Earth Rebels Session 1 - Rising Together

The old Earth is dying. Our culture of consumption, of competition, and of constant development is bringing thousands of species to extinction and destroying entire ecosystems. And we are killing ourselves in the process. But with the advent of death comes the possibility of new lif - a new, flourishing human culture. My name is Albin, and I want to invite you to this session of Earth Rebels.

Transcript

Have you noticed something strange recently?

We get repeated reports about species that are going extinct,

Seas that are rising,

Forests being clear cut,

Our oceans are full of plastic and our colleagues and friends are getting burned out and depressed like never before.

Despite this,

Most of the people around us go on with their lives as if nothing is happening.

They keep struggling at their jobs,

Work hard to get their academic degrees and spend the evening in front of the TV or computer.

All of this while our scientists tell us we have about 10 years before our culture has disrupted our climate to such a degree that planet earth might become uninhabitable for a large part of humanity.

Doesn't this make you crazy?

This numbness,

This business as usual makes me want to scream,

Scream because it is so dangerous.

This is the same numbness that allowed our switch to happen.

This is the same numbness that makes homelessness possible even though we have enough homes for everyone.

The very same numbness that makes 9 million people die of starvation every year even though we have enough food to feed all of humanity.

We are not born with this numbness.

We have been taught it and unconsciously learned to close our heart,

To isolate us from the painful experiences a human being can have.

But the isolation and numbness creates another far more painful suffering.

How do we break free from this numbness then?

That's exactly what we are going to do in this course.

Breaking free from the chains of samsara and the cultural forces of oppression that have been going on far far too long here on earth.

A warning though,

It's going to take more than just meditation and yoga.

You're going to have to make a revolution.

Not the kind of revolution we have seen before,

Where the leaders at the top of the pyramid of power is merely replaced by new leaders.

Think of Napoleon after the French revolution,

Stalin in Soviet,

Mao in China and many others.

This new kind of revolution is already taking place all around the earth.

It won't be televised though and it probably won't be fine on Facebook either.

It's here,

In Inside Timer,

In your spiritual communities and in all places where people gather in this new culture of respect,

Love and kinship.

It is my hope that this course will empower you so that we can have your strength,

Your talents and your soul taking part in this new revolution that this world actually has never seen before.

The first step to this worldwide revolution is always found in our own suffering.

Because if the revolution is not personal,

An integrated part of your own life and your relationships,

It's not going to take us very far.

In Buddhism the first noble truth says that there is suffering in the human experience.

We're stuck in samsara,

In cyclic existence of everlasting,

Repeating suffering,

Lack of fulfillment and true happiness.

But there are more noble truths.

There are ways out of suffering.

When we acknowledge our suffering we begin the path of healing.

For me there isn't just one way out,

One true spiritual path better than all others.

I believe there are as many ways as there are people on earth.

We all have our own path to walk and it is time to get going.

We can't just wait for the revolution to happen.

Thirty years ago something remarkable happened on earth.

A tribe that had been living in self-shosen seclusion for 500 years in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in Colombia chose to come down from their mountain and initiate contact.

The name of these people is the Kugi people.

They found a BBC documentary maker and invited him to make a documentary about them called a message from the heart of the world.

In the movie they call themselves the older brothers and sisters and they have an important message for us,

To you and me,

Who they call younger brother and younger sister.

We are the younger brothers and sisters,

We in the industrialized society.

Younger because we have not yet learned how to live this life in harmony with all of life.

Younger and immature because it is our lifestyles that are destroying the very foundations for life on earth.

Despite living secluded in their mountains,

The Kugis are not separated from what is going on in the world.

They have witnessed the melting glaciers and the lack of birds.

They have felt what is going on in the ecosystems,

So they decided to give us a warning.

We are now living outside of the laws of nature,

Where nature is now turning against man and becoming the enemy.

Climate change is the consequence of the fact that man is operating outside the laws of life and laws of nature,

The law of the balance of the world,

And doing so will destroy the balance.

This might not be news for you.

The suffering of the earth might not be news for you.

But what can we do?

What can we do against the empire of oil,

Greed,

And domination?

That is the topic of this course.

How we can stand up together,

Rise through our darkness,

Suffering,

Heal together,

And come together as a global human family to protect the earth and to co-create a new kind of human culture.

One that flourishes.

One that nourishes and replenishes.

One that works for everyone,

Not just the select few.

As the native Inuit elder Angayak says,

Just like the arctic ice in his home,

Greenland,

Is melting,

We need to melt the ice in the heart of man.

So how do we melt this ice in our hearts?

All the tensions and pain in our bodies.

How do we break all of us free from this numbness?

Well that's what we're going to do in this course.

We're going to break free with a spiritual rebellion.

As we initiate this journey together,

I would like to invite you now for a meditation.

A meditation to find your intention with taking this course.

You can begin by perhaps making a deep sigh,

Settle yourself,

And become aware of your own breath.

Of how you are breathing the atmosphere around you.

In each breath you give back the air in your lungs that you have borrowed from the vast ocean of oxygen and hydrogen that is floating all around us.

This ocean of air.

So just let go of all thoughts for a while and be present with this renewal of your breath.

With every inhalation and exhalation.

To find your intention,

All you need to do is to ask this question to yourself.

Why am I here?

Why did I choose to take this course?

What called me here?

And what is it that I have longed for in my life?

Dreams,

Wishes,

That I have longed for a long time.

Ask this question to the deepest part of yourself.

Some call it soul.

It can have many names.

And listen with your breath.

If there is no clear answer that's not a problem.

We will return to this question later in the course.

It's just good to have in mind this intention and purpose as we go deeper.

And to conclude this first session I'll pass you a little story.

It's a story about what happens if we only try to please the opinions of others instead of following that little voice inside of us.

An old man,

A young girl and a donkey were going to town.

The girl rode on the donkey and the old man walked beside her.

As they went along they passed some people who remarked that it was a shame the old man was walking while the young girl was riding.

The girl got so embarrassed from the comments so they changed positions.

Then later they passed some people who remarked what a shame that that man makes that little girl walk.

Then the two of them decided they'd both walk.

And soon they passed some more people who thought they were stupid to walk when they had a decent donkey to ride.

So then they both decided to ride on the donkey.

And a little bit later they passed some people who said it was awful of them to put such a heavy load on the poor donkey.

The girl and the old man figured they were probably right and since they tried everything else they decided to carry the donkey.

As they crossed the bridge they lost their grip on the animal and the donkey fell into the river and drowned.

It's a good story to remember when we get too caught up in the opinions of others.

And now we're nearing the end of this first session.

I want to say thank you for making this journey with me.

It's going to be ten interesting sessions.

This course isn't just for you and me but actually it's for all of us.

For all living beings that depend on humanity's willingness to change.

To change our lifestyle,

Our beliefs and our culture into something new,

Something beautiful that actually works for everyone.

After each session you'll find a question.

Here you'll choose one out of four options.

Sometimes it's simply a question but after some sessions it's truly a quest where you get to choose a kind of a sacred mission for you to apply the knowledge from that session into your daily life.

I hope you'll enjoy these little missions.

Good luck and welcome on board.

Reviews

Thank you for this course. So good to know there are more people who feel this way. 💜🙏

Excited to band together with those who honor the earth and want her healthy.

Looking forward to the rest of this course 🙏

My curiosity is listening🌱🐦🎶

Tack Albin. My soul mission.