Andrea Olsen
It is time to encourage what we tend to ignore. –John C. Elder
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Outer and inner sustainability go hand in hand, like urban-rural interdependence. It’s good to discern priorities in sustainable initiatives, staying focused on issues such as climate, energy, and land use. It’s also essential to address the whole–what humans do and the motivations driving those choices.
One goal of involving dance in environmental projects is to bring the body into broader discussions of sustainability. In this view, “body” includes all the “parts,” including mental, physical, intuitive, emotional, and spiritual aspects of self. The word body often receives dismissive response: it is deemed too simple for serious discussion, and so complex that it is left to the experts, like neuroscientists and doctors.
Yet we all have a body; it’s the medium through which we know the world and ourselves. The degree to which we are embodied–aware and in balance–underlies our capacity for effective choice making. Neediness and imbalance, on the other hand, drive consumptive and aggressive behaviors individually and globally, interrupting mindful choice making. How do we interrupt this interruption?
Although we tend to distrust the senses, they provide experiential “ground truthing” for conceptual discourse. Bringing personal experience in dialogue with what we’ve been told is true, involves a willingness to feel. Relationship with ourselves, each other, and our surroundings through the senses invites a particular form of kinship with self and other. Body systems and Earth systems are inherently interconnected: our bones, breath, and blood are the minerals, air, and water inside us. Thus, the word embodiment can be extended to include not only the human body, but the Earth.
What does it feel like in your body to be sustained, supported, and uplifted? What creates those sensations in your life? How does one amplify that which sustains and diminish that which depletes, moment by moment? Conservationist Aldo Leopold writes: “Man always kills the thing he loves.” It’s time for a new mindset, cultivating sufficient awareness to sustain both life and love. Sustainability and creativity go hand in hand, partners on the journey.
