No whole system can ignore the personal and interpersonal aspects of our lives. The term “permaculture” — although it began as a contraction of “permanent” and “agriculture” and was originally focused on land and ecosystems — has come to encompass the whole of society and a broader definition of what it takes to create a “permanent culture.”
Our life extends well beyond what we do (whether we can grow vegetables, build a greenhouse, or plumb a graywater system). We have an inner, personal life that directly affects how we move through the world, how we navigate our relationships, and the roles we have in our community. Our internal motivations, our personal and family history, and our emotional and mental clarity can work for us or can sabotage us. The work we do in the world must include our own inner work — the work to free ourselves to be full and whole members of our families and communities. Whether or not we acknowledge it, our inner life affects the world around us and the way we perceive the world.
This became especially clear to me in 1996 when my wife, Kemper, and I moved to Lost Valley Educational Center, an intentional permaculture-oriented community in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains of Oregon. We were very excited about living on the land, growing food, and doing all the great work that goes with it. I was focused on the hard skills and the land work to be done, but within a short time the complexity and challenges of living closely with other people began to surface; personal issues came into play, hidden feelings surfaced, arguments arose. I quickly saw that the work of living in a community with others was going to be a big challenge. Clear communication was utterly necessary, as was identifying and addressing the internal processes that were blocking me from being my full and present self, living closely with others.
At Lost Valley, we had a weekly business meeting, which focused on the businesses we ran together, and a weekly community meeting, which focused on interpersonal and community issues. It became apparent during the many hours in meetings, circles, and side conversations with my fellow communitarians that living together was the most difficult aspect of life in a community. Hosting educational programs, growing food, raising kids, even running businesses together was relatively easy compared to the work of staying present and clear in relationships. It also became apparent that once the inner work was attended to (an ongoing process), the outer work of life could proceed easily and with grace.
If we don’t attend to the interpersonal issues, then myriad troubling, difficult, sad, and intrusive behaviors arise and interfere with our relationships. These can keep us from becoming our best self, and prevent us from recognizing our own gifts and being able to share them with our community. It takes time and effort to build the relationships and trust required to regenerate community. Over time, as the bonds develop and strengthen, people begin to feel comfortable leaning on each other in times of need; sharing surplus of time, food, or energy for work; supporting each other as children grow to adults or elders pass away — through all the joys and sorrows of life.
Focused observation, in nature and within ourselves, is a core practice for creating awareness in our everyday lives. You can observe the land for animal tracks or water movement, and also internally “track” your thoughts, reactions (or nonreactions), and emotional states. Open observation is a practiced skill of looking without judgment or labeling. When we observe openly, patterns emerge that we would miss if we quickly scan and identify or label whatever we see. In the practice of nature awareness, this wide-angle vision, sometimes called “owl eyes,” helps us stay open to all input without putting a name to it. When we label and box things and project our own perceptions of “good” or “bad” or even just attach our own definitions to them, we miss the subtleties and possibly some very important information.
Whether or not we acknowledge it, our inner life affects the world around us and the way we perceive the world.