The Gaia Community College » awareness

Playing for change – Peace through music

Biophile — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 16:23:48 +0000

The folks at Playing for Change (.com) have most certainly hit upon a magical formula. This is a profound and beautiful example of heart wedded with technology with the intention of inspiring planetary community. Using music as the universal language, they are traveling the world recording familiar songs with contributing musicians from different cultures, with the result being such a powerful demonstration of unity. I get so thrilled to the core of my being whenever I encounter such a wonder, and I can only hope that activities and energies like this get spread far and wide. Raising awareness about our global community, celebrating the simple things that connect us all, nurturing sustainable joy, these are the energies that we are focused on here as our lives unfold in a planetary context. I believe that these are the very things that have the power to transcend and heal the horrors and malignancies plaguing our planet at present, and everything that can be done to share them is a form of purposeful activism. Peace be with you and yours also!

Gotta love it!! Deep gratitude is surging through me….
Eric

Telling New Stories…

Aether — Mon, 05 May 2008 02:08:28 +0000

Whatever our motive may be, the very act of telling a story about who we are, where we’ve come from, and where we’re heading creates the bonds that create community. The real question becomes, what type of community are we creating within our lives? Are we creating consciously, or have our stories become rote? Are we looking beyond the horizon, or down at our feet? Are our stories that we tell ourselves inclusive, or do they exclude others and perpetuate the “us and them” illusion? Do our stories heal, or separate?

There is a rapidly spreading awareness regarding the importance of the stories that we choose to tell each other, and just how important they are as a functional glue to our communities, locally, and the ever emerging global sustainable one. As further evidence of this conscious cultural trend in awakening, there are a growing number of groups, organizations, and consulting firms intended to help facilitate the cooperative alignment and overall integrity of our evolving communities.

One that leaps out in particular is an outfit called New Stories based in Spokane Washington, USA. Because of it’s forthright alignment with the specific role of stories and how essentially important they are in the creation of conscious community, we applaud their efforts and hope to see them regarded as a role model. Then again, in our book, anyone who aligns with and quotes from Thomas Berry is quite alright and is most definitely on the right path!

The bottom line, the clearer our vision, the more likely it will come to pass. So what are you dreaming of today?

Earth Day Every Day!

Aether — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 17:54:21 +0000

It is of course Earth Day, that annual rite of passage whereby we hope that ecological and environmental awareness grows faster than the rate of greenhouse gas emissions and the planetary rate of species going extinct at our hands. Here at The Gaia Community College, we strive for the ideal that Every Day is Earth Day, and though we are fully aware that that is something easier said than done, it is a worthy goal indeed.

Learning how to coexist in a mutually enhancing manner is the central concept and the ultimate goal of The Gaia Community College, and in many ways, will be the keystone achievement for ensuring a habitable planet for all species. Thomas Berry reminds us (warns us?) that there can be no viable human community without a viable earth community.

Along those lines, it is the things that we can do everyday that can help make a difference, from calling our legislative representatives (for those of us lucky enough to live in a representational government), to the way that we choose to clean our houses. What we purchase is increasingly a vote for earth awareness and sustainability, as the money we spend does cast a vote heard by the powers that shape market forces.

There are a growing number of books, websites, and periodicals devoted to making green choices in our daily lives, and one of the tasks at hand through The Gaia Community College website is to highlight the ones that we find most aligned and inspiring. Instead of bombarding you with a large collection of daily news items, products, publications, and event listings, it is our intention to offer only the choicest morsels for your contemplation. We all know how valuable our time is in this day and age, and the last thing we want to do is belittle any of our chosen messages with diluted tripe.

As always, please link to us, pass along the good word, let us know of worthy inclusions for these pages, and help support this project and others like it in any way you can. When all is said and done, the only thing we truly have is our belief, and your belief in us does mean a lot. Thank you.

Yours in the Dream of the Earth (thanks Thomas!),

Eric