Awakening the Dreamer, Changing the Dream explores new ways of seeing the big sustainability, spiritual, and social justice challenges and opportunities of our time, according to the Pachamama Alliance.
“What’s different about this workshop is that we dig down to the real, interconnected roots of these challenges, both on a personal and cultural basis,” notes workshop host Sue Stiles in a recent statement.
“Then, we encourage everyone to shift to a whole new frame of reference – to see new solutions – from clean tech and eco-arts to local food and green collar jobs. It’s a transformative process that provides a lot of hope,” added workshop facilitator Alain Desouches.
The Awakening the Dreamer, Changing the Dream Workshop (ATD) is an initiative of The Pachamama Alliance (www.pachamama.org), a San Francisco-based nonprofit whose mission is to preserve the Earth’s tropical rain forests and contribute to a new global vision of sustainability and equity for all.
Via dynamic, inspirational video, participants hear from far-sighted community leaders including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Julia Butterfly Hill, Van Jones, Paul Hawken and more, on everything from the planet’s dwindling biodiversity to growing socio-economic gaps. The event also includes lively breakout groups and practical tools, according to the Pachamama Alliance.
The Pachamama Alliance was formed in the mid-1990s, when a group of North Americans visited a remote and intact group of indigenous people – the Achuar – located deep in the Amazonian region of Ecuador.
Through this chance meeting, a relationship was formed between the two groups and The Pachamama Alliance, initiated by the indigenous elders and shamans of the Achuar, was begun.
Because of the elders’ and shamans’ deep concern for the growing threat to their ancient way of life, coupled with their recognition that the roots of this threat lay far beyond their rain forest home, they actively sought the partnership of committed individuals living in the modern world the Pachamama Alliance states.
One purpose of the symposium is to “change the dream of the North,” since it is the desires and appetites of the North - “their dream" - which is driving the destruction of the rain forests around the world, according to the Pachamama Allicance.
Another purpose is to, "to bring forth an environmentally sustainable, spiritually fulfilling, socially just human presence on this planet," according to an introductory video on the symposium.
The workshop is open to all on Saturday, May 30, from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m., at the Lakeport Senior Center, 527 Konocti Ave., Lakeport 95453. Call 707-263-9400 or visit http://awakeningthedreamer.org/symposium/1136/ for details and to register.
For a video introduction to the symposium, visit: http://vimeo.com/2217073?pg=embed&sec=.
E-mail Terre Logsdon at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
