|
Trebbe Johnson's Newsletter
November 2009
Getting Bigger and Smaller
|
|
Dear Questers, Friends, and Seekers of the Beloved,
There is a passage in Kazantzakis's book, Zorba the Greek, where Zorba, says: "Either the world will have to get smaller or I shall have to get bigger. Otherwise I'm done for!"
In many ways, the big, wide world is getting smaller. Bill McKibben, who organized the 350 International Day of Climate Action (see below), has said that without the internet, the immense task of organizing, planning, and promoting the worldwide activist event would not have been possible. Considering bigness in another sense, however, the tacit conviction that bigger is better, that any business has to grow, that owning the latest model of a thing is cool... is the silent and dangerous perpetrator of much of the behavior that is damaging our planet.
We humans must meet both of Zorba's alternatives. We need to find new ways to get bigger ourselves while seeking beneficial ways to make the world smaller. This issue of the newsletter explores some variations on the theme.
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.
|
|
GET DOWN TO 350!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 On October 24, Radical Joy for Hard Times chose to take part in 350: The International Day of Climate Action in a very direct way. We went to the source of the problem, a coal-fired power plant.
Nine people braved heavy rain to gather in front of AES Westover in Johnson City, NY, a major supplier of electricity in our area. Our message to them and to coal-fired plants around the world: We demand a planet where 350 parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is the absolute maximum!
350 was organized by Bill McKibben, environmental activist and author of The End of Nature and other books. The number represents the parts per million of carbon dioxide that climate scientists have determined to be the maximum level for a healthy environment. Current levels are at 389 ppm, and the number is rising about two ppm each year. Networking globally over the internet, McKibben urged people to gather together to demand that policy makers take drastic steps to bring carbon levels down to 350 ppm.
What we had in mind with our Radical Joy for Hard Times event was to go to the primary source of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere worldwide: a coal-fired power plant. Our intention was not to blame or protest, but simply to give people the opportunity for a personal encounter with the source of their electricity, a behemoth in their own backyard.
As with all Radical Joy for Hard Times events, known as Earth Exchanges, everyonehad some time to sit, stand, or walk alone, absorbing their impressions of the huge facility and noting their own responses to it. Here are a few comments shared afterward as we sat in a circle under a bridge across the street, out of the rain and with cars streaming overhead:
"While I was standing here looking at the power plant, I was struck by how, from this perspective, the maple tree towers over the smokestacks. It affirmed for me that nature will prevail."
"Until recently I didn't pay that much attention to global warming. Now I feel I've lost my innocence. Part of me wants to go back to that innocence, climb that tree like a little kid and pretend everything is all right. But I know I can't do that."
"I'm a nurse. I take care of people with deep wounds. I feel I'm now being called to take care of the wounds of the Earth as well."
If you look at the photos of the events on the 350.org website, they are amazing, inspiring. Yet I can't help but wonder how many people who posed with their 350 signs in picturesque places really understood the gravity of that number they were displaying? How many participated because it was a fun thing to do... and then resumed life as usual? And, finally, will world leaders pay any attention at all to this international plea, or will they bow, as usual, to the insistence of the corporate giants that getting bigger is more important than surviving?
|
|
|
GROWING UNCONVENTIONALLY
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The new non-profit organization that I founded this spring, Radical Joy for Hard Times, is determined to be an organization that "grows" in unconventional ways. We offer our Earth Exchanges to communities free of charge, and we are committed to valuing the inherent worth of both people and places. Our board president, Christi Strickland, crafted a set of guidelines for how we operate. It includes these commitments:
*We seek to act from a place of deep listening to ourselves, each other, and the Earth. This includes regular council practice within the operation of the organization.
*We pledge to not to turn away from the wounded places in ourselves, one another, and the Earth.
*We endeavor to bring careful listening and beauty to these wounded places as we encounter them, knowing that beauty includes our authentic response and may not always "look pretty." In this process, we seek artistry.
(To read the entire set of guidelines, email me and I'll send you a copy.)
And we are looking for unconventional ways to "grow"! At this time we have begun a search for an Executive Assistant. Here's our ad:
CREATIVE RISK-TAKING ENVIRONMENTALLY CONCERNED EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT WANTED. Radical Joy for Hard Times is an embryonic not-for-profit [(501(c)(3)] venture dedicated to heightening environmental awareness and strengthening emotional and spiritual bonds with nature through contemplative visits to injured places of the Earth. We are seeking an Executive Assistant (20+ hr. a week). Initial tasks include creating computer data bases and spreadsheet accounts, marketing, contract management, cultivating current and potential sponsors, grant and contract management, inter alia. Significant percentage of tasks may be achieved via telecommuting. Risk taking required because full-time equivalent compensation ($30-$45K) may not be forthcoming for first 3-6 months. (If you're also good at fund-raising, you may get your salary sooner!) Intrigued? Learn more about our organization by visiting our website and contact founder and executive director Trebbe Johnson for more information.
Please get in touch with me if you are interested or if you can think of someone else who would be perfect for the job. You will be helping to forge the environmentalism of the future.
|
|
JOB REQUIREMENTS FOR A SUPERWOMAN
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When Zora Colakovic was twelve years old, she decided that when she grew up she would be a superhero. In the back of a notebook, she made a list of the things she figured she'd need to master to achieve her goal: flying helicopters, parachuting, riding camels and elephants, throwing knives, shooting guns, martial arts, bomb diffusion, evasive driving, wilderness survival, speaking Russian, shooting bazookas, and learning metaphysics, among other skills.
Zora's story, produced by Kelly McEvers and featured on the public radio program This American Life, was first aired in March 2006. (You can download it; it's one of the best of all episodes of this unfailingly wonderful program.) As McEvers explains, from the time Zora was five she'd had recurring dreams about what she believed was a futuristic version of herself, a woman with long silver hair and a voice that was almost robotic in its musical quality. She could fly, leap high, walk through walls, and fight any man or monster. So when twelve-year-old Zora made her list, she was, in a sense, only setting her sights on the archetype her own unconscious had already created.
Zora worked fast. She sped through school so she could devote her free time to mastering superhero skills and graduated high school at 15, college at 17. She got a PhD in international relations at age 21. (To find out what happened and how this regimen affected her professionally and personally listen to the program.) What is so compelling about the program and about her story is how unwavering she was in her conviction that she really could turn herself into the person of her dreams.
How tempting it is to imagine that we might, systematically and with diligence, train ourselves out of our present human condition into a far, far better state. The Romanian philosopher Mircea Eliade wrote that the most fundamental of human desires is the wish to transcend our lowly condition. We seek to fulfill this yearning through religion, fasting, drugs and alcohol, healers, psychics, sex, and countless other methods culturally sanctioned and culturally reviled. I have watched dear friends devote their lives to transcending illness. Another dear friend, who claims contempt for all things spiritual, regularly transcends through his paintings. I myself am a tireless seeker of transcendence. I wouldn't lead rites of passage programs if I didn't see over and over again how profoundly and lastingly people can shift from one consciousness to another as a result of exploring what I call the Maginal Zone, the place where inner and outer perceptions meet and interweave.
In the end, though, trying to transcend by turning yourself into a superhero is a quest for self. You want to be bigger than anyone else. Seeking to transcend through connection to god, art, humanity, or the earth, on the other hand, aimed at becoming bigger than ourselves. whole at the same time shifting the reality of that whole for the better. Yet I think that the whole range of this longing has its germinating impulse in that desire to transcend, to rise up from what is lowly, degrading, and miserable and to know joy, purpose, and connection. Who among us doesn't seek that?
|
COUNTING UP WITH THE WORLD CLOCK
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thanks to Daniel Dancer for sending me the World Clock, a continually self-updating page of statistics that reflect growth and loss in the world in hard, cold numbers. How many people have died, are dying right now? How much money is being spent on the military? How many people are being born? (Twelve, in the time is took me to write that sentence.) How many barrels of oil are being pumped?
|
BOOK AND WORKSHOP NEWS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My book, The World Is a Waiting Lover, with a foreword by Thomas Moore, author of Care of the Soul, is available from Amazon.com or from your favorite bookstore.
See my article, "Without Heart You Have Nothing" in the current Parabola. It's about the ancient paths that the nomadic Tuareg use to move through the Sahara and the inner path of Ashek, Tasaidert, and Ull that guides their ethical lives.
UPCOMING PROGRAMS
On November 30, I leave for Melbourne, Australia to attend the Parliament of World Religions, whose theme this year is the environment. (I am REALLY excited about this, and I thank Parabola Magazine for the writing assignment, a generous gift from a dear friend, and United Airlines frequent flyer miles for making it possible!) Until then, I am home, working on my new book and helping to create Radical Joy for Hard Times. My website manager, Kurt Dean, is currently updating the Vision Arrow website.
Stay tuned.
And please do write to me. I love hearing from people, and I have a really good memory for those I meet and for your stories! So surprise me... comment on something in the newsletter... tell me about what you're up to these days.
Winter dates to come!
Upside of the Downturn
Our fourth round table session, to explore your relationship with money, has ended. It was a great success. The next session will take place in February-not in December 2009 as originally scheduled. Details to come.
January 2-23, 2010
Sahara Camel Caravan and Vision Quest
Southern Algeria
The caravan is full.
March 9-21, 2010
Bali From Within
Next year our one-of-a-kind trip to Bali is timed so we can participate in the three-day Balinese new year, Nyepi. Nyepi begins with everyone in the village chasing huge papier maché monsters out of town, continues with a day of reflection, and ends with an evening of mingling with friends and eating on the street. The trip, as usual, also includes visits with Balinese artists, a gamelan musician, village priest; hikes in the forest; a blessing ceremony at the sacred spring Tirta Empul, and many other events visitors rarely have a chance to engage in up close.
For a complete list of 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.
|
|
|
