Welcome to the fourth foundation:
Opening dialogue and working together
In the last foundation we start to look at our relationship with nature and how we fundamentally rely on its processes and generosity for our very survival. Whether it be for housing, food, comfort, livelihood, meaning; everything is dependant on nature.
With this realisation, I encourage you to see how your relationship to your lands can improve; how you can help the land and how the land can help you. It could be asking how to orientate a new home, where to plant a tree or crop, where best to do a ritual, or how to deal with a 'pest' or intense weather event; just look in to your own life and see how you can optimise the way you work or relate with land.
All the living aspects that make up the lands we rely on are more than happy for this dialogue to take place and for optimisation for all to occur.
For years I have allowed the lands I am in to guide the process of design, implementation and harvest. It has become abundantly clear how ready to work together our living lands are. From my opinion this is undeniably what we humans are going to have to do to continue to survive; we have done this before and no doubt we'll come back to it.
For the fourth foundation you will:
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Keep visiting your chosen natural space. Begin to let this process be spontaneous and personal to you and the place. Do it your way and see what the Land wants.
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With Meditation 4, continue to practise the method of dropping into the body, then the subtle energy of the body, then opening to the clear and spacious nature of experience.
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In Dowsing Video 4, learn to locate the best place to sit and communicate with the land.
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In the Land Communication Video, begin collaborating with your Lands in a way that is open to feedback and guidance after sharing your intentions openly with the space.
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Conclusion Video; If you wish recite the dedication verse from Shantideva (at the bottom of this page)
From here on, I can't emphasise enough how personal the journey is to each person. Just like human-to-human relationships, the etiquette and ways of relating in human-to-land relationships varies also.
Don't be shy and don't be too cautious, but be clever and know your boundaries. This takes time.
Don't be shy to email me with stories, questions, experiences, doubts or any feedback. I offer that wholeheartedly and with a feeling of connection. I have much experience in this work, and yet I am humbled by the realisation that I won't ever stop learning. Learning is when we can share openly and unreservedly our experiences with one another.
Meditation 4,
22 minutes
to be done in your chosen natural space
click image to access
Dowsing Video 4,
12 minutes
Doesn't need to be done in chosen natural space.
(best watched on computer)
click image to access
Land Communication Video,
16 minutes
Doesn't need to be done in chosen natural space.
click image to access
Conclusion of course and dedication,
8 minutes
Doesn't need to be done in chosen natural space.
click image to access
Shantideva's Dedication:
May all beings everywhere
Plagued by sufferings of body and mind,
Obtain an ocean of happiness and joy
By virtue of my merits.
May no living creature suffer,
Commit evil or ever fall ill.
May no one be afraid or belittled,
With a mind weighed down by depression.
May the blind see forms
And the deaf hear sounds.
May those whose bodies are worn with toil,
Be restored on finding repose.
May the naked find clothing
The hungry find food
May the thirsty find water
And delicious drinks.
May the poor find wealth,
Those weak with sorrow find joy;
May the hopeless find hope,
Constant happiness and prosperity.
May there be timely rains
And bountiful harvests;
May all the medicines be effective
And wholesome prayers bear fruit.
May all who are sick and ill
Quickly be freed from their ailments.
Whatever diseases there are in the world,
May they never occur again.
May the frightened cease to be afraid
And those bound be freed;
May the powerless find power
And the people think of benefiting each other.
For as long as space remains,
For as long as sentient beings remain,
Until then may I too remain
To dispel the miseries of the world.