We Are All Connected

I just finished reading another book by John Perkins, "Spirit of the Shuar" that journeys deeper into the wisdom, shamanic healings, and teachings of the Shuar people.  There are so many places in this book that speak directly to my life and journey - even experiences and dreams from my childhood!  One of the primary themes in this book, as well as a new dream emerging in the United States, is the understanding that we are all connected by nature and with nature.  "We Shuar know that we are inseparable from nature, strands in the same spider's web.  We believe in the power of the ancestors - they're everything to us, comforting and protecting us."  

If we are to survive on this planet and leave a home for our children and their children, we must begin to change our dream that we are somehow separate from nature and separate from each other.  How you choose to live in the United States directly affects the Shuar way of life as well as many other people around the globe.  It's the same in nature.  The oxygen we breathe in New Mexico was likely produced by the rain forest in Brazil.  

As spoken by a Shuar Shaman:  "You believe that your civilization has developed for many thousands of years, that you can look back to ancient cultures in Asia and the Middle East and trace this development through Europe and into the United States.  You say you've made great progress - and this is true in many ways.  You also look at us, the Shuar and other indigenous people, and you say that we haven't developed, that we've been static and that our lives are primitive.  The idea of being primitive has begun to appeal to some of your people in recent years - but it simply isn't true that we're primitive.  

We don't live like the Shuar of a thousand years ago or even of my parents generation.  We've always developed.  Every generation of Shuar since the beginning have progressed.  We've developed too - but the difference is in the way it has happened.  Our way has always taken into account all other life forms and the lives of our children's children.  For us the word 'progress' does not apply if it threatens other species or could possibly harm future generations.  How could that be progress?"  

I grew up with some very useful values of a hard work ethic, honesty, giving back to the community.  But I also believe we must begin to incorporate other values into our daily lifestyle choices and that are the foundation for business.  Values that change our relationship to nature from one of conqueror to nurturer.  Values that break down hierarchalorganizations to models that have worked for thousands of years.  We must, because we know if we do not, we will continue to destroy the natural earth and we will all die with her.  We are not separate - so why do we live like we are?