Western society has become alienated from Earth, finding a sense of place from television programs which are promoted as “reality” and electronics that are hyped as “virtual.”  The world view of Western people reveals a very real deficiency in our awareness of how connected we are to Earth.  This deficiency uproots, displaces, and causes both told and untold harm to our biosphere.

“You cannot have healthy humans on a sick planet,” says Thomas Berry. While obviously true, this statement shocks our stupor and causes us to ponder our place in the web of life. We are quite concerned about “our” health, but we seem unable to widen this sensitivity to the well-being of Earth itself.

What is now entering human consciousness is a call toward a mutually enhancing human-Earth relationship. Earth so enhances and educates us; how can we give back to Earth?  We are not yet used to thinking this way. “Mutually enhancing.”  How to arrive at a sense of this? Well, we need to learn to “read” the natural world!  Earth Literacy!

We need to pay attention to and learn from Earth’s organic processes.  We need to ponder our human activities, our corporations, our educational and religious institutions and evaluate them by asking, “Do these foster a relationship with the planet that is sustainable, so that the planet may in turn sustain us?”

Earth Literacy…                                                     

Where does one go to read Earth?

Earth Literacy at La Vista

“Exploring the Sacred Universe,” our earth literacy program, is the highlight of the year for La Vista Ecological Learning Center, occurring each summer during the first full week of August.  Seekers from many parts of the country gather here to immerse themselves in the Sacred Story of the Universe in order to discover how it can be a transforming context for their lives, as well as how it contributes to developing a mutually enhancing human-Earth relationship.

We receive guidance throughout the week from the land, the view, and the whole community of life in this bioregion, as well as from the keen insights and rich wisdom of Thomas Berry, Brian Swimme, and Miriam MacGillis, OP.  Together with our own presenters, we facilitate participants’ deepening appreciation of the Integrity of Creation by striving to evoke a mutually enhancing human- Earth relationship. Together, we learn to read Earth!

For eight days we celebrate the meaning of the Universe Story for our lives through . . . .

Creative Ritual

Insightful Presentations

Quiet Time

Guided Activities

Discussion and Dialogue

Field Trips

Hands-on Learning Experiences

and  Sharing Vegetarian Meals

Meals consist of vegetables, grains, fruits, and dairy.

Our ingredients are as locally grown and organic as possible and most produce is from own own Community Supported Garden

Because we consider the context presented to be so critically important for our time, and vast in its implications, the seminar requires of participants a single-mindedness of motivation, and presence that is aligned with this focus.   Participants are expected to come ready and willing to be intellectually challenged and physically active.

We are now taking registrations for the 2008 Earth Literacy program, held August 3-10.

Call (618-466-5004) or e-mail (info@lavistaelc.org), and we’ll send you an application form and a personal survey.

Join us for a truly life-changing week in a beautiful environment.

Join us and learn to read the Earth!

Below are some comments from past participants in the program that offer testimony to its significance for their lives and for our Earth….

“I feel transformed, and I want to make choices that enable this transformation to continue.”

“This week has done much to break down the dividing wall between humans and the rest of creation.  I’m getting a glimmer of the sacramental/incarnational nature of the universe.”

“The experience of community life was rich and satisfying. The fellowship of food and prayer was, too.”

“I am awed by the enormousness, the depth, the mystery of who I am and how I got to be who I am… The respect for the universe, our planet Earth and its creatures and for myself is amazing and I want this reverence to be fed and nurtured.”

“I hope to buy more things locally…I want to continue to learn more about my place – my bioregion…”

“I knew I was part of the universe and not superior or apart from it, but now I feel a deeper sense of my oneness with Earth and I experience a new groundedness…”

“I came believing humans had really messed things up, and there was nothing we could do to stop our destructive patterns progressing. Now I leave believing and seeing that there’s a lot we can do and we can change some things for the betterment of all.”

“I’ve become excited about the web of consciousness that is evolving, linking people all around the planet in a desire to reverence and cherish our home Earth and to bequeath it, whole and healthy, to all who follow us.”