NOTES ON A GIFT ECONOMY ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I first heard about the concept of the gift economy in an interview in Parabola magazine with Nipun Mehta. Nipun and a few friends founded Charity Focus (now called Service Space) by designing a website, free of charge, for a homeless shelter. He explained: "Gift economy, in the sense we use it, is this idea that you give freely, without any strings attached. The person who receives it carries this gift forward. And over time, as enough people carry this forward, this sort of sacred reciprocity takes care of everyone's needs. So what goes around eventually comes back around to me."
Tamera, the educational center and intentional community in southern Portugal where I spent the first ten days of August, has been offering its Summer University for eighteen years. This year for the first time they decided to ask for donations to the program instead of charging a flat fee. It was a bold experiment for them, for they rely on this one event to supply a large chunk of their income for the entire year. Yet the plan was certainly in keeping with their mission of fostering honest, authentic exchanges between people and their world. (It isn't surprising that Tamera doesn't take credit cards, a system in which one apparently gets something for nothing up front and then has to pay for it--often with interest--later.)
Interestingly enough, I encountered Tamera's experiment in giving at the very time when it was most relevant. When I was invited to participate in Summer University, I was very drawn to go, but I couldn't afford the plane fare and expenses. One of my friends, Vicki Fraser, suggested I ask her and other friends if they would make me gifts of money so I could go. I thought it was a wonderful idea and made my request of about fourteen people, ten of whom responded with great generosity of spirit and financial gifts large and small. I sent them dispatches every day from Tamera and will be making a small book for them out of photos and stories about the experience.
Considering the experience of giving from Tamera's and my own point of view brought me a new and beautiful stream of awareness. I became aware that considering a trade of money for service (or product) in this open-ended way made me think a lot about what I was receiving and what I was giving back. Certain aspects of Tamera stood forth as especially valuable to me. For example, I spontaneously decided to put €50 in the "tip" bowl in the Guest House, behind which I had my little tent set up under a holly tree and where I spent many calm, peaceful hours writing and sipping tea and having a few great conversations. I also secretly did the dishes in the Guest House kitchen (which was only used by about ten people) whenever there were some in the sink.
You may be interested to know that, on the last day, Tamera announced the results of the experiment: they came up with €5,000 less than they had hoped. Many people pledged to wire money later. I hope they make up the difference. And I intend to try this beautiful, risky, spirited experiment in at least one of my own programs next year.
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GREENING KENYA: THE STORY OF PHILIP MUNYASIA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
One of the most inspiring people I met at Tamera was Philip Munyasia, a remarkable young man (33 years old) who is working to green his community in the highlands of northern Kenya and transform the position of women there. When he told me his story, I was struck by how it is so much in tandem with the theme of giving and receiving gifts.
Philip was the youngest of eight brothers. His family was very poor. His mother sometimes asked him to pick up scraps of plastic he found on the way home from school, so she could burn them as fuel for cooking. One year she took out a small loan and planted a garden, hoping to sell the vegetables for cash and pay back the loan. Before she could reap the harvest, however, a chemical company gave her a spray that was supposed to help the plants grow. Instead it scorched them all. Philip never forgot the incident.
No one in his family had ever gone to high school and Philip didn't expect to do so either. After eighth grade he got a job as a go-fer for a construction company. A priest for whom they were building a house noticed this smart, enterprising young man and made it possible for him to go to high school. It was in high school that Philip started creating a community garden. That work led to an invitation for him to travel to the U.S. for several months to learn bio-intensive agricultural practices. In the U.S. he met someone from Tamera, and he has been visiting the community on and off for several years to learn about their sophisticated methods of permaculture and water retention.
In 2005 Philip founded, ORTEPIC (Organic Technology Extension and Promotion of Initiative Centre), in his home of Kitale. Constantly learning more, even as he is actively sharing and putting into practice what he has already gleaned, he has introduced crop rotation, composting, companion planting, and other practices to the community. ORTEPIC won the 2011 GEN (Global Eco-village Network) Excellence Award.
Philip has also introduced the practice of council into the community as a powerful means for everyone to share from the heart and be heard by everyone else. And he is committed to empowering women. Girls in Kenya have traditionally missed school while they are having their periods, because they can't afford sanitary pads, so they fall behind the boys academically. By receiving free sanitary pads, they are able to attend school every day year round and hence remain competitive learners.
Philip's current project is to raise enough money to buy 30 acres of land where the community can have a larger garden, and where they can create a spring-fed lake like those at Tamera that are greening southern Portugal.
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RADICAL JOY FOR HARD TIMES NEWS:
EARTH EXCHANGE AT THE BOTTOM OF A (FUTURE) LAKE
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As soon as I knew I would be going to Tamera, I notified my contacts there and offered to do an Earth Exchange, the signature ceremony of Radical Joy for Hard Times that reconnects people and wounded places through storytelling, getting to know the place as it is now, and making a simple act of beauty.
But where? Tamera is not a wounded place! The solution came one hot afternoon when I looked down, down, down a slope at the far southern tip of Tamera's property, into the newest of their half dozen or so lakes. The older lakes had initiated remarkable transformation: greening the land, feeding dried springs, and attracting birds and wild animals. This lake, however, was a dry pit. Dug last year, it was expected to start filling with the fall rains. However, the rains did not come.
So we would go to the lake bed, not because it was wounded, but because it was longing for water. About forty people met at the main meeting hall, and we walked together to the lake. As we began the descent down the slope, we paused and Silke Paulick, the member of the Tamera community who heads the ecology team, told the story of the lake. I asked each person to pick up two stones, one for Tamera and one for a place they loved that was wounded, and to bring them to the lake bottom.
There we formed a circle at the lowest point. Each person said his or her name and the name of their wounded place, as they put the first stone into the circle. The places ranged from a family home to a polluted Eastern European river. We spent a few moments in silent reflection about what these diverse places mean to us and our feelings of loss and grief over their destruction.
Then everyone took about ten minutes to explore on their own. Usually this part of the event would stretch out for about half an hour, and then everyone would have a chance to share what they discovered. This time, although we only had time to hear from a few people, there were many surprises:
"I heard a plop. There are a couple of frogs in the pond!"
"The soil is cracked like a jigsaw puzzle where there was the most recent rain, but it feels like velvet under your bare feet."
"There are tiny shoots of green coming out of the soil!"
"I am imagining myself standing at the bottom of the lake."
Finally, beginning with the stone we had brought to represent Tamera, we started creating a bird. Like most of the RadJoy birds that groups create out of found materials, it formed collectively, without a blueprint. This bird ended up being rather pudgy. One man commented that it looked anatomically incorrect and suggested we fix it. Others said no, it's fine. One woman suggested that it had a little extra padding to keep it afloat when the rains come!
This Earth Exchange gave several people ideas for ceremonies they might do in their own communities, for example in Athens at the site of Occupy Athens last year, and at several holy sites in Israel. It also showed me how flexible this simple ceremony is. It works just as well when you have forty people doing it in forty-five minutes (well, almost as well) as when you have ten people doing it in two hours. The bird sings now at what will one day be the bottom of the lake. Between now and then people from Tamera are invited to go down and fill in the outline of this winsome water bird.
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TREBBE JOHNSON INTERVIEWED IN PARABOLA MAGAZNE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I am exceptionally honored to have been interviewed by Parabola magazine about my work with Radical Joy for Hard Times. The interview appears in the current issue. You can read it by clicking here (the RadJoy website) and downloading the PDF. The interview was conducted by Richard Whittaker, one of the best interviewers I know of.
Parabola has been my favorite magazine ever since I discovered it in 1984. There have been interviews with the likes of the Dalai Lama, Elaine Pagels, Joseph Campbell, Elie Wiesel, and spiritual leaders from traditions around the world. I am humbled and excited beyond words that the editors have recognized Radical Joy for Hard Times as a path worth exploring.
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WRITING AND WORKSHOP NEWS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My book, The World Is a Waiting Lover, with a foreword by Thomas Moore, author of Care of the Soul, is available from Amazon.com or from your favorite bookstore. It's also available as an e-book!
UPCOMING PROGRAMS
October 26-28
I will present a workshop (exact date not yet known) at this innovative and inspiring weekend event sponsored by the Marion Institute and corresponding to the national Bioneers gathering in California.
 2-Week Sahara Desert Vision Quest and Camel Caravan
December 29, 2012-January 12, 2013 Southern Algeria Sponsored by Foundation Iferouane Following the steps of intrepid seekers throughout the ages who have been drawn to the desert to fast and pray for guidance, we venture into the greatest desert of all: the Sahara. Our guides are a group of nomadic Tuareg, a matriarchal people known for their love of the desert, poetry, camels, and beauty.
Our base camp is truly remote, reached after 1-2 days travel by Land Rover, followed by 4-5 days in a camel caravan. Your three-day solo will take place in a place of your choosing, in a desert valley or in a black basalt wilderness. To undertake this quest, you must have an adventurous spirit and be prepared to sleep under the stars, immerse yourself in the ways of another culture, experience hot days and cold nights, live three weeks without a shower, and move fearlessly into a life of meaning and fulfillment.
Guides : Sabina Wyss, Trebbe Johnson, Adem Mellakh, and Tuareg hosts
Cost : 4,444 Swiss Francs, (approximately $4,900.00 as of 2/28/12), including all meals, camping fees, riding camel, land transportation in the desert, and air travel from a European city to Tamanrasset, Algeria.
Turned on by Life
February 22-24, 2013 Rowe Camp and Conference Center
Rowe, Massachusetts
 Following the steps of intrepid seekers throughout the ages who have been drawn to the desert to fast and pray for guidance, we venture into the greatest desert of all: the Sahara. Our guides are a group of nomadic Tuareg, a matriarchal people known for their love of the desert, poetry, camels, and beauty.
For more information about Vision Arrow programs, see our website.
Call 570 727 4272 or email Trebbe if you have questions or would like to talk about any of these programs. |
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