Exchange
Give Out To The World What You Seek to Attract To Yourself.
All photos, unless otherwise noted, are by Don Pierce
Key Assertions: We live in an interconnected universe wherein all the improvements we make in our private inner worlds improve the outer world for everyone.+Be the change you seek, heal yourself so you can heal others, and give forth what you seek to attract.z+You cannot attract fellow sojourners that are confident, generous, nonjudgmental, and kind while you are non-confident, selfish, judgmental, and mean.+One person operating at a higher level of energy counterbalances many people operating at lower levels.+ You are charged with not only interpreting the World’s Dreams but also to take action on behalf of the World’s Dreams.
All of these inner world ponderings and suggestions are vital to the quest of eartHearts to improve the outer world environment and spread happiness. It is impossible to separate our selves from the universe except in our Ego-diminished thoughts. We live in an interconnected universe. All the improvements we make in our private inner worlds improve the outer world for everyone.
So be the change you seek, heal yourself so you can heal others, and give forth what you seek to attract. You cannot attract fellow sojourners that are confident, generous, nonjudgmental, and kind while you are non-confident, selfish, judgmental, and mean.
One needs to raise one’s energy to be more in line with the higher energy of the Source of humaNature. One person operating at a higher level of energy counterbalances many people operating at lower levels. I do not suggest that these higher-level people ought to draw attention to themselves because of their “specialness,” nor are the leaders of the Heartwood Path looking to attract those willing to spend themselves for the cause of protecting humaNature. When we recruit eartHearts, we are not looking for immature people willing to die or harm themselves for a cause. We do, however, seek to help mature people live humbly for a cause while still taking time to perceive inner and outer beauty. We are not looking for so-called “free-riders”––a term explained the next in activity.
HumaNatureConnect Activity
Determining How You Arrive At Happiness
For this activity, determine if your happiness comes from altruism, from being a follower, or from being a so-called “free rider.” We need to work to move many more people into the altruism camp. “And time is of the essence: to avoid crossing critical thresholds of environmental change, a transition toward a more sustainable mode of development . . . (will have to) be carried out between now and 2050,” writes earth scientist Eric Lambin. For this shift to happen, most people will have to become altruistic.
Anyone who knows me well will tell you that I am a “free-rider” when it comes to popcorn and snow cone consumption, being perfectly content to eat more than a fair share of the fare at the fair no matter how unfair it is that I do not grow the corn or freeze the ice myself. I am a conditioned follower when it comes to prison rights. As evidence, I say prisoners ought to be treated fairly but do nothing when I hear they are not. When it comes to environmental rights, since I choose to eat grains rather than cows, since I choose to buy locally grown rather than foods from exotic places, and since I choose foods packaged to reduce environmental costs rather than foods packaged to sell more in the markets, you could say I’m an altruist. I’d tell you more about my altruism but I’m too selfish. I will say this: I know I don’t have sun syndrome (the notion that everything under the sun revolves around me). And I’m not like a urologist who only thinks about number one. When it comes to sharing my movie popcorn, however, I guess I’m a little like a shrimp––a little shellfish.
Which do you consider yourself:
An altruist who is ready to change your “mode of consumption for ethical reasons and for the principle of responsibility vis a vis nature and future generations.”
A follower or conditioned cooperator who will “follow the movement established by the majority and by opinion makers.”
A free-rider who uses “up more than their fair share of resources and assume less than their share of the associated costs. (Lambin, 2012, pp.
With this waypoint in mind, sleep and dream. In the next dream tending activity, imagine that the Dream Character or Dreamscape is a touchstone that connects you to your essential tendencies and instinctual wisdom. Determine if there is any way you will act differently now that you have connected to this image. How has, if at all, your tuning into the World Dream or your personal dream with Indigenous Images changed your relationship to the environment, pyour community, to your dreams, and to yourself? Since one’s own dreams arise from the World’s Dream, one can “perhaps glimpse what the world itself desires. Knowing this, we can then act in the world, on behalf of the world” (Aizenstat, 2009, p. 172). You will know you are witnessing the World’s Dream when you ask “Who is visiting now?” and “What is going on here?” and when the answers come from creatures and inanimate beings. Now your job expands. You are charged with not only interpreting the World’s Dreams but also with taking action on behalf of the World’s Dreams. “When we directly confront what the World’s Dream is telling us, we respond from the strength and resources found in our dreaming body-mind . . . (It) is imperative that we declare our responsibility to one another, as well as to the World’s Dream that unites and informs us all” (Aizenstat, 2009, p. 176). Work to determine what your dreams are pushing you to do. As you witness or recall the dream, work to determine what restoration, acknowledgment, or action your Dreamscape seeks. Also, in your journal, write down how the suffering in the world affects your mental and emotional health, if at all. Make a list of the things that you can do to respond to any of the calls to action embedded in your World Dreams.
After you are through with today’s Dream Tending, look to your inner work and the outer world for signs that you are suffering from stress. At the slightest sign of anxiety, go outside and immerse yourself in nature. It will act as a sort of visual valium. But, unlike Valium pills, there will not be unwanted side-effects. Instead, you will experience a more positive mental outlook. Pretty nature pictures such as those found in nature documentaries or in this website will have a similar effect, but to a lesser degree (Selhub & Logan, 2012, p. 16).
Nocturnal Pilgrimage
With this waypoint in mind, sleep and dream. In the next dream tending activity, imagine that the Dream Character or Dreamscape is a touchstone that connects you to your essential tendencies and instinctual wisdom.
