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| Welcome, kia ora, talofa… We
welcome you into awareness of the Wilderness Community. The Wilderness Community is the potential belonging of all cultures and
traditions wherever they are present nurturing people into growth and wholeness; the
learning from the greater whole of the wilderness we all belong in; and the learning from
each other so we all ensure all our traditions stay vital and continue to evolve. The Sustainable Community Development Research Institute (SCDRI) aims to facilitate the emergence of the Wilderness Community through nurturing its inherent presence. The SCDRI aims to facilitate creative development of the cultures and traditions of the people, through the people involved gaining a deeper understanding of their own traditions and cultures, as well as those of others. The context of the wilderness – the whole to which we all belong, no matter what our culture or traditions – nurtures this learning. Two images are used to illustrate metaphorically the Wilderness Community. The first is of a Samoan fale (traditional house). It comprises of poles in an ellipse holding up a roof from the ground. The poles are in the earth, and the roof is in the sky. The poles represent all the traditions and cultures which potentially belong; everything in the one earth and the one sky. It is a multi-cultural and inter-disciplinary vision. The poles can also represent the members of the Wilderness Community who sit within their villages as equals, listening and learning from each other, from the wilderness, and from the elders of all traditions and cultures, in the open and sacred space between them. The second image is of a tree, which once again represents all the traditions and cultures rooted in the one earth and under the one sky. The branches are the different traditions and cultures. The SCDRI aims to help each branch know their common root in wilderness and their common purpose in the fulfilment of the restoration of wildness, in the wholeness of the one Creator Spirit. The SCDRI aims to enable bridges of learning between each branch so that each branch can help support each other to continue to grow to fulfil its destiny to reach the sky. The learning has to be true for all traditions and cultures. So all traditions, cultures and their elders are respected, listened to and entered into dialogue with. We share from within our own traditions what we have truly come to understand ,and ask questions of others about what we want to learn. |
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