Nov 2-4, 2007
Many people today share a sense that we are living in hard times — and on the verge of yet harder times. Peak oil, the unfettered microwaving of the planet, extreme alterations in climate, constant war, ecological degradation, and mass extinctions seem to be leading to a breaking point. Some parts of the world have already been shattered; others may be heading in that direction.
Each of us has a relationship with the natural world, our personal lineages, and our collective history, and these connections form the basis of a vibrant understanding of who and what we are – both practically in our day-to-day lives and mythically in the stories that give meaning to our experiences.
Using both traditional and imaginative techniques like sharing in circle and creative ritual, we will convene our knowing, our feelings, and our insights about the complexities of the personal, ecological, and social dramas that we face. We will create a living clan system to enable us to experience the bonding, power, and creativity that are fundamental to our being. By speaking, listening, and learning, we will look deeply into the nature of our lives and world – and renew ourselves to face what is unfolding with mindfulness, strength, and beauty.
Chellis Glendinning is a psychologist specializing in trauma recovery. In the 1980s, during the height of the Cold War, Dr. Glendinning founded an institute of psychotherapists called Waking Up in the Nuclear Age that sought to help people address their individual responses to living with awareness of a threatened future, work more relevant than ever now. She wrote My Name Is Chellis and I’m in Recovery from Western Civilization, a book that helped to found the field of eco-psychology. Her When Technology Wounds was up for a Pulitzer Prize in 1991; Off the Map: An Expedition Deep into Empire and the Global Economy won the National Federation of Press Women Book Award in 2000; while Chiva: A Village Takes on the Global Heroin Trade captured the prize in 2006. Dr. Glendinning has also written a bilingual folk opera about immigration, De Un Lado Al Otro, that recently premiered in Santa Fe. She lives in the traditional land-based village of Chimayó, New Mexico, where she works for environmental justice and cultural preservation. We’ve been inviting her here since 1991 and are honored to welcome her first visit.