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Trebbe Johnson's Newsletter
June 2009
Heading Out Into the World
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Dear Questers, Friends, and Seekers of the Beloved,
I'm writing this on a plane to Singapore that 's now winging east between Bucharest and Belgrade. Below me stretch fields cultivated in long, narrow rectangles of brown, taupe, and green. Before long we'll head out over the Black Sea, whose blue expanse, according to myth, Jason and his Argonauts crossed en route from Greece to Colchis, where they sought the Golden Fleece. History, myth, geography, and wonder merge from this perspective. From Singapore I fly to Bali, where I'll be leading Bali From Within, a journey with a small group to explore the island's spirit, art, and culture with local people.
This newsletter is going to be short, both because of the restrictions of trying to create it on the fly (as it were) and because my life has been much taken up lately with two events that involve shepherding a young entity (one person, one organization) on the first steps into a larger world. I am deeply honored to be part of both of them.
To those who are receiving this newsletter for the first time... welcome! Here you'll find news of upcoming Vision Arrow events, reflections, profiles of extraordinary people, and stories of transformation that occur when we accept, in small, bold, startling ways the invitations that the world is always sending us.
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RADICAL JOY FOR HARD TIMES BAND OF DIRECTORS
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 Radical Joy for Hard Times, the new non-profit organization devoted to reconciling people and the wounded places on Earth that they have loved and lost, had its first official board of directors meeting in the little village of Cazenovia, NY May 19-22. (Actually, we have decided to call ourselves a Band of Directors, rather than the more planklike "board.") Although we had met several times on conference calls, we finally came together for our first face-to-face meeting. The Band members are Eugene Hughes, London, England; Rachel Light, Binghamton, NY; Dick Rehberg, Windsor, NY; Joanna Burgess, Apex, NC; Christi Strickland, Boulder, CO; Jim Hunt, Richardson, TX; Farion Pearce, Ventura, CA; Noah Crowe, Ojai, CA; and founder Trebbe Johnson, Thompson, PA.
For three days we worked to define ourselves as an organization, design our programs, create an image for ourselves, discuss the logistics and practicalities of running an office, and begin planning a strategy for fundraising. We worked not just through conversation and left-brain thinking, although there was plenty of that, but also through regular talking staff councils, making a group painting, and, most important of all, holding what we are currently calling a Radical Sitting: an event that is a cross between a Happening, a ceremony, a meditation, and a new kind of environmental activism. At a Radical Sitting we spend time at a wounded place to bear witness, tell our stories, and find and make beauty there.
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RADICAL SITTING
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 The place we chose for our Radical Sitting was suggested by Deb Kenn, a friend of Trebbe's and of vision questing and the natural world, who lives in Cazenovia. It was Cazenovia Lake, which defines one boundary of this picturesque village. Over the years, run-off from fertilizer and other chemicals from farms and homes has caused eutrophication, a process in which the chemistry of the water changes, the quality of oxygen in the water declines , and weed plants begin to grow prolifically. At Cazenovia Lake a plant called milfoil has staked its claim. This persistent plant, which has long, fuzzy tendrils, gets in the way of swimmers, boaters, and water skiers, so the town has been pouring chemicals into the lake to keep it "pure" for those who seek it out for recreation. Hence, one poison is being dealt with through the use of another poison.
At the lake, we reviewed some guidelines for how to be open and present to the natural world and how to be both immersed in and at the same time tracking the dialogue that occurs when we pay attention to what nature presents to us and our own response to it. For an hour each of us sat alone by the lake. Then we came together to tell our stories.
"The lake absorbs whatever is put into it--and it is still Lake."
"I met a mother and her little boy. The mother said, 'We came to see Nemo, but he's not here. He must have eaten and gone away.'"
"I saw no fish, no sign of life in the lake. Even two swallows that started flying across turned around and headed back. When those children across the way dove in and started playing in the water, it seemed like such a welcome sign of life."
"I thought of the healing power of water. In my work as a wound care nurse, I've started bathing my patients not in enzymes, which is the regular practice, but just in warm water. It is so healing."
"I felt like the lake wanted to be touched."
"The deep wound of the lake reminds me of my own deep sorrow these days."
"I wanted to dive in. I'm not used to just sitting by water!"
"There is very little wildness here."
Every Radical Joy for Hard Times event ends with some Act of Beauty that the participants will give to the Earth. This is an act created of and for the place by the people who have sat there, and it is simple and able to be enacted by everyone present.
What, we asked, did this lake need from us?
And we quickly and mutually agreed that it needed (or we needed to give it) some life and levity. We made our way to a low wall, where we took off our socks and shoes. Then, shouting jubilantly, we splashed and kicked our feet or hands in the water.
It felt, said one person, as if we were tickling the lake.
Radical Joy for Hard Times is currently applying for non-profit status, so we can receive tax-deductible contributions. We expect this process to be completed in the next six months. Meanwhile, we are setting up an office; creating a website, symbol, and promotional materials; and fine-tuning ourselves. We welcome your ideas and suggestions.
And we are truly looking forward to working with you--with a wide variety of people in many professions and many communities, that we can all discover new, creative, personal ways to become reconciled with places that have been wounded. Our goal is that no place on Earth be orphaned from the cycle of life.
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MEET KETURAH THORPE
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In my newsletter of April 2009 I mentioned that I have been working with a young woman, age 15, named Keturah Thorpe in the Coming of Age program of my Unitarian-Universalist Congregation of Binghamton, NY. In this program, young people work with a mentor to define what they believe in. I was overjoyed to have been mentor to Keturah.
For the ceremony, she wore an original outfit of her own making: a checkered skirt with pink tulle underskirt, pink and black stockings, a top hat, and a pair of pink tulle wings--suitable, I thought, as a symbol of her flight into the adult world and her bold assurance of who she is and what she believes. However, as I said in my introduction to her, "Do not mistake Keturah's originality for mere eccentricity. She is a truly independent thinker, artist, and explorer."
Keturah presented a statement of belief, or credo, that resonated with her sense of beauty, love of nature, spiritual search, and strong sense of justice. She spoke fiercely of her anger about the nonsensical discrimination against gay marriage. She affirmed that for her "god" is a spirit that lives in all things, including the one flower that just happens to catch your attention as you pass it by. She said that she talks to this universal spirit in a conversational way, often when she is lying on her roof, and that she receives her answers through signs such as a breeze blowing across her face. A deep seeker, Keturah tries to learn life's lessons from all that happens to her, from the difficulties she encounters as well as the good times.
When I was about Keturah's age I decided that I did not want to have children, and that is a decision I have never regretted. However, in the past year I have begun to discover that there are many important ways that "elders" and "youngers" can be in relationship to each other, can learn from and inspire one another. One friend remarked recently that she had assumed that young people simply were not interested in the perspectives of older people. Young people no doubt assume the same things about older ones. And in very many cases, it's not only not true, but there are vast treasures to discover by exploring the connections.
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BOOK AND WORKSHOP NEWS
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 I'm sure I will never get over the thrill of receiving a letter from someone who tells me that my book, The World Is a Waiting Lover, has answered a need in their life that they did not even know they had until they read it. Often these are people who have fallen into a tumultuous and impossible love. They know that they're being called to respond to this heart-opening in a way that will revolutionize their relationship with the world around them and the one that beckons them forth, yet they just don't want to let go of the hope that the real life Escort to the Beloved is the true answer to their heart's yearning. I have recently received letters from people in Maine and in Israel. If you've ever longed to explore the relationship between sacred longing, eroticism, and your place in the world, here's your gateway...
UPCOMING PROGRAMS
June 19-21: Radical Joy for Hard Times
World Healing Institute
Cobb Island Station, Cape Charles, VA
Join us as we explore how to revive wounded places through love, curiosity, community, and creativity rather than fear and guilt. Lecture on Friday night. Workshop Saturday and Sunday. Includes a visit to the bay .
June 26-28: The Path to the Beloved
London, England
£225
Personally and globally we stand at a turning-point, facing unprecedented ecologic, economic, and social challenges. How will you respond? Will you play it safe or risk embracing an even more radiant, wild, beautiful part of your self? THE PATH TO THE BELOVED is an approach to joyful transformation and soulful action that emboldens you, allures you, and points you in the direction that's already calling from deep within you but that you've been to "busy" to pursue.
For more information contact Trebbe.
To register contact Eugene Hughes
July 4-11: Radical Joy for Hard Times: A Retreat for Parents
At the Base of Mt. Antero, near Salida, CO
With Rob Meltzer and Trebbe Johnson
Rob Meltzer's acclaimed Northlight Family Services in Colorado offers wilderness trips for youth in crisis. But the families of these young people have struggled as well: with fear, grief, and anger. This retreat, held in both a clearcut forest further devastated by beetles and a healthy Alpine forest, will help parents find serenity, perspective, and even joy for what they've been through.
303.650.2944
July 16-26: Deep Desert Overlook
Louden Kiracofe's and my last quest together in Utah. Please join us. You will gasp with awe when you first see our base camp, and the vision quest solo will give you a path to explore all the days of your life.
August 3-7: Endless Mountains Vision Quest
Our thirteenth annual vision quest in a beautiful, secluded nature preserve just one mile from Trebbe's home. We focus on expanding the ways you can tune in to what allures you in nature to gain wisdom and insight about your inner journey and how to find that intersection of what Frederick Buechner called "your great joy and the world's great hunger."
January 2-23, 2010: Sahara Camel Caravan and Vision Quest
Southern Algeria and northern Niger
If you're interested in the Sahara camel caravan and vision quest, it would be a good idea to sign up now. We take a maximum of 12 people, and we already have six paid registrations. For a registration form, contact me.
For a complete list of 2009 programs offered by Vision Arrow, see our website.
Call 570 727 4272 or email Trebbe if you have questions or would like to talk about any of these programs.
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