The very final week of my very last quarter.
Reflections, Graditudes, and Learnings:
The relationship that we have with the Earth and its creatures is, in my opinion, the biggest reflection of the quality of the relationships we have with other humans and ourselves. In order to create a world where there is peace and bliss, an end to the suffering of all beings, we need to repair our relationship with the mother who holds us all. Throughout this quarter I worked intimately with her children, watched the green poke through the ground, watched the flowers bloom and the weeds grow taller as the days grew warmer and the rains fell softer. I set out to understand more deeply the healing that is held there, the ways to see it more clearly, and the reasons behind our cultures blindness to it.
In order to explore these things, I examined biodynamics, traditional ecological knowledge, and science and the epistemological assumptions that form the foundations of each. This trail led me through the teachings of Robin Wall Kimmerer, Rudolf Steiner and his contemporaries, Johnathan Code, the knowledge of my peers and faculty, and my own inner knowing of the things that resonate and harmonize most clearly within my own being.
I came away from this quarter with a deep sense of accomplishment and pride at the work I completed in the garden. I feel happy knowing I have hopefully created a space where both plants and people can thrive and learn. Despite the amount of labor that was involved in weeding, it allowed me to watch all of spring unfold. It gave me a space to be and a task to complete that was outside of myself and felt larger than me. In a time where it feels like things are more unknown than they have ever been, it gave me a space to ground into and connect, not only with the Earth but with my peers and faculty in a meaningful way.
I am really, truly so grateful for the opportunities I had this quarter to learn and grow. I am grateful for all the wonderful people who helped me this quarter. I am grateful for the Earth and the herbs and the dirt and the rain and the sun. I am grateful for all the challenges that presented themselves this quarter, for the wisdom they impart. I am grateful to have made it to the end in one piece. I am grateful for the stories shared and the vulnerability and tenderness of being seen and heard and of listening and hearing. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
