|
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Trebbe
Johnson's
Newsletter
October
2008
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
 Dear
Questers, Friends,
and Seekers of the
Beloved,
When you receive
this newsletter,
I'll be on the third
day of a four-day
fast/vision quest in
the Nelson Range of
Death Valley. Along
with three other
questers, I'll be
participating in the
Wilderness Guides
Council's annual
Renewal Fast, led by
vision quest guides
for vision quest
guides. My intention
for this fast is to
commit to the
journey I call
Radical Joy for Hard
Times, which I wrote
about in last
month's newsletter.
This newsletter will
be different from
any of the others
you've received. In
it I will be telling
one story, my own,
in three different
parts.
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.
|
|
RADICAL
JOY FOR HARD TIMES:
PART 1
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 In
1987, when I was
living in New York,
writing scripts and
producing
soundtracks for
multimedia
productions, I read
an article about an
Oneida Indian
engineer, David
Powless, who had
received a National
Foundation grant to
research and develop
a process for
recycling hazardous
waste from steel
mills. A few
colleagues and I
made a short video
about David, funded
by IBM and later
shown to
international IBM
employees at a
conference in Miami
Beach. (The photo at
the left was taken
at that event.) The
video explored
David's work, both
as an engineer and
as an Oneida man
dedicated to
fostering the
traditional ways of
his people. While we
were working
together, he told
this story:
When he learned that
he had received the
grant, David said,
he drove out to an
enormous mound of
steel waste and
scrambled to the
top. Triumphantly,
he declared, "I'm
going to conquer
you!" Almost
immediately,
however, he knew
that this approach
was all wrong. "I
realized that the
waste was an
orphan," he said.
"It had been lost
from the cycle of
life. My job was to
bring it back to the
cycle of life."
I never forgot this
story, which seemed
to me to offer a new
perspective on
ecological crisis: a
way of not only
dealing with, but
actually loving
parts of the earth
that were, by most
standards,
unlovable, and even
unlivable.
|
| |
RADICAL JOY FOR HARD
TIMES: PART 2
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Ten
years later, in
1997, I was guiding
a vision quest in
the Utah Canyonlands,
ancient home of the
native
cliff-dwellers, with
Bill Plotkin when I
had a vision of my
own. That morning
the questers had
come back to base
camp after their
three-day solo. We
had all spent the
day hearing the
stories of their
journeys, and in the
morning we would
hike out of the
canyon and head back
to Durango.
All that night, I
remained suspended
in a chaotic, uneasy
state of
half-sleep/half-wakefulness.
As I lay in my
sleeping bag under
the stars I kept
hearing someone
walking around me,
perhaps twenty feet
away. Surprisingly,
this constant
movement in the dark
did not worry me. I
felt only a vague
curiosity about it.
Toward dawn I became
alert enough to ask,
"Who's there?" In
that instant I had a
vision of a young
Anasazi man. He
paused, approached,
and said to me, in
effect, that my task
was to take people
to the wounded
places on the earth
and give them beauty
and compassion.
I was deeply touched
by this vision, and
for years afterwards
tried to figure out
how I might carry it
out. I led a
weeklong vigil in a
clearcut forest in
British Columbia;
worked with a small
group to make a
mandala out of trash
on a Pensacola,
Florida beach; and
presented a ceremony
at New York's Ground
Zero shortly after
September 11.
However, I found
that most people
weren't interested
in going to troubled
places; they
preferred to visit
pristine, beautiful
nature. I often
grieved that I could
not enact the task
that had been given
to me. Then, over
the past few years,
I became very
involved in writing
and teaching about
the path of the
inner lover, the
Beloved, and put the
vision of troubled
places temporarily
aside.
|
|
RADICAL JOY FOR
HARD TIMES: PART
3
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Recently,
it has become clear
to me that the time
is now right to
bring forth a new
way of facing
ecological
challenges. With
more and more people
eager to shift their
attitudes and
behavior about how
they live on the
earth, an approach
that brings people
together to find and
make beauty in
troubled places is
more important than
ever. This is
Radical Joy for Hard
Times:
Radical Joy for Hard
Times is a journey
into partnership
with a changing
planet. We embark on
this journey with
our bodies, our
hearts, and our
sense of adventure.
Gazing boldly at
places and
circumstances that
concern us, we say
Yes to engaging with
them personally.
Together we go into
troubled places not
with guilt and shame
or even the
intention to heal
them, but with the
willingness to
experience and
learn. We discern
the nobility of both
humans and the land
in even the most
disturbing of
circumstances. We
tell our stories.
Exploring how our
heart is moved, we
know with new
clarity how we will
act in ways that
only we are capable
of. We create beauty
out of waste. We act
with passion,
generosity, and a
willingness to be
amazed. We discover
joy.
Radical Joy for Hard
Times will be
journeys, retreats,
trainings, writings,
storytelling,
ceremony,
art-making, and
attitude. Starting
in October, I'll be
posting a weekly
blog. My website is
undergoing a major
makeover. Watch for
further
developments!
And if this is a
path that calls to
you, please let me
know! I am
very eager to
collaborate with
other people in new
ways. (And I am
delighted to report
that I have made
contact with David
Powless for the
first time in more
than twenty years
and in November will
be driving to the
Seneca reservation
in upstate New York
to meet with him.)
Now, however, I am
preparing for the
vision quest in the
Nelson Range
(pictured above),
which I'll be in the
midst of as you read
this. I am very
excited about
fasting with three
other guides and
having two
incredible guides,
Farion and Kent
Pearce, to support
and mirror our
journey. I am also
deeply grateful for
the support of my
husband, Andy
Gardner, who has
gone on two vision
quests himself and
who will be in base
camp with Farion and
Kent.
Every vision quest
is a complete
surprise, bringing
insights, gifts, and
challenges in
unexpected ways.
Mine will no doubt
follow this
predictably
unpredictable path!
|
BOOK AND WORKSHOP
NEWS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Here
are two
opportunities to
catch happenings you
might have missed:
You can now read my
article, "Getting to
Aha," from the
July-August issue of
Spirituality &
Health on line
in the magazine's
archives. The
article explores
what I call the
Maginal Zone, the
potent, magical
state on the margins
between the world as
we see it (or think
we see it) and our
own response.
Also, if you missed
my
Desire and the Quest
for the Beloved
workshop in
Washington, DC in
June, I'm offering
it again November 4,
5, and 6. We'll be
meeting each night,
Wednesday through
Friday, from
6:00-9:00, a
schedule designed to
be convenient to
working people.
Contact
Barbara
Bitondo-d'Arčne
at Pythagoras'
Daughter for
details.
Call 570 727 4272 or
email me if you have
questions or would
like to talk about
any of these
programs. |
|
|
|
Contact Information
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
phone: 570/727-4272
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
| Sign up for the Newsletter |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
