DOWN to EARTH A story by Renata Heinen & Rolf Winters
REFLECTIONS ON OUR JOURNEY Renata Heinen & Rolf Winters
SEEKING We were simply not satisfied with the way things were and felt. That’s why we became ‘seekers’. Not seeeking someone else’s truth, but our own. Just as Nowaten would tell us four years later. But what exactly were we looking for? We had a very good life. We were ‘successful’, measured by the standards of our society: we were independent, we had a well-running company, we were busy with meaningful matters, we had plenty of creative freedom and we lived in a beautiful spot in Amsterdam with our three healthy children. But what does someone else’s yardstick mean when something gnaws inside,
a sense of unrest resides within? What is success worth in a system where you feel less and less at home? It was like a 3D picture; the longer you look at it, the more layers you start to discover. For us, that meant becoming aware of being part of a crucial generation, a generation that cannot afford to hide behind a smoke screen of conventions and learned beliefs. The whole framework of the society in which we participated began to falter before us. How can you continue to believe in a linear transactional growth model while it systematically undermines the basic conditions for life on Earth? As we 8
enjoyed a cosmopolitan life in the heart of Amsterdam, and before that London, we became increasingly aware of the shortcomings and the venom of our society. Like many others, we looked with more and more concern into the future of our children, not to mention the generations after them. Because when you see how destructive our collective pattern is and how stuck the system is in its own spiral, every extrapolation leads to desperation. An eye opener for us was that we realized that we ourselves were players in this bizarre play. We considered ourselves free-thinking, progressive and conscious people, who made informed choices in our lives. But the more we thought we were distancing ourselves from the system, the more we saw that we were entangled in its tentacles. Our world has become so complex that every day you easily and almost unnoticeably get involved in processes that seriously threaten our
living environment. The comfort of the global economy is that we notice very little of the source-devastating back end of the system. We still don’t feel the hard consequences of our ‘progress’ and obsession with ever-growing. So we started to wonder, what can we do as parents? What are we meant to do here as humans - in this life? How can we not only contribute to a better world, but above all how can we prepare our children for their future and the significant challenges they will face? ROAMING Incorporating our growing children into the school system was perhaps the push we needed. We had found a good school, but with all the goodwill of special education, schools are primarily geared to deliver “system participants” rather than the “system questioners” and thinkers this generation will have to produce. It just didn’t feel right to let our children get sucked into a system that focuses 9
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I’M CONCERNED ABOUT ALL HUMAN LIFE. I FIND IT SAD FOR HUMANS FOR NOT KNOWING WHO THEY REALLY ARE. THAT’S WHY I CALL IT THE ILLUSION. BUT THIS IS THE CHANGING OF TIMES. NOWATEN –
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MOKOMPO OLE SIMEL – You mean fear of death, fear of diseases, fear of the lack of food, or fear of people? We don’t carry fear. ROLF – And how do you see that the absence of fear is related to your people being content, being happy? MOKOMPO OLE SIMEL – It is true, we as a people are happy, despite having few material things. We are happy because of our relationships, our close social ties, and our unity. Every tribal member identifies with each other across our land. Love binds us together. ROLF – Your way of life seems all centred around community. Our world is based much more around the individual, which is also what has brought us progress. How do you view this progress? MOKOMPO OLE SIMEL – Now listen, my sons, this is becoming interesting. Because this so-called 50
progress has killed many nations. Tell him I like this discussion and I am happy because it is very relevant today. We all love money, but money can be evil. It’s consuming our world, destroying our land, people and environment. Money is just paper but it has been given a lot of power. What destroys people is selfishness. Egocentrism has led to the exploitation of others, especially by those in influential positions. That’s how the world is suffering today. Everybody is for themselves. People don’t love each other anymore. Wealth kills. Poverty is wisdom. A hungry stomach is full of wisdom. You will know how to take care of yourselves, your environment and have peace.
FILM STILL
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MOKOMPO OLE SIMEL – People wonder why my forest has survived while others have been depleted. When you lose nature, including land and forest like this, then there is no purpose in living. You will be as good as dead. The Earth reacts by refusing to give us rains and making conditions harsh for us. The Earth becomes uninhabitable. It will also bring a lot of spiritual poverty. We depend on nature, on forests, for spiritual connection. Without it, there will be nothing. That’s why people are lost. 63
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Arnhemland, Northern Territory, Australia
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NOWATEN – It was always the women that had total control of all the children. They were already witnessing, uh, certain traits. LANGANI MARIKA – You can smell… NOWATEN – And if they saw that, in one of them boys, they would tell that to the elders: ‘Keep your eye on this one, he shows promise’. LANGANI MARIKA – Let’s walk back. Go! NOWATEN – That’s how the great leaders, all the chiefs of the history here, that’s how they were raised. They were watched from the time they were little boys. There was leadership among the women. They were watched in the same way. LANGANI MARIKA – I tell the boys the story about the past about how our people lived. I tell them, you have to listen, as I am the only elder of the Rirratjinu clan. 128
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LIFE IS A GIFT OF MOTHER EARTH. BE SATISFIED WITH WHAT MOTHER EARTH PROVIDES YOU. MOTIRAM BAIGA –
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MOTIRAM BAIGA – My grandfather was a medicine man. After him, my father was a medicine man. After my father, I inherited the knowledge. Though my father is dead, he is still with me. And he guides me. He tells me which shrub, which root will give me different medicine. All medicines are available in the jungle. The herbs and roots in the jungle are for everyone. They are there for the treatment of people. 176
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SUMPA – We live in harmony in our forest together with our family and brothers. We are only preoccupied with hunting and fishing, building our houses and caring for the land. 207
THE ONLY GIFT GIVEN TO HUMAN BEINGS WAS THE POWER TO HAVE DREAMS AND VISIONS. NOWATEN –
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NOWATEN – I’ve been to places that were just as real as I am sitting here, by travelling in spirit. Kind of makes me think sometimes, knowing about that gift. I can leave at any time, which could be what has happened with great nations, that they were highly spiritual people. Not like us, we are common. Our spirit would probably have a blue light, where the highly spiritual ones are totally white. This is what I have learned. 260
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HOW WE LIVE EVERY DAY, IS A CEREMONY. AKEEKWE –
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