For artists and media makers, business and nonprofit leaders, ecologists and ethicists, healers and spiritual teachers, educators and families, and leaders in other disciplines, Earthfire Institute is both a refuge for reflection on how to create a truly sustainable world and a living laboratory for exploring one’s work through new eyes.
Artists and Media Makers
The real journey of discovery consists not of seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes… Marcel Proust
Artists and media makers already look at the world differently from most people. At Earthfire they will visit with the animals in a near natural setting – hear their stories, see their bodies in action – how they move and interact. Some will see these creatures in colors, others in bold words – others perhaps in music, photography, video or sound –resulting in a new perspective of the animal world. A retreat will give you dramatic, sensory impressions that you can translate into tangible works of art, and ultimately change the perception humans have of animals.
Ecologists and Ethicists
‘The essence of deep ecology is to ask deeper questions.’ It is only by asking deep questions of today’s industrialized, growth-oriented, greedy, materialistic society that we will force a paradigm shift.” Arne Naess
Ecologists and ethicists, who share the basic belief that animals and wild areas have value in themselves, will have an opportunity to validate their philosophy at Earthfire. Spending time with the animals and learning of their habitat in the Yellowstone to Yukon Corridor will give these groups an intimate look at nature that few will ever experience.
The belief in the sacredness of nature is abundant here and will aid individuals and group to focus on action to protect nature and bring about ideas for fundamental societal change.
Spiritual and Wellness Leaders
“The problem we face is fundamentally because of a lack of relationship, not just with each other but with all nature…because we’ve moved into a reductive kind of awareness that is based on alienation and separation. We have to change that relationship to one of co-creation.” Peter Senge, et al, Presence
Wellness and spiritual teachings often leave out animals and plants as significant and equal participants in life. If they do include them, it tends to be in the abstract rather than a vivid, personal sense of their individuality and importance. The inter-species experience available at EF help gives us a sense of belonging to the larger family of all living things. Writer Alexandra Fuller stated “I came to Earthfire thinking I would have compassion for the animals. I left realizing that they have compassion for us, and that we need it more than they do.” Come spend time with the animals, understand their needs, and accept their compassion. Multiple meetings with the animals, discussions, animal music, meditation, and artistic recordings of your experience, will move us along this journey.
Educators
In the end, we will conserve only what we love, we will love only what we understand, we will understand only what we are taught. Baba Dioum, Senegalese Conservationist
Nature is the first ethical teacher of man. — Peter Kropotkin
“The children and nature movement is fueled by this fundamental idea: the child in nature is an endangered species, and the health of children and health of the Earth are inseparable.” Richard Louv, from Last Child in the Woods. Earthfire host retreats for educators looking to explore the implications of lack of connection with nature and the education of students in the 21st century. Storytelling and group reflections allow participants to integrate their experiences into new educational models as well as curriculums for school programs that engage students with the natural world.
Business Non Profit and Community Leaders
“Our brains are divided into two hemispheres. The left hemisphere is sequential, logical and analytical. The right hemisphere is nonlinear, intuitive, and holistic…. Today, the defining skills of the previous era-the “left brain” capabilities that powered the Information Age – are necessary but no longer sufficient. And the capabilities we once disdained or thought frivolous – the “right-brain” qualities of inventiveness, empathy, …
Earthfire is a one-of-a-kind setting for socially responsible business, non-profit, and community leaders to develop their organizations and the strengths and capabilities required in today’s business culture. Through direct interactions with EF animals, guests shift their focus from left-brain to right-brain activity, stimulating neural pathways that enhance big-picture visioning and creativity.
Earthfire’s Mission in Action by Pat Hager