This past weekend, as I attended the training to become a facilitator for the Pachamama Alliance “Awakening the Dreamer” Symposium, I was profoundly moved. I am still processing all that I felt, heard, and participated in. In community with twelve other individuals, we shared the essence of the symposium and prepared for the profound honor and awesome responsibility of spreading the messages contained within it.
I experienced many emotions as we explored the three-fold mission of the Awakening the Dreamer Symposium: to bring forth an environmentally sustainable, spiritually fulfilling and socially just human presence on Planet Earth. Today, as I try to put into words all that the symposium means to me, the words “justice” and “reverence” stand out. For me, Pachamama Alliance and the Awakening the Dreamer symposium are about connecting to a desire for justice in our world and a reverence for all life.
Additionally, the words “knowing” and “awakening” resonate with me as I write this. When I first heard about the Awakening the Dreamer symposium, I intuitively knew I had to attend. At the conclusion of the symposium, I intuitively knew I had to become a facilitator. Today, after becoming a facilitator, I know that I want to–and must–share with others the messages of this incredible alliance through the symposiums and beyond. It is in awakening that we can all find ways to act–in life-affirming, just, and reverent ways–honoring ourselves and each other, bringing holistic wellness to Mother Earth and all her inhabitants.
The problems in our world are enormous, yet the potential solutions are endless! It is in EACH thought and EACH step taken by EACH one of us–one person at a time–that amazing change happens–change that will carry us beyond the crises of our times. And it is through EACH of us awakening to our universal connection with all others, including our dear planet, that a new dream will continue to emerge. A new dream, a new vision, a new way of life that honors our connection to Source, to each other, and to Mother Earth. A new dream rooted in love. A new dream rooted in reverence for All Life.
As Barry Lopez expressed on Bill Moyers’ final “Journal” episode, “We’re so afraid. There’s so much to be afraid of. I mean, look at the government we have at the moment, I mean, there’s so many places you can go, that make you think, ‘What in the world are we doing? And how can it be brought to heal?’ But we– I believe that there is a way for people to communicate with each other that they have never known before. It’s never, I mean, part of this electronic world we live in, you know? It’s got its darkness as well as its light. But for people all over the world, in small groups, to be in touch with each other about what is welling up in every country, among every group of people, which is a desire for justice.
“You know, there– I’m trying to remember the story. I don’t remember the philosopher, the Greek philosopher who told the story of Zeus and Prometheus. Which really stuck when I first heard it, is that Zeus said to Prometheus, ‘Okay, you stole fire. Great for you. Now your people have technology. Wonderful. But here’s something you don’t know. You lack two things. And if you don’t take these two things that I will give you, this will be a failure. Technology, you know, fire, all your magic, it will fail completely. It will be your undoing. And the two things that you need to make it work are justice and reverence. And if you have these two things, you won’t get in trouble with this third thing that you thought was the be all and the end all.’ Technology.
“What brought me fully to life as a child was the natural world. So, when I came to New York and immersed myself in, you know, the- in high culture, I didn’t lose what I was given as a child. But the way I understood what I wanted to write about was using these metaphors of landscapes that I traveled in. And, you know, that’s what I do. But I’m not writing about nature. I’m writing about humanity. And if I have a subject, it is justice. And the rediscovery of the manifold way in which our lives can be shaped by the recovery of a sense of reverence for life.”
May the words of Barry Lopez resonate with each of us and make us awaken to that sense of justice and reverence.
May the video that follows also stir in each of us the notion of endless possibilities and the desire to become part of a new dream! Namaste.
