Through a committed process of self inquiry, we begin to witness the world through a lens of wholeness, and are better resourced to navigate the differences around us. The Feminine is the archetypal web that weaves us together, and because of the rich diversity of life, it is easy to forget our interconnectedness. Suzuki says, “Biologists have learned that the most powerful survival principle of life is diversity; there is no single right way that works- there will be hundreds or thousands.” (Suzuki, 1997, p.7) Recovering the Feminine means learning how to live with diversity; both in oneself and the context of one’s world. Philosopher of Goethean Science, Margaret Colquhoun, describes this acceptance as being at one with where “we commune with the unbroken wholeness of the phenomenon, realizing that each worldly thing is a manifestation of a single immanent loving creative energy.” (Harding, 2006, p. 35) The natural world embodies this acceptance, in fact its very survival depends on it, and I believe our survival depends on it too. Stephen Harding, author of animate Earth: Science, Intuition and Gaia writes the “human organism is inherently predisposed to seeing nature as alive and full of soul, and that we repress this fundamental mode of perception at the expense of our own health, and that of the natural world.” (Harding, 2006, p.21)  Sustainable education holds us responsible for our own lives. It offers a forum to explore the sacred in oneself, while respecting the rich diversity of the collective experience. Sustainable education values the whole person and at the same time, values the whole of the collective. If one relates to the soul only in the rational mind, it lacks the roots of the body and what could have been creative action, has the potential to become at the worst dangerous, and at the least uninspired. When we separate body and soul, heart and head, we engage in black and white, dualistic thinking. Wholeness is the language of the Feminine. 

*From the article "Unearthing the Feminine: Honoring the Individual and Collective Experience in Education and Beyond by Jenny Finn (To view the whole article, please email Jenny at jenny@somamovement.org)