The Indigenous Wisdom and Permaculture Convergence - Bryan Deans & How to Create a Better Future for the 7 Generations to Come
Hi everyone! I want to share some thoughts that the founder of OLCERI, Bryan Deans, shared with many of us. I've just returned from a deeply connected week at Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. I was attending the Oglala Lakota Indigenous Wisdom and Permaculture Convergence (IWPC) hosted by the Oglala Lakota Cultural and Economic Revitalization Initiative (OLCERI) Ecoranch. We spent 5 days at OLCERI learning traditional ecological knowledge, gathering in ceremony, deconstructing our own ancestral relations, engaging in cross-cultural dialogue, and envisioning a future where we may live in harmony with each other and with the earth.
Each decision should take into account the 7 generations to come.
Live by a 300 year plan.
There are 7 basics tenants to live by.
- food
- fire (energy)
- water
- shelter
- earth
- spirit
- self
Things work when people are planting trees that they will never live to enjoy the shade of. We need to plant trees for the 7 generations to come, even if we do not live to benefit from those trees.
Leadership in traditional Lakota society is based on the leader being the servant and moving the herd from the back rather than from the front.
If someone isn't moving in the 300 year plan with the rest of the community, then that person strays to the outskirts of the herd where they are vulnerable to attacks by wolves (wall street, ect).
How do we collectively come up with a 300 year plan? Start by getting to know your neighbors
Create gardens
Feed one another
If you dam up a swamp, it kills everything by becoming stagnant. If you release the waters, it becomes a riparian zone and creates new life.
In the same spirit, the federal reserve makes money and then big banks and corporations are hoarding that money and daming up our financial flow. This wealth hoarding stagnates human energy and kills communities. Energy is being controlled and stopped by these top hands rather than being organically cycled around.
Cancer occurs when cancerous cells forget that they are part of a larger body and take over, staying in the illusion that they are separate from the rest of the body and can survive without the survival of the whole.
- Many humans believe they are the only conscious creations on this Earth.
Hope is elusive on Pine Ridge Reservation.
- Life is hard
- Thoughts need to be committed to
- Consistency is key
- There is hope if you create it
If you feel called to donate to OLCERI and the continued efforts of the convergence, you can do so here, and many thanks for reading : https://www.generosity.com/education-fundraising/pine-ridge-permaculture-iwps-convergence
Such a fascinating concept to live by :
Over the past few years we have been planting trees here on our land. 11,000 now. What was once well trimmed sheep pasture is now just beginning its journey to forest.
I know I will not live to see it beyond its infancy but I know I have changed this small piece of the landscape of Wales. Every time a satellite passes over taking a new image for Google Earth I can feel happy that I have made what it sees below a little better for nature than the last time it came this way.
My children will hopefully live to see the forest on its way through puberty, and then their children in turn will see it begin to reach its adult splendour.
Towering above my baby forest is a mighty oak that I have just remeasured today to find that it is around 260 years old. Not quite 7 generations perhaps but it has watched over every generation of my ancestors that have lived here since the house was built in 1799.
I hope some of my 500 new warriors of oak will go on to guide the next 7 generations of my family. That will be my legacy.
I got real emotional while reading through this quote...'Things work when people are planting trees that they will never live to enjoy the shade of. We need to plant trees for the 7 generations to come, even if we do not live to benefit from those trees.' Just to let you know, in Nigeria, the opppsite is the càse.
I would love to do something like this, excellent experience and opportunity really to step back and reevaluate life in general. then come back and look at things with a different perspective which is helpful in so many ways :) cheers! great post
You got my vote and a resteem :]
Yes, this is the Hope if we can collectively create it! And such simple steps to helping heal this world. We don't need to really do anything extreme, the solutions to our problems are not out of reach. These are solutions anyone has the power to initiate.
I really appreciate that you take the time to share with us, the wisdom and knowledge you are gaining from these beautiful, noble people. Thank you so much @anwenbaumeister.
woooww...it's so amazing wisdom...very like it....
Reminds me of a quote from Confucius:
Long term thinking is indeed what we all need. We all need to realize that we are only part of continuing story of the human race and that it doesn't end with us. Our purpose is to add our piece so that the next generation to come has better opportunities than we had.
Unfortunately, in our generation, we live an individual existence. Everything starts and ends with us. In order to obtain the almighty dollar, we no longer care what happens in the future. Everything is about today's profit. What's worst, few see the danger in this.
I love the take on planting a tree not for us, but for our children's children. It is a start that can break into all of daily activities.
Beautiful... number 7. The last on the list is self 👍 This list is so true to my values and even more so now as a mother. I so badly want a healthy world for all our children and there children and there children to come. Thank you for sharing this. ❤ I also love that food is the top of the list growing our own food and sharing it is so crucial.
Great coverage! The "seven generations" message was delivered loud and clear by the Standing Rock water protectors. Left a big impression on my heart, witnessing the ways the people there have cared so deeply for the wellbeing of our waters for centuries (in the past) and for centuries (into the future). I filmed a short documentary about this during the peak of the Standing Rock Movement last Fall. Here's a bit: