What is cultural repair?

What is cultural repair?

What does it really mean? I think it is important we each explore for ourselves what it means to us, but here is my stab….

So much personal development work in the modern context leans towards the individual. Sometimes this can be motivated by the human centric effort to feel better, avoid pain or to try to control the uncontrollable.

Back in the day we lived in a way where life, cultural practices and ceremonies where always embedded in the context of a deep and intimate relationship to the land and nature and all that supports life to unfold in a good way.

People would do ceremony not for personal gain but to find ways to be in service to life so that diversity, abundance and health of all our relatives could flow forwards in health. If all of live is connected and we depend upon it, we would not treat it with disrespect.

We live in such disconnection these days. We need to remember our relationship and connection with ourselves, one another, the natural world and with Spirit and activate and practice communal activities that support these connections. These specific practices of connection are the foundation of a true and healthy culture and apply across any field, from baking to basketry, childbirth to the way we tend death, conversation, conduct models, education, play, poetry, creativity, collaborations……..

We carry clout as humans. In harmony with life we caretake, out of balance and gratitude for all that supports us we wreck havoc. We are meant to be a caretaker species, we have responsibilities and obligations to this end.

This power we wield to co create with life is HUGE. One connected hearth and mind can make a massive difference. I think we often do not acknowledge this, and when we don’t, or we use our power without consideration, it backfires in a really full on way as the groaning devastation in ecological and social systems all around us bears testimony too.

Our commitment to healing these wrongs and bringing connection back to the centre of things is vital at this time when we have stepped long beyond a recycling program as a way to bring back balance to our world.

So our land stewardship, our workshops, our heritage days, our community building and our ceremonies are dedicated to supporting life, bringing movement where there is stuckness, inviting balance and this idea of cultural repair.

A healthy culture is one that connects individuals fully and firmly with themselves, with one another as community, with nature and the elements and Spirit. These interrelationships offer each person a chance to find their unique expression of their personal alignments to life, not just for their own sake but in service to something much greater than the one.

I imagine a very real contentment arising within such frameworks, even as the inevitable trials of life within a human body will remain.

If we carry on living from the principles of disconnection in an unhealed way we risk going further into disharmony. It is difficult to heal a sick society using the same mindset that created it. We need to look beyond what we know and seek ways to create connectivity and return to healthy balance.  

It is in our power to re member ourselves and go on the personal and collective journey to healing what is stuck, grief stricken or out of balance in ourselves so that we are free to walk in a healthy way, capable of embracing life in challenge and celebration with equanimity and joy.  Or, to make the first steps towards this so that our children can live a more connected story.

We are trained from a western world view to think of everything in terms of human law and what is right and wrong from this perspective. Right or wrong can look very different from different points of view from this place. From the perspective of the lineage of my teacher Sal Gencarelle what is right could be said to be what enhances life, biodiversity and health for the future generations and what is wrong stands in the way of that.

Natural law refers to how nature works and following the patterns of that to learn from and create healthy systems. Traditionally men had special initiations to activate their empathy and connection through nature. Women where understood to be more naturally patterned in their biology to understand deep nature connection because of their role as life bringers. In imitating nature people where protected from being reductionist and disconnective. Learning from the wisdom of nature to inform human patterns is the origin of most true genius.

Sacred law is about connection and what causes and maintains connective fields that allows for people to remember what connection feels like. Connective law forms the basis for ceremony and ritual. Here we look at natural principles that are related to the creative and connective process. Sacred law functions within healthy cultures are always tied to the seasons, to stages of life, to local regional realities in our ecosystem, to the dreams and visions of ancestors and dedicated to the unborn.

So in our conversation about what is cultural repair it feels important to consider how through ceremony, community and education we can look at how we can support the human law we choose to adhere to reflect the foundation of sacred law. From this context laws that are made are in balance with and taking care of ancestors and unborn generations, to nature and the current living systems to provide a balanced relationship between humanity and the living world that supports us.  Connection lies at the core of cultural repair and deepening our own direct experience with life through nature connection, the elements as the building blocks of creation, healthy community and shared care taking is helpful to support that.

For everything I am connected too.