Guest post by student from School of International Training (SIT) Bolivia program
Sitting across from Fabrizio, a member of an urban experimental community in La Paz, Bolivia—Casa de los Ningunos—I ask him what he thinks the future of the “Great Turning”, or what Joanna Macy describes as the paradigm shift needed to transform the current reality of violence and oppression, environmental destruction and human rights violations, greed and speed, and hyper-consumerism to a more peaceful, socially just, and environmentally sustainable one. A reality of imagination; of creativity; of joyfulness; of well-being; of resilience; of bliss. He pauses for a moment and takes a slow sip of dark coffee, allowing the steam from his cup to spiral around his face. I follow his gaze out of the window of the second story kitchen, across the bustling metropolis of La Paz, over the red foothills of the Cordillera Real, to the peak of the glistening, snow capped 21,121 foot Illamani. He exhales, steam rushing across the wooden table. Suddenly, he looks back at me and states, “Hay tres cosas. Hay que creer. Hay que crear. Y hay que criar o cultivar.” (“There are three things. One has to believe. One has to create. And one has to nurture, or cultivate.”)
Fabrizio continued. According to indigenous cosmovision, or way at looking at and perceiving the world, there is no one way thing to believe, neither is there just one thing to create, nor one thing to cultivate, but rather a multiplicity of diverse answers to solving one of the greatest questions of this century: how can we collaborate across linguistic, geographic, and cultural divides to create resilient and sustainable communities in the face of rampant climate change?
In the chapter “A Self Paced Planet” in New Slow City, William Powers discusses what Annie O’Shaughnessy has called “soul flares.” A “soul flare,” O’Shaughnessy writes, “is any act of kindness, creation, expression that comes from our true nature, from an undefended state of presence. Soul flares are created by people who dive deep inside themselves, beyond the layers of fear and the judgment, to find and to offer their beauty to the world—no matter how small—a smile, a song, a beautiful painting, an act of kindness. No special degree is required to make a difference in this world, no training or special gift—the world will be changed by the daily, accumulated acts of kindness and beauty.”
“Soul flares” are precisely what Fabrizio was talking about that one early morning over breakfast. Each and every one of us will need to find a cause, an idea, something to deeply and passionately believe in; the courage and the strength to create it; and finally, the tenacity and the hope to nurture, or to sustain it. Though individually these “soul flares” may not be much, collectively they will amount to catalyzing the “Great Turning.”
This morning we ask you: What is your “soul flare?”
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