Please allow me to introduce myself: my name is Alan Ritter, and I’m helping with the Earth School project because I am searching for connection to the Earth. I feel something missing in my life, and I want to find it. My life has changed drastically since 2005, when I began my journey from being a defense contractor to selling produce. Now I want to connect more deeply. This is why I am at Earth School.
Earth School, is being created by founder Santha Cooke, a long-time teacher, healer, and gardener. She has formal training as well as hands-on experience in agriculture, education, and the healing arts, and a lifetime of practice working with land and people in the place that she has called home for more than half-a-century. She has assembled a team and we are traveling together through the “Year of Transformation” that is the Earth School curriculum. Throughout the coming year, we will be interacting with the seasons, the world of nature, and our own inner worlds, both indoors and outdoors, developing our ‘2020 Vision’. The curriculum includes hands in the dirt as well as eyes in books. It covers many subjects, which you can read about here and in our posts on the Earth School Facebook page. The school is located in Salt Point, New York.
Earth School opened its doors for the first time on the weekend of January 24th through 26th, 2020, after decades of Dreaming on the part of Santha. I want to tell you about an experience I had over the weekend — the first of 11 weekend retreats that are the core of the Earth School program. Santha introduced material that offered participants an opportunity to look at life through different eyes, opening the doorway for continued change throughout the year. As humans, we can only carry so much, and we have to put something down in order to have room to pick up something new -- including a new idea or pattern of thought.
After some time in the Classroom, where some eye-opening new concepts were introduced, we walked the Land, looking for elements of the material that Santha had introduced, and searching for our special spot. I found my spot at the confluence of the two streams. The water rushed in from the West and the water rushed in from the East. It was polarized, just like our Country. After a moment of violent swirling together, the water flowed calmly down the joined stream. I was transfixed.
The Universe was pulling my leg so hard to see. SEE! SEE! “Yes, here we are in this time, when so many are polarized. Some say Red! Red! Red! Others say Blue! Blue! Blue! The Banks control the flow!”
I thought: “What is my role now? Am I in the water? Am I above the water? Am I the Banks? And -- am I satisfied with the outcome, with the flow as directed by the Banks?”
Then I realized: “I’m not! In this scene I felt myself to be no more than a drop of water — one of the masses of people content to have others guide the society — content to complain but not take action. I’ve been terrified to stand up for what I believe. I’ve wanted to make friends and start a group and push for change, but only in my mind. Now I see that I have shirked my responsibility to take care of my personal boundaries, for the quality of my life. That is what I realized, in one moment at Earth School – because I opened up and was willing to see, because I took my rigidity off and asked Nature to show me the reality.
This was just one instant -- there were many other moments of learning and discovery during the Earth School weekend, from our arrival at nearly 11:00 pm on Friday night until our departure at 5:30pm on Sunday afternoon.
I encourage you to join the Earth School mailing list. Earth School is just beginning -- this is the proto-year, and the School will grow in years to come. This School is about learning, and, just as importantly, it is also about forming long-term relationships. It is about finding out about yourself, and learning what you need to put down and what you need to pick up, to create for yourself a life of joy and satisfaction.
If this appeals to you, I encourage you to go to Earthschl.com and click through the Facebook and Instagram links to join or follow those. Then, join the mailing list. We’ll keep you posted as the Year unfolds!
Alan Ritter
Alan stacking wood.