DEFEND THE SACRED

The title of the book was also that of a gathering of international activists held in the Tamera Community of Portugal in August 2018, just before my first visit. The event itself was inspired by the non-violent resistance at Standing Rock in 2016 and the conviction that we must now stand together against the wholesale destruction of life and the assault on our natural ecosystems. I have written two reviews in these pages of books by one of the founders of the Community, Dieter Duhm, who refers to the sacred matrix of life. The book comes under the overall auspices of the Grace Foundation, which is working with organisations and individuals to initiate a global system change: 'from the system of war, exploitation and environmental destruction to a system of peace, trust and cooperation with nature.' In this context, Tamera is a 'healing biotype', a centre of research and experimentation towards a regenerative lifestyle. Perhaps the most striking aspect of Tamera is the tangible field of trust built up over many years and into which the visitor enters on arrival.

One of the unique and essential features of Tamera is the connection between ecological values, spiritual knowledge and political engagement, all of which is found in these pages. As my friend Martin Winiecki asks in his introduction, is there any way to overcome global capitalism given the extent of the existential and ecological crises we face? Along with many others, he is convinced that the ecological, economic, social and political orders that have shaped our lives cannot be sustained, and apparently the power elites already refer to the moment of collapse as 'the event.' He sees our choice as that between a totalitarian nightmare or global revolution, and communities like Tamera already embody this revolutionary future in a decentralised fashion. The answer is not so much resistance as building 'decentralised, autonomous, community focused alternatives to the centralised systems of power' in which the feminine voice and values of cooperation are heard.

The book consists mainly of transcripts of interviews with about 50 of the visionaries who attended the gathering, under the general headings of energy systems without fossil fuels, healing water and cooperating with nature, a planetary community of solidarity and compassion, the female revolution, transformation of the economy beyond an extraction infrastructure, and visions as the drive towards a new earth. It is very significant that we in the West are now attending to indigenous wisdom that highlights our connection with the Earth and how to take care of our planetary home, insights that we have forgotten in our relentless pursuit of unending growth. One of the elders from Standing Rock, Ladonna Brave Bull Allard, delivers a powerful address on indigenous resistance and the need to spread hope – she sees Standing Rock as a seed of knowledge about how we can live on Earth again. She is compassionate in believing that there are no bad people, only traumatised people and that we must hold to a positive vision beyond resistance - this represents Gandhian soul force.

One of the features of Tamera is its success in introducing a water retention landscape in a previously arid area, and we learn that the indigenous understanding of water is much more profound – Mni is 'a loving, moving, growing, cleansing and powerful living being.' This view emphasises the intrinsic nature of the sacred both around us, within us and between us in terms of the power of love, trust and solidarity. Fighting against violence reinforces separation, hence the need to use the power of trust for healing purposes. Brigida Gonzales from Colombia speaks movingly of her path of forgiveness and healing, in spite of receiving death threats in connection with her peace community work - indeed 300 people from the community have been killed in its 21 years of existence. Similar heartening stories of courage and vision are reported from around the world.

The new feminine power in the community is represented by the other co-founder, Sabine Lichtenfels, who with her partner Dieter Duhm has worked to transform our understanding of love and female sexuality as a sacred force of life in the face of a predominant patriarchal culture that needs the counterbalance of compassion and the heart expressed in sacred activism. Charles Eisenstein speaks about transformation from a system of extraction to a system of giving where extraction is associated with the values of growth, control, separation, competition and commodification through conversion into money. In a later extract, he senses that a vision is already present in our world - we simply need to listen for it and bow in service to humanity. For Sabine this means finding a greater life purpose reconnecting with the whole and revealing 'the point in us where the sacred can work through us to forge a global alliance and world community.' Those in need of a strong draught of hope and inspiration need look no further than this visionary collection, a beacon for a New World rather than an imposed New World Order which we all long for in our hearts and to which we are more than capable of devoting ourselves.