Wisdom Keeper Week: Nurturing the Roots of Community
Week of March 5, 2022
During this time of separation and isolation we have paradoxically had the opportunity to re-examine our connectedness, and to long for the most commonplace encounters with friends and community. Within the spacious environment of Rancho La Puerta I invite you to nurture the roots of community.
In the past decade, the study of biology has been challenged and transformed by a new world vision based on synergy and cooperation, rather than competition–perhaps most radically evident in the understanding that trees communicate, feed their sick, support their children and are part of a very large interconnected community through a network of mycorrhizae, also known as the woodwide web. My father, Edmond Szekely, wrote about altruism and solidarity as a force of nature in his book Cosmos, Man and Society published in England in 1937.
In the human organism there is a miraculous collaboration of every cell and every organ: they display a great collective solidarity. The heart labours, not only for itself, but for the whole organism, and gives blood to all the organs … so the human organism represents the natural laws: it represents altruism, collective solidarity… I do not consider solidarity and altruism as just moral, theoretical considerations, but as an iron law of the natural forces, as a dynamic reality in the human organism and in nature. EBS
In another passage in Cosmos, Man and Society my father writes about the adoption of an optimistic and benevolent attitude. He calls this the Radioactivity of Altruism.
The kind-hearted man unconsciously captivates people and wins their hearts. His eyes, voice and gestures, his whole person radiates charm. He emanates a radioactivity which grips you. The more you develop kindness and optimism in yourself the quicker you will see the disappearance of care, grief and physical discomfort, the clearer your thinking will become and your wishes more fruitful, as you will find your fellows collaborating with you…Goodwill and optimism bring success in their train. The most productive work is work coming from the hand and brain of a man with joy in his heart.
In this season of polarization and division it is my hope that our week will be infused with kindness, optimism, altruism and solidarity.
Sarah Livia Brightwood Szekely is President of Rancho La Puerta. For forty years she has designed the gardens and cared for the wildlands around Rancho La Puerta. As the keeper of the vision and long-range planner she has preserved the soul and culture of Rancho La Puerta while bringing new programs and reviving the earth honoring traditions that inspired the early years at Rancho La Puerta. She is also President of Fundación La Puerta through which she guides Rancho La Puerta’s non-profit work in the region. In 1984 Sarah established Agricola Tres Estrellas, a diverse organic farm that provides food to Ranch La Puerta’s guests year round and in 2007 she designed and opened La Cocina Que Canta, a culinary center and cooking school to teach commitment to healthy eating and to embrace the joy of harvesting and cooking in community. She is the daughter of philosopher and visionary Edmond Bordeaux Szekely and community organizer and philanthropist Deborah Szekely, the founders of Rancho La Puerta.