Earth, Spirit, Action is an experiential deep ecology workshop which helps us dissolve the illusion of our disconnection from the living Earth. This spiritual blight of separation plagues modern humanity and is the underlying root of the ecological crisis or our times, the engine of the 6th extinction spasm currently unfolding around us. Using processes synchronous with those used by all tribal peoples throughout time (whose consciousness remains embedded in Earth, continuous with Earth), we empower ourselves for action. With psychological tools granted by our furred and feathered and finned relations, we learn to hear Earth call to us. In community with our fellows, we sharpen our compassion and insight and craft our answer to Her call.
In this workshop we respond to Arne Naess (Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, Oslo University who coined the term deep ecology) who urged that ecological ideas are not enough, we need ecological identity, ecological self. How is this to be brought about? Naess says that It is a question of community therapy, healing our relations to a widest community, that of all living beings.
In this gathering, through interactive exercises, guided meditations, despairwork and work with body and breath, we practice letting go of the culturally-conditioned, competitive, isolated self and come home to our interexistence with all forms of life. We allow ourselves, through group visualisations, to re-experience our four-and-a-half billion year evolutionary journey as an integral part of our living planet. In this way, we are able to shed our solely human identification and feel deep empathy for the myriad species and landscapes of the Earth.
This gathering also provides tools for practicing deep ecology in our daily lives. As many participants in this work have discovered, nurturing our larger identity clarifies, dignifies and heals our personal conflicts. We see that the pain of the Earth is our own pain and the fate of the Earth is our own fate. Nurturing ecological identity empowers us to act on behalf of the Earth and gives us clarity and direction for this work.
Cost: $125 with partial work exchange negotiable for students and others. All profits go to international rainforest preservation!
Contact Information: E-mail Larry Buell or call (978) 724-3428
Registration: Download a registration form (pdf). Fees may be paid by cash, money order, check, or credit card (online using PayPal linked at the bottom of this page). A $50 deposit is required at the time of registration with the balance due within 10 days of the program.
Additional Info: View Earth, Spirit, Action Flyer
John Seed is an internationally known rainforest activist who founded the Rainforest Information Centre in Australia. Since 1979 he has been involved in the direct actions which have resulted in the protection of the rainforests worldwide. He has written and lectured extensively on deep ecology and has been conducting Councils of All Beings and other re-Earth ing workshops all over the world. With Joanna Macy, Pat Fleming and Professor Arne Naess, he wrote "Thinking Like a Mountain - Towards a Council of All Beings" (New Society Publishers) which has now been translated into 10 languages. He is an accomplished bard and songwriter and since 1981 has produced 5 albums of environmental songs. John is a Fellow of the Findhorn Foundation and occasional Scholar-in-Residence at the Esalen Institute.
Earthlands
39 Glasheen Road, Petersham, MA 01366
Tel. (978) 724-3428 Fax (978) 724-3530
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