My name is Shawn Berry and I participated in the 2009 PDC at RDI. It was my first in-depth encounter with permaculture.

Well, let’s back up a bit. Actually I had quite an introduction to working with the land when I was a kid. And I hated it. Launching and maintaining the ¼ acre, family vegetable garden my large family put in every spring was a total bust on summer break fun for us kids. Of course back then no one had ever heard the word permaculture and we certainly were guilty of accosting the land and bending it to our will as opposed to “listening to the land.” But we also inadvertently harmonized in some ways simply because nature will also bend us to her will as well.

In most ways for me, and I suspect for anyone who comes into an awareness with the ideas of permaculture, it’s less about learning something new and more about a process of deep remembering and even a deeper knowing that there is something true about acknowledging our individual and communal relationship with nature and the earth. Indeed, as much as many of us are immersed in our modern metropolis with a growing number of electronic devices that give us up-to-the-minute abundant information about the world around us—yet shield us from the actual world that it is all happening in—it’s difficult to really stop and think about how and where our food comes from and the incredible magic that this earth creates with plant life.

Think about it. Drop a seed in the dirt. Add water. Make sure there’s enough sun so you can see what is happening. And what is happening? A miracle is happening. If you didn’t know the potential an apple seed had, do you think your imagination would be big and wild enough to imagine that this lone tiny, dry object could transform into a massive structure that would have it’s own micro ecosystem and provide food and materials for three generations or more? Not only that, it cost nothing, it can operate efficiently with no maintenance and it can proliferate itself 100 times over with virtually no effort. It’s a miracle.

I digress. What excites me most is that there are communities out there like RDI who have been pioneering the forums to expose others to the miracle that is our earth. Creating a space for a community of curious and courageous minds to gather and explore our truest expressions together; remembering the ways of harmony and becoming re-awestruck at the miracle of this world as we peel off our facades one at a time until our innocence of naked humanness cowers before the revealed face of nature. What a gift!

In the permaculture design course at RDI, we created a community with 30 complete strangers for 2 weeks straight; eating, sleeping, working, laughing, learning, questioning, angering, crying. Ultimately, it demonstrated to me the immense capacity we as humans have to do this thing called “connect.” The capacity to know and understand, to communicate and share experience with another amazing glorious fascinating, complex and complicated being! I mean, we are these conscious beings walking around on this planet! We can SEE INSIDE each other and have the miraculous ability to consciously acknowledge each others existence of self through a myriad of emotive expressions capable of bringing us into a space of such intimate contact that it can be downright, gloriously terrifying!

How is it then that we often move through our days in monotone thoughts and muted expressions, feeling more alone that connected? Interacting with perhaps dozens of other conscious beautiful wonderous beings a day with out realization of the miracle of their existence? Seeing them only as obstacles or objects to be manipulated or handled? How is it that we wolf down a meal without even thinking about the absolute miracle of the vegetal world and that without the magic or miracle of seeds and photosynthesis, we would cease to exist? How did we become so recently concerned about the fragility of this planet without having been intimately and consciously acquainted with it?

My permaculture experience was one of the final gentle shakes that have brought me into being fully awake. I think it is gently shaking a lot of people awake. We are realizing that we’re dreaming if we think we can continue to live, thrive and evolve the way we have been living; particularly in first world economies - the dream is over!

So what to do with this wakefulness? Take action! How? By taking the initiative! That is to say, by becoming initiated to move forward in a direction with affirmation, blessing and expectancy by a group of ones peers and mentors. Many people become concerned with how to keep the fire alive that was experienced in a transformative experience and bring it back into their day-to-day life. It is difficult to carry a passion alone by yourself. The support and anticipation of a community who is present to your journey and is ready to welcome the gifts that comes through building and living your vision that was sparked by a personal transformation is an invaluable asset to that same community.

Ancient tribal peoples, and even healthy modern ones, address this issue through “initiating.” That is to say, they would watch for when a youth starts to become inspired by something apart from the games and frivolity of their adolescent peers and was ready for the challenge and adventure of living as an adult. The premise involves creating a space for the adolescent to have a transformative experience in which they become present to their inspired vision, which is both unique and fragile, apart from the support of a community.

Being an adult meant that you were committed to pursuing your vision and enacting it on the earth for the people to see. It was a gift in return to the people that had cared for you since the day you were born. A gift that is essential and necessary to the health and wealth of the community. In these tribal cultures, rites of passage, community and regenerative, respectful living on the land were absolutely inseparable. They were born out of one another and the failure to uphold the integrity and importance of any of these components would result in the demise of the people.

Looking back I can map the process of this discovery and passion for this direction in my life within these three concepts. I remember when I first had fleeting thoughts of interest in organic farming and living off the land. I entered the initiating threshold space when I chose to participate in the permaculture certification course at RDI. This was my transformative experience and when I returned to my regular life and struggled with how to apply this newfound enthusiasm, I realized I would need the support of a specific community to fully realize the potential of the vision that I was beginning to see.

I am now preparing to enter into the 9 month RDNA course also offered by RDI. I consider these new experiences as a trial run, or “R&D”—research and development for how to begin giving and living my true gift.