Worldview Key Editors Maddy Harland and William Keepin PhD the Song of the Earth a synthesis of the scientific & spiritual worldviews Permanent Publications Published by Permanent Publications Hyden House Ltd The Sustainability Centre East Meon Hampshire GU32 1HR United Kingdom Tel: 01730 823 311 Fax: 01730 823 322 Overseas: (international code +44 - 1730) Email: [email protected] Web: www.permaculture.co.uk First edition © 2012 Gaia Education & Permanent Publications Edited by Maddy Harland and William Keepin Printed in the UK by CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham, Wiltshire Printed on paper from mixed sources certified by the Forest Stewardship Council The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is a non-profit international organisation established to promote the responsible management of the world’s forests. Products carrying the FSC label are independently certified to assure consumers that they come from forests that are managed to meet the social, economic and ecological needs of present and future generations. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978 1 85623 095 7 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, rebound or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of Hyden House Limited. Contents Foreword Mark Richmond ix Introduction Maddy Harland & William Keepin xi 1 The Holistic Worldview Inner Net of the Heart: William Keepin 2 The Emerging Worldview of Oneness Towards A Biomimicry Culture Elisabet Sahtouris 18 of Cooperation A Gaian Worldview Ross Jackson 25 The Dual Origin of the Universe May East 36 Living the New Worldview: Hildur Jackson 41 Global Justice & Saving Three Billion Years of Evolution Human Being as Miniature Galaxy William Keepin 47 2 The Awakening & Transformation of Consciousness Earth as Sacred Community Thomas Berry 52 The Urgent Need for Spiritual Awakening Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo 58 Spiritual Responsibility at a Time Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee 63 of Global Crisis Living in Auroville: a Laboratory of Evolution MARTI 73 Who Am I? Why Am I Here? Hildur Jackson 81 Living the New Worldview The Great Transformation: The Opportunity David Korten 91 The Great Turning Joanna Macy 93 & Chris Johnstone The Shambhala Warrior The Venerable Dugu Choegyal Rinpoche 99 v 3 Reconnecting With Nature Ancient Prophecies and The Vision Quest Hanne Marstrand Strong 102 as a Path to Oneness The Declaration of the Sacred Earth Gathering The Wisdom Keepers 108 Riding the Paradox: A Colourful Middle Way Pracha Hutanuwatr 110 & Jane Rasbash The Bioregional Vision Gene Marshall 116 Voices of our Ancestors Dhyani Ywahoo 118 Pathways to Integration: Maddy Harland 120 Rediscovering the Song of the Earth Seeding the Round Planet Stephan Harding 127 Japanese Haiku MARTI 129 4 Health & Healing The World as a Holowave: Dieter Duhm 134 Theory of Global Healing Planetary Healing: Maddy Harland 142 A New Narrative Healing Ourselves Maddy Harland 148 The Power of Reconciliation and Forgiveness Duane Elgin 155 The Intelligent Heart Michael Stubberup 163 & Matias Ignatius Peace Circle Dialogues: Karambu Ringera 170 I Am Because You Are The Cracked Mirror Wangari Maathai 174 Maher – Rising to New Life: William Keepin 179 Interview with Lucy Kurien Health in the Global South Rashmi Mayur 185 A Healthy Lifestyle Dr Cornelia Featherstone 187 The Dream of the Children Sabine Lichtenfels 190 vi 5 Socially Engaged Spirituality InterSpirituality: Bridging the Religious William Keepin 194 and Spiritual Traditions of the World The Spiritual Imperative Satish Kumar 202 Guidelines for Socially Engaged Spirituality William Keepin 214 Silence and the Sacred: William Keepin 220 Interview with Craig Gibsone and Robin Alfred Spirituality in Damanhur Macaco Tamerice 235 A Brief Snapshot of Auroville, India MARTI 242 Plum Village: MARTI 244 A Spiritual Perspective on Community The Awakening of the World, the Village, Hildur Jackson 246 the Nation and the World: The Sarvodaya Vision for the Global Future A Hopi Elder Speaks The Elders Oraibi 254 vii The Editors Maddy Harland co-founded Permanent Publications with her husband Tim in 1990. They launched Permaculture magazine in 1992 to promote small-scale, positive, low carbon solutions. Maddy became the editor in 1994 and the magazine is now read in 77 countries by more than 100,000 people. The company has won many awards for its work, notably a Queen’s Award for Enterprise in 2008 for ‘its unfettered dedication to promoting sustainable development internationally’. Maddy also co-founded The Sustainability Centre in 1995, a former Naval base, which is now a thriving educational charity on the South Downs in Hampshire, England. Maddy is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and an accredited teacher with the International Network of Esoteric Healing. She lives on the South Downs and has two daughters. When not losing herself in her permaculture garden, her writing can be most regularly be found on www.permaculture.co.uk William Keepin, PhD, is co-founder of the Satyana Institute and founder of the Gender Reconciliation International project which leads intensive training programs in several countries for healing and reconciliation between women and men (www.GRworld.org). A mathematical physicist with thirty scientific publications on sustainable energy and global warming, he became a whistleblower in nuclear science policy (recounted in The Cultural Creatives by Ray and Anderson). He has trained extensively in spiritual traditions East and West, and has facilitated Holotropic Breathwork for 25 years (Grof Transpersonal Training). William is a Fellow of the Findhorn Foundation and adjunct faculty at Holy Names University. He leads contemplative retreats on the emerging interspirituality that bridges major world religions and science (www.pathofdivinelove.org). His previous books are Divine Duality: The Power of Reconciliation Between Women and Men (2007) and (with co-author Cynthia Brix) Women Healing Women (2009). viii Foreword Under the Patronage of The Song of the Earth is the fourth book in the series of ‘Four Keys to Sustainability’ and supports the Ecovillage Design Education (EDE) curriculum designed by Gaia Education. Gaia Education has been an active partner of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD, 2005-2014), since its launch in 2005. The first three Keys – Social, Economic and Ecological – explore the practical means by which humanity can learn to live together in sustainable, life-enhancing ways: conserving biodiversity, promoting Earth restoration and ecological balance, social harmony, global financial stability and a balance of resource consumption and wealth between the industrial and developing nations. These are explicit, tried and tested ideas, technologies and techniques that ecovillages all over the world have been successfully experimenting with for many decades. The Fourth Key, The Song of the Earth, is more implicit. It explores an emerging worldview which is shared between cultures all over the planet. It celebrates the ageless insight that humanity is part of the interconnected web of life in a dynamic planetary system. The book asks important questions such as: how does this understanding shape our thoughts and subsequent decisions and actions? How can we not only survive but prosper together whilst protecting the planet’s finite resources for future generations? How do we create a fairer, more equitable world that is capable of generating peace? These key questions are explored through the voices of many authors from all parts of the world. What is shared between all the contributions is the insight that systemic, integrated ways of thinking will naturally result in more sustainable ways of living. Once our deep interconnection with our fellow human beings, other species and our living planet is a reality, it should no longer be possible to damage the web of life. From this arises an understanding of the unity between all peoples and our dependence on our home, the Earth. This is an important step for ix x THE SONG OF THE EARTH humanity: we are no longer ‘in dominion’ but now part of a whole planetary system. As Thomas Berry, the theologian said, “We have to reinvent ourselves at a species level.” Yet there is evidence that this big step has slowly yet progressively been taken since the last century all over the world. The United Nations has been an early pioneer of this work since 1945, bringing together humanity to promote human rights and world peace. The UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development pursues this vision by seeking to integrate a fundamental education concept into all areas of education and learning: every human being should benefit from an education that provides the values, competence, knowledge and skills required to shape the future in line with the demands of sustainable development. It is therefore exciting to see a convergence of integrative thinking, and note the many practical examples of how these values already shape sustainable communities in all continents and help create active and responsible citizens ready to address global sustainability challenges and to act in an increasingly complex world. This is an insightful book that carries a message full of hope. MARK RICHMOND Director, Division of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development UNESCO Introduction Hildur Jackson originally conceived the idea of a book that would gather together the wisdom of the integral worldview from different continents. It was to be the core that held together the three-legged stool of ecological, economic and social sustainability. How we perceive the world shapes our relationships and behaviours, and to truly practice sustainability, we need to hold an integral worldview at the centre of our being. From the very onset, this book aimed to explore what this might mean, not only as a set of philosophical ideas but as a living experiment. Thus, as we collected stories, interviews, articles and ideas from all over the world, we would create a pattern of this integral worldview for others to build upon.