GEA CULTURE MANIFESTO RENEWED

Humanity is married to Gea, as the ancient Greeks used to call the Earth soul. We are embedded in her stream of manifested life. In a sense we share the same bed with her. But we are not conscious of this sacred relationship, we do not acknowledge this intimate connection; we do not express or cultivate our love for and with her. Might this be the cause behind the multiple natural catastrophes that humanity experiences nowadays and the related political, economic, and social upheavals we face?

The knowledge that could help us understand how intimately the human being is related to the body of the Earth is nearly lost within our culture. However, bit-by-bit we are regaining experience of the vital energy systems that permeate the organism of the Earth’s landscapes and our human body as well. Even more, we are becoming aware that the elemental intelligence of nature is one and the same intelligence that enables human beings to think, to express emotion and to create within the conditions of the materialized world.

It is obvious that the relationship that exists between the Earth and human beings is so profound that cannot be “managed” solely by formal measures based upon rational concepts, for example current ecological and economic approaches to address global warming. We need to create a whole spectrum of insights, including the transformation of many aspects of human consciousness, so that we could again relate to the essence of the Earth soul.

Over the last decades we have been witnessing the following steps being made on a global level towards a new culture tuned to the essence of the Earth:

• The modern ecological consciousness and movement represents the first basic step, signalling the will of humanity to change its attitude towards the Earth planet.
• The next step involves diverse efforts to create an awareness of the multidimensional nature of the Earth and her creation, including human beings as part of Gea’s cosmos. Out of these efforts the art and experimental science of geomancy is developing as a form of holistic ecology. The goal of geomancy is to provide our modern culture with methods of understanding the flow of life forces, and with methods of perceiving the hitherto less known dimensions of existence.
• The present ecological and economic crisis confronting our civilization demands a third step, to move further ahead on this path and create a kind of partner culture upon the planet. We need to create a new kind of culture that is able to rediscover and cultivate the love-based dimensions connecting human beings and the Earth – and to manifest them in everyday life. Let us call this already evolving future culture Gea Culture.

In order to develop this Gea Culture we first need to transform our dogmatic and rationally based concepts about who the Earth is and who we are as human beings – and to change our cultural norms and practices accordingly.

1. Who is Gaia, or Gea, the being of our Planet?

• Gaia represents the noosphere, the sphere of consciousness of the planet Earth. This sphere of consciousness permeates all beings of the life organism of the Earth, be it landscapes, animals, elemental beings, atoms, mountains, human beings, microbes, oceans, or drops of water … Gaia embodies the life furthering principle of our planet.
• According to the ancient Greek tradition, Gaia is acknowledged as a Goddess in order to make clear that she represents not only a consciousness distributed among all beings of life, but also a cosmic being as the guiding agent behind the life giving force. This is a precondition that makes spiritual contact and communication between human beings and Gaia possible.
• Gaia as the ensouling principle of the Earth can appear in different forms related to a given cultural background or image of the world – it could be a mythical, shamanic, religious, geomantic or scientific world image.
• The feminine aspect of Gaia is complemented with a masculine aspect that can be called the spirit of the Earth. The masculine aspect focuses and concentrates upon the spiritual role of the Earth planet, upholding and maintaining its identity.

2. Community of all beings

It is not possible to live in peace with the Earth as long as we relate to and manage other beings of the Earth as inferior, as inanimate or without consciousness.

• The various manifested forms of life – plants, animals, and minerals, including their elemental consciousness – are not destined to be our slaves, to be manipulated or destroyed as if they have no intrinsic value or life or consciousness. These beings represent different archetypes of life that are an integral part of the evolving life and consciousness of the Earth.
• All these beings represent creative potentials through which Gaia intends to communicate and collaborate with us and with our global culture.
• Instead of economic, political and social institutions and conventions that function only among humans, we are faced with the challenge of creating, supporting and nurturing new attitudes and practices to embrace an enlarged family of beings, and of providing each member of the emerging geaculture with a respected and protected place within the global community.

3. Self-knowledge

It is not possible to develop a new and mutually fulfilling partnership between human culture and the Earth if we human beings do not understand and become who we truly are in relationship to our core essence.

• The path to self-knowledge is the first step – exploring and experiencing who we are as human beings, as a nexus of different worlds and extensions of life, as an intrinsic part of an evolving and multidimensional planetary consciousness.
• Learning to hold and maintain one’s inner peace, centeredness and grounding is the second goal.
• We should not hesitate taking on a third endeavour – developing an ethically based personal practice to guide us in meeting the daily challenges of our global world in transition.

4. The autonomous spiritual path

It is not possible to develop a new and fulfilling partnership between human culture and the Earth if there is no willingness to transform various religious conceptions that deny the divine essence of the Earth and of Gea’s creation.

• The division between heaven and earth, between the realm of spirit and the realm of embodied life, is becoming unbearable. In this sense the Earth should be accepted as an autonomous cosmos, complete in itself, including its own spiritual dimensions and its own divine core. Then at the next level of existence the Earthly cosmos in turn represents a holographic unit of the solar system and of the larger universe.
• The human being has the maturity and capacity to make a responsible and free decision about how to connect with the divine essence of the universe, as well as how to reconnect with one’s core essence.
• We can also undertake the next step and find ways to relate to the sacredness of the Earth and all of Gea’s beings, spiritually as well as practically. The will to communicate and connect, to open one’s heart and mind, and to share one’s presence with other beings, is the basis of this sacred path.

5. Education

As part of the Gea-culture it is essential to engage creatively in transforming our existing systems of education.

• We should protect and nurture the natural sensibility of the child in relationship to all the different beings and levels of existence. Human beings whose sensitivity towards different facets of life has been encouraged and supported can naturally become loving partners of the Earth and co-creative inhabitants of the Earthly cosmos.
• Next, the education system can help young people recognize that they are pluri-dimensional beings playing and creating within an environment that is equally rich on different dimensions of existence.
• Children should be empowered to distinguish what is true and what is not true, and be able to discriminate and navigate a world where powers of illusion separate human beings from their true essence.
• A primary goal of the education system should be to help human beings discover and know their purpose and their creative place within the enlarged planetary family, so that in the course of their lives they can contribute to the beauty and richness of life.

6. Abundance of life

The Earth is a planet of extraordinary fertility and vital abundance. Today we see a great part of humanity in poverty, diminished, starving. The resources of the Earth are being managed wastefully, destructively. To address and change this tragic situation we must transform the principles upon which our global economy functions.

• As a global culture, we need to gather the courage and wisdom to open ourselves to different levels of the multidimensional Earth. These dimensions represent the inexhaustible reserves of life force treasured by Gea. To undertake this task we must overcome the rationally-based denial and prejudices regarding the so-called subtle dimensions of reality. Let us support efforts to establish a new scientific paradigm that honours the pluri-dimensionality of nature, the Earth and human beings.
• The search towards inexhaustible “free energy” has meaning and is life-supporting only if coupled with the transformation of consciousness and a collective decision of humanity to hold to high ethical standards related to the Earth and its beings, visible and invisible.
• We need to restore the cycle of exchange between human beings and the worlds of the Earth and nature. As a culture we take from the Earth what we think we need, we consume these resources, and discard what is left. This is not a cycle of exchange but a one-way path that leads to the spiritual impoverishment of human beings and the plundering and destruction of the Earth.
• To restore the cycle we must first ask ourselves what we can give to the Earth and its beings. We humans carry within ourselves spiritual and creative potentials that can open new possibilities for the enfoldment of the Earth and all beings, thus enriching the cycle of life, and creating a flow and manifestation of abundance.

7. The art of geomancy

The Earth is a conscious planet with its own destiny within the universe. Gea, the Earth soul, is not capable of sustaining and preserving life if her focuses of life force and of elemental consciousness, occurring in landscapes throughout the planet, are not free to breathe and function according to their design. Our civilization’s ignorance of these aspects of the Earth too often blocks the proper functioning and vitality of many of these places.

The art of geomancy is being developed so that human culture can gain insights into the crucial importance of the vital-energy organism of Gea, the elemental consciousness of the Earth, and its sacred dimensions. This newly discovered approach and knowledge is of little use if not put into practice:

• To take part in the enfolding Gea-culture we should develop and practice our sensibility and perception of the soul essence of nature, the Earth and its elemental beings.
• The results of such deeper perception regarding places and landscapes should be respected and incorporated into the urban and landscape planning, teaching in universities and into the innumerable activities that characterize our modern culture.
• We must develop the political, social and economic means to protect those places upon the Earth that are of decisive and critical importance to the healthy life and vitality of the planet and its beings. As traditional societies have done over millennia, we can and should create new ritual forms through which the sacredness of these places and the Earth can be recognized and celebrated.

8. The new space

Gea, the Earth soul is a dynamic being permanently evolving and creating new conditions for life, renewing the space and time structures so that all beings, visible and invisible beings   can find the best conditions for their development.

• Facing the danger that under the circumstances created by the contemporary civilization the life systems upon the planet could collapse; Gea has started to create new space and time foundations for our present and future development.
• The new space and time framework transcends the boundaries of logical perception and is composed as a multidimensional structure that gives enough space to all beings visible and invisible to live in peace and creative interaction.
• The new space is first of all an ethical category. It is built upon loving, conscious and co-creative relationships between all beings involved in the web of life upon the Earth and within its subtle places and dimensions.
• The new space of reality is already nowadays the supporting factor of life in Gaia’s universe but we can not perceive it and take part in it until dedicating conscious attention to its presence.

Together with its beings visible and invisible, Gea, the Earth soul has offered human beings the wonderful opportunity to live and breathe within the world of physical matter and to enjoy the beauty and the creative potentials of the incarnated world. To an extent we have transformed her hospitality into valuable experiences and creative deeds; at the same time we have also exploited her without regard to consequences and without regard to other beings of life then human.

The time to decide which of these two paths we will take into the future has arrived. The only path that makes sense is the path of reconnection with the essence of life and embracing a loving partnership with Gea, the Earth soul. This path may involve a challenging transformation of consciousness of all beings on Earth as Gea continues to evolve into the future.

Marko Pogačnik UNESCO Artist for Peace, 2008-2018

WATCH VIDEOS:

Marko Pogačnik – Discourse on Geoculture: “Earth is consciousness, first of all” – December 2009 (14 min)

Marko Pogačnik – Discourse on Geoculture: “Our space of reality is transforming” – December 2009 (16 min)