The Great Law of Peace -- The Right to a Traditional Form of Governance

We are the government – of all our nations. Those whom we see as occupying exalted positions of leadership, those who claim to have power over us, those we have traditionally invested with authority, are us. [Paradoxically] the minute we feel separate from them, we no longer exercise the autonomy that is rightfully ours. Externalisation of this power/control over our lives, no matter the reason given for it, amounts to a divestment of our responsibility for ourselves.

[Conversely – when we begin to feel part of and aligned 

with all there is,

 our creative power grows.]

  We the Guardians of Earth.. This just in.. Bolivia grants legal status to the earth!  

  http://worldtruth.tv/bolivia-gives-legal-rights-to-the-earth-2/  

What this means is that an imbalance exists, and we ourselves actively participate in it – even through inaction we are giving consent for its continuance.

  Centre for First Nations Governance has so much to offer! Find out about  

 success stories of their people, 

 an extensive list of documents, and strategies for community engagement amongst other things. 

 (The Five Important Pillars of Self Governance.)  

Now is a time of awakening. Walls are being shattered. How can we draw the line between nations, between the governing and the governed, when we realise we share so much – possibly even a soul. Whilst living, breathing creatures that we are have become experts at distinguishing ourselves from one another, the soul that is in us, that animates (our life and breath) makes no such claim. Separation is the luxury of the living and also our greatest stumbling block and heaviest burden.

  Konrad Adenauer Foundation (Stiftung) is included for their sheer volume of works 

 (so many you have to do a search to find anything) on political events and issues around the world. 

  Here is a sample article about Traditional Governance and African Customary Law in Namibia.  

If we saw ourselves and one another as our souls do and can, the game of fighting and taxing, ignoring and electing one another would be over. But it is not.

 The Commonwealth Journal of Local Governance (printed by UTS in Sydney online). 

 This article struggles with the issue of integrating traditional tribal government  

  with systems in place today, in Nigeria.  

What do we need, and what do we want? The most important thing in the world is our peaceable sustenance. We must be sustained in our quest for our own true nature. Peace is not necessary, it is essential for embarking on an inward journey. For a soul that is not at peace must forever occupy itself with the daily, physical [practical] survival of the body it has befriended and enlivened from the moment of birth onward.

 

  The work of the Africa Mentoring Institute.   

Not judging this research article by its sponsors (The World Bank Institute's Community Empowerment and Social Inclusion Learning Program-- CESI), I found this section "Principles of good governance and traditional authorities" starting p.17 particularly helpful and inspiring. There are some relevant text boxes with examples from Africa (Niger, Senegal, Mali, Cameroon, Mozambique, Congo, Northern Ghana and Burkina Faso). 

[Note- the World Bank is not the same as a global financial group I was thinking of.] 

The trail then lead me to this article, a hopeful story of land right restoration 

in Central America (to the Miskito people of Honduras and Nicaragua).

 

A story so good it needs two links.

Therefore, arrange your own environment in a peaceful fashion. It means to surrender (willingly give up) notions of right and wrong as they apply to the appearance and actions of those you notice around you. You may still choose, in your way, your own form of existence.

  The Nonprofit Quarterly e magazine promotes "an active and engaged democracy".  

  Here is what I found there. 

A summary of Mel Gill's article on nonprofit org governance follows:

 Each org has its own character and therefore specific governance needs. 

 It is useful to have, and be aware of, a range of governance options. 

 Overlap between executive board roles (the ends) and the management (means) 

 needs to be flexible and is ideally based on 

 strong relationships and communications between and amongst groups. 

 The org's structure (policies, rules, and roles) can be perpetuated both by 

 written and oral tradition. 

 Owners of the org are the ones who select the board 

 [as in a co-operative, where the members do this]. 

 Growth and diversification need to be mediated by existing structures (as related above) 

 so the group can function coherently in times of change. 

 Governance is not the main purpose of an org (its visions and goals are). 

 Governance is the process,  structure and traditions 

 behind the power to make decisions (and the responsibility), 

 and the ways in which the members of the group are empowered to participate. 

Gill concludes,

 "The critical elements of good governance lie in  

 creating a vision,

 securing resources,

 defining clear roles and responsibilities,

 establishing benchmarks for performance,

 monitoring them, and

 accounting to key stakeholders for the organization’s direction and performance."





You and I may might wonder if our needs are actually the same. For instance, do we eat the same things, enjoy the same things or even have similar strengths and weaknesses.




Almost certainly not; we are utterly perfect in respect to our [human] individuality. But our rights are the same! It is possible for me to recognise in you, myself and all others the same essence of humanity – divinity even. (And for you to do the same in me if you wish.)




Therefore, I can see that (and you may too) we are all equally worthy of respect.

 Also, from the Nonprofit Quarterly, here is a link (* see quote)  

  that introduces the topic of Sociocracy (also called Dynamic Governance). 

This is a method of governance that has found favour in many a Co-Housing Community.

For example, the Belfast Ecovillage (Maine, USA) shown below. Here is an item on a workshop conducted for ecovillagers {scroll down that page to find story}. 

 (*) “Everything is done with an aim,” explained Jerry Koch-Gonzalez 

 while leading a sociocracy workshop for Belfast Ecovillage. “The greater the divergence 

of the group [regarding the aim], the harder it is to work together.”  

On the ground, this respect takes many forms. Any form of government that differentially empowers, elevates or ennobles any one is fundamentally out of balance. By creating concentrations and vacuums of respect amongst the population.







Ideally, our governance should be linked with our sustenance as this is the common need of all people. Where government deviates, or encourages any one to deviate, from the continuing of his, her or any one's sustenance, then that government ceases to serve its people.

  An Austrotopia (Austrian Ecovillage Network) gathering. July 2011. 

The page shown above (* quote further below) on ecovillagenews.org was my introduction to the

 fascinating topic of Systemic Consensus. This is more of a process than a structure

 (Sociocracy is the latter) that helps a group find a speedy resolution to any decision-making task 

it chooses to undertake.

A systemic consensus website (German/English).

Relying on mathematics, it is a sophisticated type of preferential voting. Where each possible option

 receives a score (rather than ranking options in order as we do in Australian elections).

 The scoring process helps the voter identify their resistance to an option. 

 Fellowship for Intentional Community site on Systemic Consensus. 

 And an example vote. 

 A video with one of the inventors, Siegfried Schrotta. 

It is believed people are more clear about why they don't like something than why they do! 
The option least resisted by the group generally proves the most satisfactory. Then 
you can go back and fine tune options to reduce areas of resistance for all concerned. 
Basically it brings balance through numbers.

 

 Could this be something that allows the most 

 number of people to get the most of what they want 

 most of the time? (*) 

 Given that full consensus can be elusive and heartbreakingly difficult to achieve..  

To me, the traditions that are important are the ones that enable the earth to enable us to continue to live. This may even be called Natural Law. For the consequences of not following this law are not dealt by the hand of man or by woman [but by the very land and its creatures].




And I look forward to the day when man's and woman's action are not limited by the fear of negative counter-actions [repercussions] on the part of fellow people, or the earth.




But by one's inherent unwillingness to (knowingly) commit a harmful upon any other being, or to disadvantage, abuse, neglect or deprive one's neighbour of their rightful sustenance.

 A very recent media release (June 19, 2014). 

 The subject -- traditional owners of land in the north of Australia 

 (Muckaty Land Trust, Northern Land  Council) have succeeded 

 in stopping (!) a nuclear waste dump near their homes. 

 Greens Senator Scott Ludlam (WA, Australia) celebrates the victory with a traditional owner. 

This means what I have said (and meant) in all the previous posts. Every one is entitled to some land on which to create and ensure the means and substance of one's continuing sustenance and peaceful co-existence in an earthly fashion.

 The story of the Peacemaker. 

Now we conclude with the beginning. The Great Law Of Peace refers to 

the constitution of the oldest continually running -- representative -- democracy on earth. 

The Haudenosaunee Confederacy.

 {Historically referred to as the Iroquois League by some.}

 [book referred to in a previous post] 

This came to my attention reading the book 1491 by Charles C. Mann. Subtitled, 

"New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus".  Its closing chapter

 reminds us of the possibility (and actuality) of democracy

 in a people whose existence was much closer to the earth 

than those who came to occupy their land. 

Some new settlers preferred this form of government (and way of life) to their own. 

It is said that the US Constitution framers were informed 

not just by European thinkers

 but also by their North American forebears.

 An artist tells the story. 

Like Sociocracy (invented by computer scientists!) the Haudenosaunee have

 feedback mechanisms, where the decision makers need the informed consent 

of their people for anything that directly affects them.

   Back to the beginning. Sociocracy book. 

Whether our [form of] government/governance comes 

from an ancestor, a scientist or a great spirit

 who arrives on earth to enlighten us, 

the common thread is humanity. 

Every tradition that ever was (or ever will be )

represented an innovation

 on some one's part 

and posed a challenge for others 

on its acceptance.

Kin's Domains Direct -- A Visit with Chris Cole

Kin's Oases Homestead Settlement

Chris and his family are as far as we know the only ones creating a settlement of family homesteads based on the Ringing Cedars of Russia within Australia today.  May they be the first of many, and may many others join them in their creation on this land.

This past week I made a journey I've been meaning to do for some time. To see the land Chris Cole has secured in Coonabarabran, (Western) NSW for the purpose of creating homesteads for himself, his family and others who may wish to join him. The land is set up with a design of Chris' own imagining using sacred geometry (related to the number 5 in this case) to define the boundaries roads between individual homesteads.

                                          

On 100 acres he has already made an incredible start – using the labour of his own hands (and back), travelling 16 km or so to the land often by foot – sometimes with help from neighbours and friends. There is potential for expanding the property at some stage as adjoining lands become available.

 Chris Cole, email christocole@gmail.com

phone +61 (0)2 6842 4778,  face book kin's eco-village  https://www.facebook.com/groups/kinsoases/

Chris' vision and motivation come from the Ringing Cedars of Russia series, books by Vladimir Megre, now available in many languages (link). I was delighted to hear that the latest book (Anasta) has found an English translator and is now available online (from the author) for a small cost. No shipping – no waiting. It is just as inspiring as the previous books and goes further in its vital information delivery of things the inspired need to keep us that way.

What we are questing for is a natural way of life that serves to correct the mistakes of millennia. Technology – for all its brilliance – has only ever managed to be an imitation of or replacement for things that already exist in nature. Think about it – even the computer is a frail crutch for the human mind that limps in comparison to the splendour it is really capable of. We are told in the books of great human potential – even in terms of transporting our bodies to faraway places without the use of a car – or rocket ship!

Let's look at the land again. Chris has achieved what I always suspected was possible. Although his trees are newly planted (so their productivity will not shine for a few more years) – he has shown vegetables and herbs can co-exist with Australian bush land (eucalyptus trees and others). Land clearing is not necessary. Chris celebrates the native, local biodiversity and adds to it plants we today are used to having in our diets. Leafy greens, root vegetables grow in Hugelkultur arrangements. This is a Sepp Holzer technique (link). Use soil and timber to create moist fertile microclimates to grow where it may not be possible to without supplementary watering and fertilising. Chris does use animal manures and minerals (such as dolomite) to initially augment and condition the soil.

  

 

But the key is that earth work constructions enhance the landscape, holding water and slowly releasing carbon back into the soil from the buried branches and limbs. By the way, the work I saw represented two year's-worth of toil and patient and receptive observation on the land.

 The birth of a hugelkultur (or "hill culture").

Foundation for dugout home.

Water harvesting is important in this climate. I was fortunate to arrive the day after a much-needed soaking. Everything looked lush and prosperous despite a prolonged dry period before. There was a full 5,000 gallon (22,500 liter) tank reflecting careful planning, collecting water on tarps to funnel into the tank, and also to a small pond. The swimming lake, created with the help of an excavator is also slowly beginning to fill up. (This process can normally take a few years.) It will be surrounded with greenery, including some palm trees as time goes by. Already, native vegetation was joyously beginning to reclaim the ploughed areas on the shoreline where the digger had been at work.

 Water tank already full..

 Visualise dam filling!

What I am really pleased about is the focus and determination Chris has shown in his fervour to put his passion into practice. Why isn't every one doing this? – I openly wondered on more than one occasion. As another friend, with land, has put it, people just aren't hungry enough. But I think it is also because, well, we haven't got land yet. Bill Mollison, arch permaculture-don't-call-him-guru has said in response to the same question (Bill, I'm too busy to grow my own food), Here's the answer – quit your job and don't take the dole. There you have all the necessary conditions for being able to do it.

Chris' son Jonas and Jo's partner Cassidy have installed

 a Ved-Russ type honey-beehive on their one hectare domain.

Also, a rather touchy subject I'm aware – is the financial one. What Chris is doing is to change the nature of the game we are all playing – to one degree or another. In my last post, I referred to the right to be free from debt and taxation. Well, even if you manage to procure land, at least some of your time must unwillingly be spent earning cash to pay land taxes. Chris sees this as theft, and I have to say, I am in agreement. This really gets to the heart of why we haven't done what Chris is doing – the system actually discourages us from it. [Russian law about to take effect grants land to all who wish it, free from encumbrance and taxation. They asked for it, they got it!]

 The access door to hive open.

However, as much as I dislike injustice (and theft) I am a great believer in the possibility of abundance. So as Chris himself has told me, the people of our planet have chosen a path of anti-rationality, but our task now is to reconcile our rational (meaning aligned with nature) aspirations with the baggage of our history and the evidence and testimony of present – insane – circumstances.

 Showing the shade roof on top.

It is not too late – Chris is showing us that. The personal sacrifices may at times have been heavy. But again if one believes in abundance the old ways of trial and suffering and giving something up to get what you want could be seen in this way. In new light. What if everything we truly and humanly desire is actually possible – joyfully and without pain and deprivation?

 A glimpse of treasure inside.

This is my insight. Just as we all tend to respect property lines insofar as they are now codified in law – what if we could acknowledge the right of one another to inhabit our chosen patch of earth, exclusively and without conditions of restraint. We could even actively allow one another to do so, giving land as it were – that is surplus to our requirements – knowing that we still, absolutely, have enough? Without needing the laws.

This type of beehive mimics a hollow log that bees like to live in.  It requires no frames internally.

As Chris and I discussed, it is when people see their (excess) property as a source of profit or long term capital gain – or return on investment that it is held onto (through the grace of law) and never willingly surrendered – even in death! (Refers to shemozzles that occur over inheritance disputes and problems that routinely arise around the making and execution of personal will and testaments.)

Telling visitors where they stand!

Incidentally, the subject of death is relevant as family domains/homesteads/settlements may be used for burial of loved ones [and one's self!]. The intention here is partly a return to the earth as nature intended, but also to contribute emotional energy that loved ones are still protecting us in our sacred – family – spaces. For that is what our part of the earth is to us – sacred.

 Outdoor amenities.

Irrigation spray-mist shower.                          

The harmony that is created when generations of a family dwell in the same space over many years cannot be underestimated. The security that our children will be imbued with and the sense of belonging and empowerment, stability and physical well-being (along with mental and spiritual) could very well change the world. Children growing up with their own space – on their family's land can create a consciousness, an emotional intelligence that will lead to peace on earth.

Tomato tower of hope climbing into gum trees.

They will not need to struggle with, dominate, conquer, enslave or battle with each other. And it is my hope that they will not tax one another for the privilege of enjoying space on earth!

Is this your street?