“Ralph Waldo Emerson once asked what we would do if the stars only came out once every thousand years. No one would sleep at night, of course... We would be ecstatic, delirious, made rapturous by the glory...Instead the stars come out every night, and we watch television.”
So said renowned entrepreneur Paul Hawken in an address that has spread rapidly through the Internet, along with images of a half-grown lion wrapping his former owners in a 450-pound embrace, a rescued hippo – also released to the wild - who returns from the river each day to rest with her human family, and a host of other images connecting our species with the natural world. All over the earth, people are sharing these snipes of connection like hungry loved ones sharing food.
People are starving for the healing power of nature and nature is starving for the healing power of people.
The Africa Self – Transformation Adventure Retreat (STAR) is about feeding that hunger, healing the wounds we’ve sustained by being cut off from our own deepest nature, and from the deepest nature of our world. It’s also about “Rebuilding Eden”, extending our own healing to the rest of the planet.
As STAR coach Boyd Varty puts it:
“The essence of rebuilding Eden is to respond to the feelings so many of us experience: the pains of the world, an aloneness and underlying state of grief. STAR retreats address this by reaching inward to the soul, and then outward to the rest of the universe. How can we end the destruction of the world before we have ended the destruction in ourselves? All you need to change the world is a connection to your won magical energy. We will show you how.”
The essence of this process is to treat you very, very well, while at the same asking you to work very, very deeply.
This contrast is present in the physical space: on one hand, you’ll stay in safe, luxurious rooms, each gourmet meals and have access to services from professional photography and spa treatments. On the other hand you may awaken to the sound of a leopard chuffing or an elephant grazing just outside your door. And you will definitely experience close encounters with wild animals that will change you in inexpressive ways.
The environment opens the heart and mind, allowing access to realms of peace and magic you may not have known you had. During our coaching sessions, you’ll be guided to clear away everything that is not you. You will see the stars come out to guide you, in the African sky and in your own heart and mind, as you may never have seen them before. You’ll “be made rapturous by the glory”.
Or you could stay at home and watch television.
To find out more about African Star visit http://marthabeck.com/african_star3.php
