Elisabet Sahtouris is an internationally known evolution biologist and futurist. With a post-doctoral degree at the American Museum of Natural History, she taught at MIT and the University of Massachusetts, contributed to the NOVA-Horizon TV series, is a fellow of the World Business Academy with an honorary Chair in Living Economies, and an advisor to Ethical Markets. She convened international symposia on Foundations of Science in Hokkaido and Kuala Lumpur. She is the author of EarthDance: Living Systems in Evolution, A Walk Through Time and Gaia’s Dance: The Story of Earth & Us. Elisabet is also a Fellow of the Findhorn Foundation.
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Questions for ongoing reflection and dialogue
The following questions for reflection are designed to support you in integrating the content of the sessivon and to enliven your learning journey and process of self-discovery between now and our next session. In session 3, you will have a chance to share your insights, and, of course, you are also encouraged to share your ‘ah-ha’ moments and questions in our ‘Living the New Story’ Facebook Group between now and then.
What is your experience of navigating the perfect storm of crises in your own life?
Several. What comes up is the turbulent times at the 2 elementary schools where I taught. I found one or 2 slogans in the Lojong Mind Training specifically designed to turn crisis into opportunity. I would have to dig into painful old material to recall what they were.
What are some examples of how you have you transformed crises into opportunities?
1963 to 1966-Dropped out of Stanford
I transformed it into an opportunity by slipping into the psychedelic counterculture of 1960s San Francisco and using my skill as a drummer to experience that phenomenon as a performing rock musician in a series of bands. A historic opportunity.
1971-Difficult leavings from Farm both times
I transformed it into an opportunity by hitchhiking to a warmer climate, borrowing money to fly to California, sleeping on friends’ couches, and getting a job through a customer of my parents’ store. I got an apartment and settled into years of training with a major zen master and a great therapist, which gave me my life.
1976-Forced to resign from Hathaway
I transformed it into an opportunity by spending the next three months just writing my Antioch portfolio. This gave me a fully accredited college degree 14 years after I started, and a deep, clear, stable view of the changes I went through on that journey, as a platform for an open ended future.
I transformed it into an opportunity by going to computer school and doing months of intensive trainings with Landmark Education, which gave me the technical, organizational, people skills, and chutzpah to start my own software consulting business. I didn’t make a lot of money but it was a great experience, and it turned out to be a major strand in successfully running my own library for nine years.
1998-New Abbot fires me from giving private interviews, finally ending a 26 year quest for institutional authorization as a Zen teacher.
I transformed it into an opportunity by launching a focused inquiry, parts of which are captured in the page called Unpacking my attachment to the myth of dharma transmission.
1999-Turbulent transfer out of Plasencia
I transformed it into an opportunity by getting a job at West Vernon and starting fresh with the experience I had accumulated.
2000-Administrative and legal battles after Juan Diaz incident at West Vernon
I transformed it into an opportunity by looking into being a high school English teacher, finding out about the Library Media Teacher role, starting the credential program at CSULB, and getting hired at DMHS, where I spent a truly delightful nine years.
2000-Told to leave ZCLA
I transformed it into an opportunity by my wife and I finally buying our own home and freeing myself from what had become a disempowering community for my development.
2007-Ousted as Chapter Chair
I transformed it into an opportunity by letting go and generously supporting my successor with no trace of bitterness or retaliation , an ongoing exemplar of generous maturity for the school community.
2010-Pressured (unsuccessfully) to leave DMHS
I transformed it into an opportunity by asking my union friend for help, writing an accommodation plan under the federal disabilities act that protected my job, and having a glorious final year that was a love fest from that point forward.
2011-Retired but can’t talk, walk, dance, or drum
I transformed it into an opportunity by diving into a writing project combining multiple overlapping previous projects, learning to develop a complex web site, and taking a series of online courses converging on developing a positive vision for earth’s future.
What does your past reveal about the possibilities for your future?
Since for the previous question I went through all those times of transforming crises into opportunities, I imagine in the future I will be able to continue. Which would be wonderful because with the precarious nature of my health it’s reasonable to assume I haven’t finished with crises to transform.
How can you seek guidance in your life by studying Nature’s ways? What is Nature revealing to you?
Two points stood out for me in Elisabet’s presentation: cooperation and the power of the internet to promote human cooperation. Studying nature’s ways is telling me I should join with like minded people to do what we can for the Earth. And because of my physical limItations the only way I can really do that is online. It’s really healthy for me to have ongoing contact with more people and we have more leverage as a group.
Why have you come to the planet at this particular point in humanity’s evolution?
To help break the underlying frame of the structure of consciousness that produced the juggernaut extractive economy that is destroying the planet, by using powerful subversive tools that became widely available during my lifetime: psychedelics, rock music, Buddhism and the internet.
How do you see the power of story operating in your own life?
Ever since 1976 when I wrote the Antioch portfolio I’ve been consciously, literally, writing my own story. I was strongly influenced by Ken Kesey who famously said “Always stay in your own movie”.
Are you happy with the story your life is telling so far?
So far Yes. Very rich and diverse, with a lot of mystery about motivation, pattern, how it hangs together.
Which stories are creative and which are destructive?
The only destructive thing I can think of is the judgemental voice that makes nasty (silent internal) comments about caregivers as they do things that, if I could talk, I would just ask them nicely to do it differently. Also, thinking I’m smarter than other people isn’t helpful.
Are there elements of a new story beginning to emerge?
What’s emerging is a breakdown of the wall between my inner development and my concern for the biosphere. I’m eagerly anticipating it’s total dissolution.
How have you experienced competition, cooperation and collaboration in your life to-date?
I’m always trying to change competitive situations into cooperative or collaborative ones. All my life I’ve felt the balance is skewed way too much toward competition. I am nourished and enriched by cooperation and collaboration.
How are you consciously evolving within yourself?
I’ve been trying to bring together my inner and outer passions. About an hour ago the barrier between my inner work and ecological interest fell away. I realized my answer to the question I’ve been asking for years on my Active Hope blog, “What is the shift of consciousness necessary to reverse the destruction of the biosphere?” The shift I’ve been trying to identify is one I experienced for about the last 5 years of the over 40 years I was doing formal zen practice. All I can say for now is the delusory and destructive consensus reality of the dominant culture becomes less compelling as you make a simple, full-bodied, direct connection with a living world unencumbered by artificial conceptual boundaries. It’s much easier to envision ‘the more beautiful world our hearts know is possnible’.
And what can the mature aspect of your Self contribute to the collective healing of the planet?
My physical condition restricts my mobility, so my chosen venue is online collaboration. As I more firmly establish the voice of non-separation and explore the realm of interbeing, I can consciously do my small part to contribute to the collective healing of the planet.
What support could you call upon to evolve even further?
I can be upfront about needing support from the other online participants for consolidating my newly found access to interbeing.
Helping birth a thriving life planetary consciousness