“The entire material universe speaks of God’s love, God’s boundless affection for us. Soil, water, mountains: everything is a caress of God.”
—Pope Francis, Laudato Si’, 84
I was brought up in a split world. There were sacred things and profane things. Heaven and Earth. Right answers and wrong answers, and the person who got the right answers first was best.
At Prairiewoods 11 years ago, I began to get a glimpse of a more unified cosmology—from a unified whole, infinite diversity emerges and all is connected. Laudato Si’ was a significant confirmation of that perspective for me, which is why I selected this quote.
For the last 10 years, I have been exploring how that unified perspective could inform learning environments in which the learners, and the leaders, maintain wholeness and agency.
And during that time, those attempting to enact the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) realized that those goals were most likely not within reach without the perspective of a unified narrative. (See https://www.wholeworld-view.org/unitive-narrative.)
It seems to me that in our region we have primarily been living into a narrative of separation. Prairiewoods is a seed and a beacon for us to live into a new narrative, from a unified perspective, and create a truly inclusive and sustainable local environment, in which all life thrives.
In my travels, I became acquainted with Springhouse, an intergenerational vitality-focused learning community located in Floyd, Virginia, impacting locations around the world. They seek a future in which all life thrives. People come from all over the world to learn from their framework and develop thriving communities in their location. (See https://springhouse.org.)
I am heartened to notice so many efforts around the world to learn from nature and the life force, referred to in the quote as “God’s love,” which flows through us all.
As I work to support those efforts, I am strengthened by the insights and relationships that I developed at Prairiewoods, too numerous to mention, but revolving around the insights of Teilhard de Chardin, Thomas Berry, Judy Cannato, Ilia Delio, Cynthia Bourgeault, Gail Worcelo and Richard Rohr.
So much confirmation, and so much joy in the work.
—Chuck Peters