The Path Home

     One of my favorite Monty Python moments is the meeting of the  Peoples Front of Judea (PFJ), from The Life of Brian.
 "What did the Romans ever do for us," their leader asks?
"They built the aquaduct." someone answers sheepishly.
"Its safe to walk the streets at night," people continue to chime in, making the list of Roman accomplishments embarrassingly long.

     There's a lot we can say about the good and the bad of our culture. We create toxic environments and invent cures for the diseases they cause. We've come to understand the Earth in some extraordinary ways, yet most of us live detached from the fundamental experiences the natural world has to offer. We create farming methods to feed the world while we diminish the nutritional value of said food and bankrupt the ecosystems that built our soil to begin with.
     We are the Romans AND the PFJ, at once the exploiters and the exploited. Some of us pick sides, others jump back and forth, most of us work endlessly trying to find a middle ground that still moves us towards a better way of life.

"Is this a recycle/reuse moment, or a Home Depot moment?"
"Do I journey to the spirits to ask them about removing this plant, or simply rip it from the ground like the gringo I am?"
Life is sometimes complicated.

     Terrence Mckenna coined the phrase "Archaic Revival" to describe an awakening of shamanic consciousness in the modern world.  Today, in sustainable homesteading circles, the concept of "high tech/low tech" as a path to a sacred and sustainable future serve as a similar banner under which many of us can happily gather.
     DIY videos on youtube help us build alternative water systerns. Chainsaws help us harvest timber when an ax would just take too long. Home grown ritual, and entheogenic tourism enhance our experience of the natural world. Are we developing an alternative lifestyle or just a 'kinder and gentler' exploitative way of life? Complicated.
     Its times like these that the Monty Pythons of the world really earn their keep as sacred clowns. I firmly believe life is a process of taking  yourself less seriously, I know I need all the help I can get in that department. Laughter may be the only real answer here.
     Terrence thought all of what we were going through, the horrors and graces of our way of life, were leading us towards a singular historical moment that would change everything. I'd like to think he's right, that we'll be catapulted forward into a world that shines with all the brilliance of modernity but vibrates with the powerful voice of this sacred Earth we all get to be a part of.
     I have, however, come to believe that the most ancient tool of all - laughter - will be the most important companion on this journey. The path back to a sacred way of life will be littered with many events, tragic, ecstatic and everything in between. The grace of laughter is perhaps the only force big enough to embrace it all.