Another Tomorrow
November 8, 2016.
A midway update of the project leading me across some foundational studies in Somatic Psychotherapy, Permaculture Design and community. Sponsored by the CBK Rotterdam fund.
[ 6 min ]
Portugal
In the spring I went to Tamera, one of the world’s most radical societal experiments and functional healing biotopes in the world, located in central Portugal. Through various deeply touching (and triggering) physical and the psychological experiences that took place on the 335-achre Terra Nova, I connected to an holistic (perhaps privileged) vision of what Peace on Earth could be like and realized a pragmatic way forwards. The animated upgrades which I've been given have revealed practical tools and angles to engage in an Evolution of Being - a path that that actively involves the social, the political, the sexual, the ecological, technical and spiritual. And the best thing is, I'm not alone in the process. On the contrary, the learning that Tamera permeates is based in a communal and collaborative vision of humanity. Their all-over holistic approach to being involves with the world at macro, meso and micro level at the same time, as they envision the Personal to be Political and vice versa.
"As Above So Below is not just a New-Age Mantra." I wrote on my Facebook just yesterday - in response to the overwhelming US elections, which above all things is tearing apart our communities, the social cohesion and the trust in the way forwards. This kind of democracy and economy is an insult to what our ancestors have tried to create for us today. It is an insult to our human and cosmic potential. But this update isn't about voicing the tragedy of how we are giving away our power to representatives: this is about empowering ourselves and form rings of brothers and sisters that hold a force stronger than violence.
May it be heard in the middle of these devoted scribblings that I maintain a critical stance towards the workings of the research facility that I have visited in May. I have previously called Tamera a 'Human Empathy Farm' as I found my inner suspicion and mistrust of the place to be enough validation for my premature judgements. What I believe today is that this place holds infinite power not because of being the perfect answer for everyone, but because of their active engagement in realizing and registering an holistic alternative way of life that isn't blind to how things are today. It continues to blow my mind whenever I realize that I can go back there as much as I want... let alone the gazillion other communities and intentional spaces that have been sprawling over our planet in the last 30-50 years, if not always. The 'alternative' ways of life that has been mystified and ridiculed in various areas of our ('normal') dysfunctional society is actually more real and vital than I could have ever dreamt of... evading the white male gaze, it has been hiding in the undercrofts of the common historic renderings of our dynamic planet Earth.
Guatemala
To bring all this empowering work Down to Earth some more I’ll be off to Guatemala this November to acquaint myself with Natural Building Skills and to get certified in (spiritually oriented) Permaculture Design at the Mesoamerican Permaculture Institute. A school and organic farm at the mystical Lago Atitlan in Central America. Each day at the course will bring a new hands-on technique and a class/lecture on topics including natural foundation systems, framing structures with a focus on bamboo and timber framing, wall systems, cob and adobe benches and ovens, earthen floors, and clay and lime-based plasters including Moroccan lime tadelakt.
From Natural Building the course will flow into the field of Permaculture, Mayan Cosmology and Natural Design for Climate Change. As a special focus is given to indigenous and ancestral knowledge and its relation to natural cycles, I will be connecting with native Mayan communities and learn about traditional techniques of seed saving, food production, and indigenous design. Next to getting to know the intricate and epic world of Permaculture, that even without mayan know-how is staggeringly important as it comes to fabricating a New Earth for us to thrive on. Especially in today's world, were one is basically a Contra-Monsanto Bayer Activist by something as rudimentary as GARDENING!
This is so deeply Epic, I’m losing my bio-organic shit… Just imagine what it can bring about if we all start to carry this knowledge of a natural sustainable sacred life around the world to set up Artistic Holistic Sacred Food Parks: It’s Real-Deal Paradise Reboot. I’m telling ya it’s real. It's about aiming for endless paths across the globe that are like endless walkways of trees and bush abundant in fruits and veggies that we can pluck and eat and share with each other as we migrate on the entire globe without passports. It's about human-beings embedded in abundances and never-ending body and soul nutrition. Be it in terms of food, in terms of space, ease, tranquility, collaborative working practices and the capacity to develop our LOVE into something more luminous than what we know about it today. An evolution of Love; exactly how Mother Earth has wished it for all of us.
With Love,
Your Peace Journalist
- The last series of blogposts on this blog are sponsored by an O&O grant project from CBK Rotterdam; Greenhouse of Trust, Setting Limits Yields Abundance, What You See Is What You Get, The Personal is Political, Another Tomorrow, The Frontline is Us and S.O.S - Save Our Seeds.
Thank you
O&O, CBK Rotterdam