There is such simple and impactful connotations in this quote by Goethe. I would add, “and if we swept in front of our neighbors door, if we offered our SEVA (service), together we’d get the work accomplished much faster!”

Our species stands at a collective crossroads, with the implications of our past arriving to impact the potential of our future. One thing we must fully acknowledge is the irrepressible truth that we stand at a monumental precipice. We can collectively continue down our current cultural path which creates strain, isolation, and distraction while our planet, our families, our health, our vitality struggles…

OR…..

We can engage this growth edge, lean into this choice point and find our way HOME to the Village. Now is the time to realize our individual empowerment to act as Global Change Agents.

So, where do we begin? How do we use our one, precious life to make an impact, to play our part in this story we are all weaving together?

Well, to start, sweep in front of your own door. Translation; make change where you can by educating yourself to make informed choices, live a healthy low impact lifestyle, be conscious of your impact on others, and bring your gift, your genius out into the world.

Once you are overflowing in your life, you’ve created vitality, purpose, sustainance, and meaning, you can then naturally bring your gifts abundantly to the collective feast. You can come generously to the table of life and share your talents, your passion, your resources, time, and offer your SEVA ( service) to co- create a thriving community that benefits all.

In this way, we deepen our connection to our self, our home, to each other, and to the Spirit of life that connects us all.

So, what is the Village and how do we get there?

The Village is our unifying home and heart that connects us all in an interdependent and mutual web. The Village is our intergenerational multicultural cooperative stewardship of our land, our seed, our water, our air, our children, our elders, our families, our systems, our viability, our resources, our art, our schools, our health, well being, our visions, our potential, our joy.

Whether in urban or rural communities, we are all able to return to the REMEMBERANCE of our inherent NEED to help each other, to cooperate, to share, to learn and teach, to play, to build, and to leave a legacy for our children.

As we create personal empowerment and community interconnection in our local regions and utilize the powerful tool of information sharing provided by the wide spread access to the Internet, we can connect to others with like minds and hearts making change in their own communities. Because the truth is around the world there are active and committed humans co- creating our collective tomorrow, one simple act at a time.

In this way, we do our part to be a healthy cell in our shared organism, individual and connected, a piece of the whole.

VillageModel Communities Inspire:

• Resiliency and fortified vitality

• Inter-dependancy and inter-connection, a sense of BElonging to a People and a Place

• Harnessing our Collective Intelligence to find Innovative Solutions and creative pathways to meeting our needs for survival and THRIVAL

• Personal Empowerment to make a difference, to create change and be in service

• REmemberance of skill sets and self sufficiency that is only one- two generations forgotten

• Collaboration and mutuality that creates energy and resource efficiency to support sustainable and thriving communities

• Honoring the inherent and deeply rooted need to feel valued within a community, to have purpose, to share meaning

• Intergenerational worth… each person contributes the gift of their place in the circle of life:

• Harnessing the innovation, the fresh perspective, the hightened energy of youth and the wisdom, the insight, the temperance, the capacity of eldarship to weave co-creative pathways while the mid- generation applies, builds, fortifies, implements for the sake of the community

You are a unique and precious gift and a necessary ingredient to this collective feast. It takes a Village to Raise a Planet.

Wanna play? GET CURIOUS! Fortify your knowledge! ACTivate your potential! Share your gifts!

Local Resources for Inspired ACTion

Fishbon Arts Collective

Youth Interactive Santa Barbara

Save the Mermaids- Ocean Conservation Education

SOL Food Festival

Santa Barbara Farmers Market

Isla Vista Food Co-op

Divinitree Santa Barbara

Elements Theatre Collective

Friends of Trees

Edible Communities( CSA)

Community Environmental Orgs. Listing

Oh… and of course… LUCIDITY FESTIVAL!

P.S…. this is a very short list. There are a million other ways to get involved in community organizations doing wonderful work in the world, and if you can’t find a group doing the type of work that you’re interested in… START ONE!