We as a species are going through puberty. The pimples are everywhere.

For millenia, we relied upon our Mother Earth to provide for our every need. As her children, she nurtured us unconditionally, giving of her own body to help us grow.

In recent centuries, we've hit a growth spurt. The human population has exploded, creating an extractive consumer society built on ecocidal industrial technology in the process

Like a teenager rebelling against a loving parent, we are stealing from their wallet, calling them cruel names and rejecting their rules.

We demand our independence without understanding or embracing the responsibilities that come with it.

This is true on the material plane, but also on the psychological and spiritual level. It is a global crisis with deeply personal impacts and implications.

It is time for us to grow up. It is time that we complete the evolution from passive, fully-dependent children of Mother Earth to active, co-creative suitors of Lover Earth.

A child takes from the mother without concern for her capacity to give. A lover is reciprocal and intimately attuned, giving and receiving in dynamic equilibrium.

Mother-Child is a top-down relationship. Lover-Lover is horizontal, a conversation between equals, mutually invested in creating beauty, joy and freedom.

The Vision

Earth herself and we as a species are right now crossing the threshold of a massive evolutionary moment.

Socially, politically, economically — we are lost at sea.

The old systems are breaking down, obviously unviable moving forward. The new story remains unformed, like goo in the chrysalis — no longer caterpillar, not yet butterfly.

This moment requires expansive vision and grandiose ambition. If we cannot imagine a more beautiful future, one will be imagined for us, most likely by those who have no interest in eco-awakening.

I can imagine...

A world in which humans, far from being a blight upon the land, serve as collaborative, spontaneously self-organizing agents of biological renewal, creative stewards of diverse, thriving ecosystems.

A world in which humanity knows itself as a keystone species, acting as the well-regulated nervous system of the Earth, communicating vital information rapidly around the planet and distributing needed resources accordingly.

A world in which human culture, technology and industry are integrated into nature's systems, rather than imposed upon them, utilizing the wisdom of natural law to achieve never-before-seen levels of efficiency, generativity and global abundance.

A world in which each individual feels at home as a native-born Earthling, knowing they belong and have an irreplaceable role to play in the cultural and ecological renaissance.

A world in which wealth and status is measured by the courageousness of a person's generosity, that they may receive in proportion to the radicality with which they give their gifts in service of the whole.

A world in which education is designed to enliven each child's innate genius, that they may have less to unlearn later on and never lose that precious, precognitive connection to the living world with which they are born.

A world in which environmental stewardship is not an afterthought or an obligation, but the sacred center around which the wheel of life turns based on the recognition that we are an integral part of (not apart from) a living biosphere which breathes deep intelligence through every pore.

Yes, these are grandiose dreams. Abstract ambitions. Spectacular imaginings. But they represent the North Star that guides Ecotone Academy.

All the mundane activities and subtle psycho-spiritual shifts that occur as we navigate this personal and planetary ecotone contribute a minute but meaningful bit of momentum to the movement towards a more ecocentric existence for all beings on this magical planet.

And I wonder: what would you add?