permaculture

[Ralf Riedel <ralf.riedel@usm.edu>]

At 06:05 PM 6/19/00 +0000, you wrote:
....
>What more can I teach them?  Or, should I now begin to learn 'from' them?
...

First, I'd like to briefly introduce myself to the list. I'm a marine
ecologist who knows next to nothing about ag. or any of its spin offs. The
reason I joined the list was to share my philosophy of life while getting
exposed to yours. I'm doing this because I believe that one of the joys of
life is to recognize, accept, and grow by learning from each others
paradigms. While I'm learning from each of you, I make my life and
everyone's around me better, especially when your words come from the heart.

My advice to you, Ava, is to follow what you already said. I think you hit
the nail in the head when you alluded to learning from them. I firmly
believe that empowering other people is one of the most effective ways
towards freedom. You may not have anything "technical" to show anymore
(although I doubt it), but you certainly have the chance to provide your
pupils the opportunity to give back. I cannot help you on the details, but
think that if your girls lead the way they will show you facets of "your"
work you may not have thought of before. Once you teach them what you know,
my suggestion is to learn from them and synergistically reach higher levels
of learning that are not supported by the vertical, top down hierarchical
model. If you adopt an "everyone at the same level" approach to teaching
you will reach the sky while others are still preoccupied with their
limiting perceptions of right/wrong, judgements, or any of the dualistic
opposites that shape this reality. Break through by letting them and you
decide where to go and effortlessly flow to. Cheers,
Ralf.