Introduction: Welcome on unfamiliar ground.
More than fifty years ago, the Club of Rome published it's report " Limits of Growth". It opened the door to an enormous understanding of ecological and social interdependence. Our awareness of the consequences of our actions grew, as did the environmental movement.
A strange thing happened: At the same time, the destruction of our livelihoods was accelerating and expanding, along with the global rise of polarization and conflict. It seemed to me that the more we did, the more we failed at what we were trying to achieve. I asked myself, what are we failing to see? What do we not understand in order to act with impact, to transform our destructive relationship with nature?
As I tried to come to terms with these questions, I struggled with traumatic childhood experiences and their lingering effects. As I was on the road to self-healing, I realized that I was not alone: Most of us are damaged and traumatized in one way or another. We live a “divided live," to quote Parker Palmer.
These dynamics are connected. Ecological destruction is a result of our divided lives, anchored in a social fabric that itself creates that divided life. And it's this divided life that we live that keeps us from being effective, that keeps us in a state where we traumatize ourselves and nature. Or to be more precise, it's not keeping us, it's us keeping ourselves in this limiting state.
But there is a way out. Our inner life creates the outer world, so outer transformation is possible through inner work. Our consciousness and the way it evolves over time, the way we create and shape it, is the key, a key that's often overlooked.
Over time, I made a second observation: while many of us are quick to share their vision of a better world, few are eager to answer the question of how to get there. It's obvious why. Visions are easy, they don't need to be proven. But sketching a path means dealing with the nuts and bolts, the difficulties, and the surprising twists and turns of daily life as it unfolds. But it's not the vision, it's daily life where we grow and learn. And that's where on unfamiliar ground comes in.
On unfamiliar ground embraces the complexity and beauty of living wholeheartedly. It's about the big picture, the model for our actions that we can only see from a distance, and it's about the details and the small steps we have to take in our daily lives. Nothing is excluded.
So outwardly on unfamiliar ground is a newsletter and a community. At its core it’s a place, where we can learn and grow together, where we can ask questions, follow directions, fail, make mistakes and turn around.
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Everyone has to do their inner work on their own. We can support each other, we can nurture each other. But we can't take each other's place. There's no bartering here. That's why on unfamiliar ground never is and never will be a how-to, a place for easy and simple answers. It’s an invitation to find the answer inside your self. It needs a community to do this, a space with a special quality to turn towards yourself and open up to your own wisdom. That’s why on unfamiliar ground is a community of it’s own, a place that’s equally shaped by you and by me.
Our journey together begins today, and I welcome you with all my heart. I'm happy to walk with you. Each week I will send you a newsletter, and as you join us as a member of on unfamiliar ground, you will have the opportunity to talk about it and share your perspective. As on unfamiliar ground grows, so will the opportunities for interaction and learning. You're invited to help shape its direction by sharing your ideas and needs.
Thank you for your precious being.