Uplifting our moods.
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Mike Nickerson
Aug 22, 2021, 2:32:06 PM8/22/21
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Greetings:
In these interesting times, the following words from a Hopi Elder have strengthened my resolve and may enliven your spirits as well.
Besides the up-lift these words provide, I’ve resonated with the Hopi since I read their survival story as a young adult. We used a word from that history to identify the eight point outline of sustainability that underlies the Ecovillage project and all my writing.
The Hopi arrived in North America many thousands of years ago after a series of calamities. They had become immersed in their own human creations and lost sight of the ways of nature, much like our world today. After the natural systems disrupted, those who managed to endure resolved never to forget how they are dependent on the natural order.
From this heritage emerges Hopi Chief White Eagle’s comments on today’s global challenges:
"This moment that humanity is living through can be considered a door or a hole. The decision to fall into the hole or go through the door is yours.
If you consume information 24 hours a day, with negative energy, constantly nervous, with pessimism, you will fall into this hole.
But if you take the opportunity to look at yourself, to rethink life and death, to take care of yourself and others, you will go through the door.
Take care of your home, take care of your body. Connect with your spiritual home. When you take care of yourself, you take care of others at the same time.
Do not underestimate the spiritual dimension of this crisis. Adopt the perspective of an eagle that sees everything from above with a broader vision.
There is a social demand in this crisis, but also a spiritual demand. The two go hand in hand. Without the social dimension, we fall into fanaticism. Without the spiritual dimension, we fall into pessimism and futility.
You are prepared to go through this crisis.
Grab your toolbox and use all the tools at your disposal. Learn to resist by the example of the Indian and African peoples: we have been and continue to be exterminated.
* But we never stopped singing, dancing, lighting fires and having joy.
Don't feel guilty for feeling lucky in these difficult times. Being sad and without energy doesn't help at all.
* Resilience is resilience through joy!
You have the right to be strong and positive. You have to maintain a beautiful, cheerful and bright posture.
This has nothing to do with alienation (ignorance of the world). It is a strategy of resistance.
When we walk in the door, we have a new view of the world because we have faced our fears and difficulties.
This is what you can do now:
- Serenity in the storm,
- Keep calm, meditate daily,
- Make a habit of encountering the sacred every day.
Demonstrate resilience through art, joy, trust and love. “
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A note from LEV:
Normally I’d have a link for you with pictures of the thriving gardens, people swimming in the pond, wood-sheds full with firewood, and the new landscaping around the Pond and Summer Kitchen. Such a picture essay will come, but not till things settle down.
We’d love to invite you all to an Open House, but that isn’t in the cards either. We can, however, have occasional visitors. If you are interested in helping to mill some lumber or with other tasks at hand - please get in touch to discuss possibilities.
Best wishes as we make our way into the time ahead.
Yours, Mike & Claire
A YouTube presentation of the Hopi message can be found at:
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Much would improve:
- the economy,
- the environment and
- human relations.
If we loved what is plentiful
as much as what is scarce.
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7th Generation Initiative / Sustainability Project
Eco-Village project
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