The purpose of this website is to contribute to a larger conversation about the importance of spiritual knowing to a truly sustainable world. As a young person steeped in news of social and ecological woes, something told me that worry, blame and anger were not going to ultimately transform the world in a positive way. When I found myself in a meditation school having profound spiritual experiences–truly beyond my wildest dreams of what could be possible spiritually in this lifetime–I slowly gained a far different perspective than the one I had been operating from.
Since that time I have noted more and more books, talks and conversations that speak to the intimate link between spiritual evolution and the responsibility we have as a species to work with life on the planet, rather than against it. Thomas Berry, Eckhart Tolle, and Thich Nhat Hanh are just a few examples. Here is one of many Tolle quotes that speak to the relationship between spiritual awakening and what we call “sustainability.”
…what we are doing here is part of a profound transformation that is taking place in the collective consciousness of the planet and beyond: the awakening of consciousness from the dream of matter, form, and separation…We are breaking mind patterns that have dominated human life for eons. Mind patterns that have created unimaginable suffering on a vast scale. (The Power of Now, pg. 67.)
He goes on to say:
However you look at it, it is a quantum leap in the evolution of consciousness, as well as our only chance of survival as a race.
I originally studied psychology as I wanted to “find out why humans are destroying the planet and not noticing.” As you might suspect, a B.A. in psychology didn’t answer this question. Later, pursuing an MBA in Sustainable Enterprise through the GreenMBA program, I learned how powerful and potentially agile business is and can be in effecting positive (or negative) change: it can literally change the world overnight. But working as a sustainability consultant helping businesses to “be greener” didn’t seem to result in overnight change.
As a student of Clairvision, developing subtle body structures and metaphysical vision, as well as “deconstructing” my panic at seeing the earth fall apart at human hands, a perspective began to emerge that reveals a much, MUCH larger view on the nature of existence, and the resources available to help us shift in a positive direction. Through actually practicing The Power of Now, peace has become a baseline, rather than panic. When I’m not feeling peace–if I happen to wake up enough to notice–I know something is just not quite right, and I need to chill out before acting or I can very well expect more of the same.
Today I am a student at Pacifica Graduate Institute’s Ph.D. in Mythological Studies program, with a depth psychology focus. As it turns out, psychology–depth psychology that is–does after all have something crucial to offer in understanding this ultimately suicidal human behavior, and suggestions for alternative paths. Below is a short talk I gave at the 2012 Myth Symposium held by the Joseph Campbell Foundation, Pacifica Graduate Institute, and Opus Archives in Carpinteria, California.
Joseph Campbell, James Hillman, C.G. Jung and many other brilliant people have provided an illuminating map of human psycho-spiritual territory that is multidimensional, extremely rich, and a heck of a lot of fun. I have begun to catch glimpses of the mythology at work under the radar: mythology that drives our decisions and colors our outlook on life. To this point, a quote from Joseph Campbell in a collection of his essays titled The Mythic Dimension:
A very important exercise should be that of getting our two mythologies–that professed and that actual–together in our present. (Pg. 213)
Thank you visiting. Please contact me with questions or additional resources.