He made a few points about "yippies":
Instead of seeing a lack if resources or possibilties, they see what they have.
They are like a world-wide family.
They've learned how to reach out to find what they need.
They want to make the world a better place.
They care about how they show up in the world.
I don't know if it's where I should go. Every spring, there's an Initiative Forum, a week of speakers and meals full of inspiration about how to start projects and how to create.
Even if I don't go, it makes me think how I can incorporate this into my life.
Mathijs and Caleb we're discussing what a continuation of Classroom Alive would look like. They talked about how to structure a curriculum, whether it would be in one place or in many places, whether the students would travel to different teachers, whether they would stay together the whole time or only for 6-months at a time. While we hitch-hiked this morning, Mathijs and I continued talking about it. Why is it that we want to create something like this? A supportive community? To have a group who wants to see how their learning relates to their lives and the world, instead of just preparing them for the labor market? It isn't so much a commune as a shared studio space, a shared learning space, and either could be a set curriculum for a few years, with specific goals, or a student collective with continuing support for everyone in each step, and a chance to tach each other.
When we were at the Livig Wholeness Institute, Clare said to me that when she returned from her year of traveling to interview social entrepreneurs, she began to seek out people that she wanted to spend time wth. As we drove crazy-fast on windy roads, as the driver smoked weed and rolled a cigarete in his lap, answered his cell phone and listened to techno-pop-crazy music, all with a tiny puppy in a cardboard box by Mathijs' feet, (!) I thought about all the people close to me, and what brings us together. With all of them, we're interested in how we can be more free, or more of ourselves, or live passionately, despite what the world has shown us is possible. There's something in me that believes and lives for this, even though I have surface-y fears and doubts.
I think everything has led me up to this point, and I don't know what's next, but I believe in my interests of a compassionate place in the world, to learn and create and be myself. I know it's missing in my life, and if I can find a way to bring it, I believe it is a need for others.
I want to learn more from places like YIP. There's a few names, Deborah Freize, Orland Bishop, Alan Watts and Alan Webb, and Edgard Gouveah. They talk about education, or how to start new things in the world, or how to start even if you don't have enough money, or support.
I listened to a podcast with Eve Ensler yesterday. She talked about how we are so obsessed with our bodies, but never really inhabit them. She also talked about how our lives are "precious only up to a point"- and our comforts are no more important than anyone else's. I think somehow I need to expand my fears beyond my own comfort. Mathijs said we find our identity in the things we work on. What if my "art" is where I find these meanings, these answers? And if ignite myself the compassionate space to have the questions, and to try and fail, and to learn (so I can be part of the world)?
And remember, there is plenty of time.
No comments:
Post a Comment