It is all a question of story.
We are in trouble just now because we do not have a good one.
— Thomas Berry
We have always lived by stories that told us how we got here, why we are here, and what God and the Universe were up to. Today, the old stories have either been discarded or paint an incomplete or inaccurate picture of our world. The signs are everywhere as we struggle with economic havoc, social injustice, hunger, environmental degradation, violence, and depression.
This retreat is designed to help each of us move away from the infinite loop of what's not working and open to the new stories that want to emerge through us.
As Thomas Berry suggests, the task of our time is to discover and to inhabit the new story that is being revealed to us. A story that he says: "will be my story, as well as the story of everyone and everything about me, the story that brings together the human community with every living being, a story that brings us together under the arch of the great blue sky in the day and the starry heavens at night, a story told by humans to each other that will also be the story that the wood thrush sings in the thicket, the story that the river recites on its downward journey, the story that the mountain images forth in its awesome grandeur: the story."
Even now, a new story is emerging in our world. We are waking up to our inborn compassion, to our interdependence, to our prodigious power of imagination. We are returning to wisdom embedded in rocks, whispered in trees; we are listening to the ancient voices of our ancestors, to the prayers of the future ones, praying that we might see beyond our own time.
In this retreat (workshop) we will cultivate a new story for ourselves as individuals and as a planet, exploring new messages that are germinating deep in our individual and collective consciousness. We will listen to the stories that mountain and river, that hawk and snake, and that ancient rocks and trees tell us, these guardians and guides to the wildness and the imagination of the earth. We will attend to the wisdom of our elders, our religious traditions, of science, and to the quiet whispers of our own ears and hearts. It will be a joyful, inspiring romp in mythic story structures, poetry, and attending to night and waking dreams, with time for solo wandering on the land, journaling, and gathered times of storytelling, movement, play and ceremony.
This retreat will be held at Still Point Mountain Retreat, a five-bedroom cabin in a seclude wilderness setting overlooking the Shenanoah River and valley. Still Point Mountain Retreat is accessible by car only. The retrat begin with supper at 6pm on Friday and concludes with lunch on Sunday. Fee for the retreat is $165 and includes lodging for two nights in shared accommodations, six meals and program. We expect this retreat to fill rapidly. To reserve your place, email Lindsay@rollingridge.net and request an application to be returned with a $50 deposit. For more information, call Lindsay at 304-724-1069.
Retreat Leaders
Jim Hall, long time member of Rolling Ridge Study Retreat, lives at the Dayspring Retreat Center in suburban Washington, DC, where for the past 25 years he has been part of Dayspring Earth Ministry, leading retreats, classes and outings on the land linking faith and ecology, and exploring ways of living more simply, justly and in harmony with the Earth. See www.dayspringearthministry.org for more information about his work.
In her work as architect, teacher, filmmaker and writer, Julie Gabrielli explores ways to tell the new stories that are emerging in our culture. Her experience includes designing buildings and places from new/old paradigms; community engagement for sustainability; and cultivating joy, creativity, attention, and reverence. See www.gabriellidesign.com for more information about her work.