blog (September, 2007)
Brian Swimme at River's Edge
(my notes from half the day of)
Brian Swimme at River's Edge:
Reinventing the Human as a Cosmological Being
September 15, 2007
When molten meets water...
nutrients and heat:
life!
He began with a prayer for permission and guidance:
- "They're not my ideas."
- "I participate minimally."
- "My prayer is that the muse might speak directly to you."
We're together, trying, with his help, to get a sense of where we are. All participating "in bringing news from the universe."
"I'm trying to get you to feel your roots."
(Even Einstein had trouble with the new cosmology.)
"We're individuals, but we're a mold of the universe."
Cosmic generosity; the big "Solar Giveaway": life!
Western religion/culture denigrates matter for spirit, but matter has a spiritual dimension; they are synonyms. The Universe's creativity is different from our picture of God, our holy potter.
"Our awakening is that the web of life is unraveling, and it's because our best people are [serving the pathologies led by greed and ignorance.]"
In the 20th Century we found out there's not just one galaxy, but trillions. Our job is to reinvent ourselves to fit this new model.
(me/thought) But won't new models possibly expand past that? Why not reinvent ourselves to be open to all possibilities and constant reinvention?
A Father's challenge: "You have to admit this is a possibility, and not the Truth." ~ Many of our world's problems stem from those demanding a truth's Truth.
Brian: "Our goal here is not to get the Truth, but to learn participation in a way that's mutually enhancing."
Urban Harvest Garden Tour 2007
Saturday was one of those adventure days I enjoy so much.
I bicycled to eight gardens on the Urban Harvest Garden Tour. Met good people doing good work, transforming (mostly-)urban lots into fertile vegetable gardens, to feed themselves, their families, and their communities.
Re-learning, teaching, growing.
Some (like the Barkwill/Doloff Community Garden, above,) are transformations of once abandoned lots.
The community garden maintainers I spoke with seemed less interested in expanding their own gardens than in suggesting that Clevelanders interested in doing the same:
- find an abandoned lot in their hood,
- ask their councilperson to support its reclamation, and
- get started, with help from Summer Sprout:
Summer Sprout is a collaborative effort between OSU Extension and Cleveland, through the Division of Neighborhood Services, Department of Community Development. Community gardens registered with Summer Sprout receive vegetable seeds and plant starts, soil preparation services such as plowing and rototilling, assistance in getting fire hydrant permits and equipment for watering, and garden fertilizer and leaf humus.
Growers keep their vegetables for themselves or to share. The rest of the produce goes to area hunger centers and agencies.
For details, 216-429-8246.
-- Community gardening sprouting up all the time in the Cleveland area (The Plain Dealer)
To know that Summer Sprout consists of some 170 gardens in Cleveland is inspiring. To see just a few of them and meet the people behind them, even moreso.
I've put all the photos I took in a set on Flickr: Urban Harvest Community Garden Tour 2007. The descriptions list which garden they're from, and each photo's location is geo-tagged; look for the map link.