I was discovering that in order to create a reality and a path based on these principles one needed the same discipline and rules that creation lived by naturally. One of the most important points for me was patience. It takes time to grow and change, and growth can be measured by looking at the development of my relationship with myself and with others.
That was when I realized that there is no freedom without actual results—and those results bring about my own personal transformation and growth. In pursuing wisdom, in looking for a Path to wholeness, I discovered that the Way itself was not the question, nor the answer. In religion, the one leads to the All leads to the One. In science the atom leads to the Universe leads to the no-thing-ness. As the Japanese poet Basho writes, “Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home.” Every day of my life I must recognize the question and the answer of who I Am, being at home and one with myself, while being in relationship and in oneness with all those around me.
As I got older I had another invaluable insight that helped me understand my own individual pursuit of wisdom toward the greatest wisdom of being good. My connection with God, although a strong base and stable support, was not enough. True creativity on the path towards goodness did not happen alone, but in union with another, and then in community. I prayed, “God, let me understand how to have right relations with all beings.” With this I was led to the study of Earth Literacy.
In nature I saw in practice the value of diversity, cooperation, mutual respect and long-term commitment. I experienced unconditional love, patience and forgiveness. It was obvious that these were values that humankind has a hard time remembering, and wisdom that our connection with everything around us could teach us. “Creation waits in eager longing for the sons of God to be revealed.” (Romans 8:19) Earth offers us her gifts and we are only now beginning to realize that we have squandered them.
It dawned on me then that the path toward wisdom I was on was not my own, but one the whole human community was following. Some of us have achieved freedom from want, hunger, and the elements, but has it led to goodness and responsibility? Our innovations have led to advancements in technology, medicine and industry, but many of these efforts have not been made in a disciplined way—they have not taken into account the principles by which the rest of creation has lived and thrived. This we see in the results around us.
My efforts were not for me alone, but ones that had to be made in concert with the rest of humankind. As my own understanding of community grew, so did my desire for like-minded individuals who also believed in the goodness and the need at this time towards responsible living. Having this support was necessary if the impact was to be felt worldwide.
However, I did not want to become part of another social movement, protesting this or that. For a long time in my life, I felt that in order to change I had to fight. I had to fight against the pattern of society around me in which I did not fit. I fought against my parents and my church because I didn’t fit in their pattern either. Trying desperately to fit in to a society that had different beliefs and values than I did because I wanted, I needed to belong, I fought against myself as well.
What I found in nature was peace, as I felt the interconnection of each unique piece, none more valuable or powerful than the other, each fitting into the cosmic scheme, each being themselves, offering themselves for the greater good of the other, and adapting and evolving to find their place in the universe. This reflected the difference between domination, resistance or oppression, and creativity.
At this point I recognize that creatively for people to become themselves there must be cultural development and understanding that leads us back to our relationship with Mother Earth and Father Sky, with all uniquely valuable beings in this physical realm from the smallest bacteria to the largest galaxy, and with the myriad beings in the spiritual or other-dimensional worlds that also wait in eager longing for humankind’s next step in the pursuit of wisdom. It was at this time in my life, then, that I was led to study at Wisdom University.
It is in our culture that we hold our beliefs and morals, our thought patterns and our fears. Our culture is what gives us our symbols and our stories, from being chained in a cave to finding our way into the light on the mountaintop. It also produces the consequences that we see around us, many of which are the result of the fear that holds us back from achieving greatness. This greatness, as I see it, being a product of wisdom, is in the creativity of wholeness, when people realize that problems are larger than themselves, and begin finding the answers in community. Paul Ray aptly labels these pioneers the Cultural Creatives, and it is within this interconnectiveness that I am in the process of discovering my unique contribution.
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