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(Author studying plant) Oftentimes we are stuck in a
mentality of pointing the fingers outside of ourselves in blame. To see how this works, point your finger at
the screen and say "It's your fault everything is a mess." Now, look at your hand. Is it any accident that Nature has designed
your hand to where you inadvertently have 3 fingers pointed back at yourself?
My wife just shared a dream
with me. Her daughter Jessica had come
home from college and she and Jess had gone to the church where she used to be
in the youth choir. They were sitting in
the pews and Jessica was making some ruckus.
When the youth choir came in to sing, Jessica joined them and became
over dramatic in her singing. She was
basically showing off. To top it off,
she went out front and said "ta-da."
The choir director was very
angry and said "you owe an apology to the congregation and especially to the
two lead choristers." Jessica then
replied "they were laughing, they loved my performance". The choir director became angry and went to
get a switch to beat Jessica with, to punish her. Somebody in the congregation then questioned
this action. Somebody then said it was
in the rules of the church to spare the rod you spoil the child.
My wife then stood up and
said, "Isn't anybody going to stop? It's
abusive, it's absurd." Nobody was going
to come to Jessica's defense. Merry then
said, "This is crazy, we're out of here."
She then grabbed Jessica and went out.
Once outside, Merry said to
Jess, "What was that all about?"
Jessica broke down crying and
said her best friend in choir had gone away to college and committed suicide.
Merry then said "it's a
reason to grieve and be angry but not an excuse for your behavior. But, your behavior was not as bad as the
choir mistress, the Priest, or the congregation."
What the dream implies is
that all the characters in the dream are responsible for what had
happened. In like fashion, we are all responsible
for the state of the world. It's not the
republicans, it's not the democrats, it's not the corporation".it's all of
us. What Merry did in the dream was to
say "no" to the pattern of all the characters.
It is in this same spot that
we all find ourselves today. We all need
to take responsibility for the environment, for the economy, and for the horrid
educational system that we have. Yes,
one can say that our standardized educational system is horrid for our
kids. So, I would say to you, "so, build
a new one."
It's the same with the
environment. We can blame the oil
companies, and we can blame industry.
Yet, we continue to buy cars and keep ourselves in jobs that pollute the
environment. So, what would happen if we
stopped working for and supporting the corporations and changed our lifestyle? In other words, what would happen if we
changed by taking responsibility for ourselves?
This is exactly what the sustainability
movement is doing. Through Transition
Town, Permaculture, and other groups such as Time Banks, where the focus is on helping
people and communities become self-sufficient.
Through these movements, we are taking responsibility and are working
towards a world in which we no longer depend upon the Priests, Preachers,
Politicians and Corporate Heads to rule us.
We take charge of our lives.
There are also people out
there who are helping to empower us by teaching us old skills. One of those persons is John Favreau who is the
co-founder of Long Branch School and Store in Bowdoinham, ME. John used to own a movie theater in
Brunswick, ME, where he would often show movies to educate people regarding
what was happening in the world. Being a
highly aware man, he decided to sell the movie theater and begin the Long
Branch School. The school helps people
to learn blacksmithing, weaving, looming, mending, kayaking, preserving food as
well as classes teaching people how to set up their own businesses.
In essence, John is teaching
people to take charge of their lives. By
doing so, he is reducing their dependence on the government-corporate
complex.
If you'd like to hear John
speak to his school, visit my wife's interview with him at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/envision-this/2012/07/26/learning-old-time-skills-for-new-times . You can also visit the website of the school
at http://longbranchschool.com
