This has been a delightful day so far.
Michael and Lisa, a father daughter team, taught us about projects they have been doing around the world bringing pollution treated water back into badly neglected and abused natural environment. We learned about various treatment plants and saw slides how they accomplished this. Very impressive !
Then we got into BIOMIMICRY,, a way of understanding how Nature has already solved our man made problems if we knew how to observe, listen and learn from ECOSYSTEMS. A few examples I remember: a gecko/ adhesion; prairies/ how to grow food; redwood forrest/ grow business; bird wings/ aeroplane transportation. ....an example of a speed train in Japan: beak of a kingfisher ! A termite mount: ventilation system in a high rise using 10 % of energy costs than before. Spiderweb silk as a resilient strong substance used medically in nerve repair....nature ecosystems informing our designs, nature as a source of ideas instead of only source of goods.
Also examples how nature can aid to create healthier materials as in Mycelium (fungi) to grow packaging.
Nature as : model, measure, and mentor.
‘WHAT WOULD NATURE DO, OR NOT DO HERE ? ‘ became the elephant in the room question.
Resource efficiency
Life friendly chemistry
Evolve to survive
Locally attuned
Integrate involvement
So the good news is that life is emergent and that from chaos emerges novelty.
How do we dance with change ?
These next ideas made my heart sing !!!!!!!
CREATIVITY is the key property to all living things.
We humans have a fundamental drive to express, our need to fulfill this creative drive can help to regenerate the ecosystems of the planet. (My aim for the Globalselfhealingvillage.com project that Harkirat, Zak and I created together this past year)
This could be CYCLICAL CREATIVITY....imitating DEEP BEAUTY in nature in its
birth - life - death cycle.
HOW CAN WE CREATE BEAUTY THAT ELEVATES ALL.....see through time to past and future.
Our teacher Lisa Shaw did a ....TedxTalk...on all of this, which you can view on YouTube, that might be worth looking at.
Then our group went out into the original garden (yes, it is still here) and explored how to mimic consciousness - the mind, the intelligence - of nature, our own and the plants’ as best as we could.
We used sensitivity games by exploring each other’s hands. Walked blindfolded through the gardens with guidance, looked at the astonishing beauty in detail all around us. Marked a square yard in which to observe plant and creatures’ interrelationships, (while I was deeply involved by looking at my little patch of nature, my nose stuck into a flower bush, a small Robbin appeared about the width of a hand away from my nose, curiously looking and joining me in the explorations).
Next we drew with pen on paper a nature being, like flower or leaf, in detail, to imagine its function and expression and give us clues, or ideas how it might inform a new innovation by cooperating with its design.
Those of you who know me also know that this is my kind of classroom !
And when Jason knocked on my door after lunch and invited me to a latte I couldn’t wait to ask him more questions about the intention of his studies.
He is trying to design new learning environments (for he is PhD thesis) that acknowledges our INHERENT KNOWING and WISDOM which is reflected in nature intelligence.....but somehow we have lost the connections to ourself and become imitation and regurgitating puppets trained in our traditional education systems (my own words).
This afternoon I played hookie in order to integrate and reflect on all this exciting learning. And just now my house mate dropped off a note from Keith, the archivist. He had told me at lunch that an older woman, Jill Denton, who lives in Forres (the next town over) is willing to meet with me. According to Keith she is one of the ‘energy keepers’ of the early times in Findhorn. I can’t wait, and am SO excited....now things are popping.!
Tonight a gathering of our group in the Earth Lodge for the full moon ceremony. You should see this place !! I will try to post photos.
my inspiration...I drew the elegant lines and created repeated waves ....which hold the seeds.... being birthed from ancient civilizations ....you would have had to be there !! More creative explorations to come....
my patch of ecosystem where I met the little Robbin
Astonishing Deep Beauty in each little detail....intelligence of nature at work...our classroom of the future.
