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  A comment on Conversation: Starting a "Green School"

  Nov 19 2012: Hi James, Madhavi and Patrick,
  
  Thank you all for replying.
  
  James ... Yes! A clear mind is always a great place to start. After clearing your mind, I love how you started with a question. How to we become registrants of nature or amplifiers of nature or conduits of nature?
  
  As a lover of wisdom and a student of the Socratic Method, I ask, what is a true education? And I am reminded of the Latin etymological roots of the word education. It comes from "e" "ducare" which could be translated as drawing out. what else shall we draw out except the truth found in one's own heart?
  
  I'll get back to your question after I respond to Madhavi's and Patrick's comments.
  
  Madhavi... Ahh, yes. You are wise to adapt your ideal school to your unique environment. I believe that authentic education has to grow organically out of each unique environment it finds itself in. And I agree that a fundamental human need is our need to connect with nature.
  
  Patrick ... Of course, everything is a process, or as the Chinese say, "A journey of a thousand miles starts with one step." And yes, the fundamental ideas are foundational, so what ideas for you are the key ideas in education?
  
  All,
  
  I want to roll all of your comments together with my own understanding and speak of my own vision.
  
  As a young teacher of the martial arts, a wonderful teacher told me to never stop practicing. He said that only by practicing my own art can my teaching come alive.
  
  So I ask myself, how can I draw myself out, or as James and Madhavi might ask, how can I or have I become an authentic conduit of or connect with my own true inner and outer nature?
  
  When I discover my own path, or as Patrick might say, the key ideas of life, then I believe that I will attract just the right students who are ready to learn from me.
  
  So in my ideal school, I would start by finding those who have mastered their own lives and feel the call to leave behind a legacy for the next generation.
  
  Blessings!
  
  Gregory

• A reply on Talk: John Hardy: My green school dream

  Nov 5 2012: Hi Hein Sweerts,
  
  Thank you for summing up the real challenges that face us today or as the Balinese might say, May the Supreme Divine be pleased to bless you always.
  
  I would like to add to your thoughts. The problems the world face today are very complex. Part of that complexity is the uneven distribution of both resources and thinking. We live in a world in which there are pockets of energy abundance surrounded by energy scarcity, pockets of food shortages surrounded by food abundance and visa versa.
  
  It is this uneven distribution of resources that creates part of the problem. I'd like to focus on the part of the problem that leads to misunderstanding.
  
  It's very natural that so many take opposite points of view. It's very natural to speak from one's own perspective, which is heavily influenced by the experience of abundance or scarcity in one's own environment. While it is unwise to expect others to transcend their own perspective, at the same time it is possible for oneself to look from a higher vantage point to see the larger picture of the complext inter-relationships of the entire Earth's ecosystem.
  
  I believe you are writing from that higher vantage point. Implicit in your writing is a request to accept John's vision for the good that it is attempting to accomplish rather than focusing on its imperfections. You are taking the longer view.
  
  I would ask something similar of all our commenters, ... please find a higher perspective, think about John's work in the longer view, seek common ground and forgive John and the other commenters for our very human imperfections. We live on an imperfect planet and so I ask we seek to understand each other so we can work together in order to solve the complex challenges the world faces today.