Observation is the Key
The deepest possibility to learn lies at the center of the heart, the place inside oneself that would come forward and live into the moment unconditionally. This is not an easy task. Our mind wishes to talk us out of this all the while. All throughout history the relationship between teacher and student has been the most important relationship on this earth. Without teachers a student cannot truly learn. The teacher mirrors us, calls us to task, breaks down walls of lethargy and fear. The teacher takes us beyond our small selves and helps us to answer the calling of our hearts. Without a teacher we may learn this and that, we may devise ways to do, but the reality is that without the proper training and reflection we continue to mastermind illusion upon illusion and eventually the house caves in, the structure cannot support its own weight, the foundation cracks and tumbles.
The mastery of the teacher, any teacher, is the prerequisite of teaching anyone. This, naturally, requires a lot of personal work. Grace may descend on the chosen few, but one may well realize that grace does not descend if the soil hasn’t been properly prepared or if the fruit is rotting on the vine. But is this, as aspiring teachers, beyond our reach? Who teaches? Many people aspire to become teachers. Some want to work with elementary school students and some want to become college physics professors. Some train trainers in corporate settings and some find themselves in the position of teaching simply out of circumstance. In fact, we are all teachers at some point in our lives, whether it is working with our children or helping a friend fix her car, inviting others over our house to walk in the garden, or leading a Permaculture course in some remote area of Africa. We all teach and we are all students. Although the principles of whole learning were developed with educators and teachers in mind, people from all walks of life may draw considerable benefit from their message, and act as a springboard toward another’s personal awareness.
We are always learning. We are always teaching. Even as we sleep dreams come and reveal another small corner of a personal universe to us. Whenever we come into contact with the “other” (and we do this in every breathing moment) there is a synthesis and relationship, taking place. Change happens. Each moment is different. In each moment we learn if we are observant. Learning is built into us. It is universal. If change is always present learning is always present. The obstacle that lies between our ability to “see” the change or to live into our learning is well worth defining. There is nothing more important than coming into this kind of awareness. We have a choice here: we can resist or humble ourselves. We can fight or merge. But we need help. We need to be educated. The teacher is the most important being for us in this quest.
We are a spiritually impoverished society. We are caught in a never-ending repetition of hankering after money, goods, prestige and power. Yet we disempower our children and students by not recognizing that the whole, balanced human being is the healthier, and therefore, the most productive and creative human being, from a personal as well as a social standpoint. The major problem is that through our scientific perspective of specialization, the electronic media deluge and our capitalist values, we are driving our ecosystems to catastrophic ruin. In the realm of Permaculture, care of earth, care of people, and benevolent distribution of yields are paramount. Where would we be as a culture if we were to pay heed to these essential ideas?
We are subject to outbreaks of seemingly unstoppable violence, rape, child molestation, cruelty and unwarranted suffering and pain. Our racial prejudices, gender prejudices and ego separation are so built-in that to change our attitudes will take something of a major revolution. We are in a state of denial that will push us over the edge. Take a look around- I mean, really, take a look around. Take a look inside the mind and heart. Observe closely. Where are we really? Is this a problem worth solving? Are there solutions? The only way for us to stop the deluge is through an intense re-education of society at large. This can only be accomplished at a local level, where small groups take instruction, where lives mingle and merge in a manageable scale, where lines of communication are kept, as a healthy ecosystem. Instruction is the key to get us deeper into ourselves, to take a solid look at where we’ve been, where we are in the present and where we could be headed.
Our students must be able to disseminate to others the truth that lives in the very core of their souls and help others to answer important questions about life and death. This may lead us to a clearer picture of the importance of human unity and respect for the diversity that arises out of unity in all its glorious colors, sounds, and countless textural shades of brilliance. The awareness of the natural world and its care and protection would take on real meaning. The spiritual, emotional, mental and physical aspects of our being would become balanced, one with the other, fraught with juice of life and learning and love. As a result of this the whole person would receive the nurturing touch of the artist as teacher, the teacher as artist. Both students and teachers would blossom and spread the beauty of their inner vision and understanding abroad, always remembering that all creatures are divinely created and inspired and the human birth is blessing to be cherished. Human life is a living, breathing, loving jewel simply waiting to be beveled into a work of art. Where is the teacher that can shape the jewel?
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