and take off our shoes and walk on the Earth. “It’s a wonderful first step, and for some, that is all that’s necessary to be more eco- friendly.” Life in the mainstream culture breeds a fast-paced, myopic, disconnected experience that is often remedied by even a brief experience of connection with the Earth. We need to slow down and re-experience our connection with the Earth. 3. Take the Earth into our hearts. Luke recognizes that we miss many golden opportunities to see how beautiful the Earth, the living organism is. “I fall in love with the Earth, and realize I am not separate from it. For me, it means slowing down, sometimes taking the hand of someone else and pointing out the beauty, finding silence.” If we can take the Earth into our hearts, we can offer this experience to others around us. 4. Become more conscious of the choices we make in our everyday lives. Amy suggests that as we go about our daily activities, we think about what our actions mean. “The choices we make should reflect how we view the world and how we want to effect the world. You can pursue a lifestyle that is in line with what you really believe.” 5. Recognize the fundamental interconnection between the Earth and our inner experience. As the Earth heals, I heal. As the Earth transforms, I transform. For more information: | ||||||||||
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