Three Cortesian Devotions By Christopher Forrest McDowell, PhD A ...

Three Cortesian DevotionsBy Christopher Forrest McDowell, PhDA covenant of reverence, as suggested by Cortesian philosophy, should not be someclever truism we tack onto the refrigerator. Instead it should be something toward whichwe feel increasing devotion throughout our day and life. Such a reverential covenantreminds us of our ongoing relationships with family and friends, community, cultures,animals, and the natural environment. I would suggest that the meaning of reverence as atrue life focus is in the effort itself. What I mean is that we must attain the attitude ofreverence — the willingness to try to see and relate to life with respect and integrity —before we can expect to fully understand its true meaning, power, and effect.When we try to relate to our world as if it were sacred, then reverence emerges as 1) adeeper understanding of the ecology of place and this Earth, 2) our behaviors andintentions in stewarding our relationships wherever we are, and 3) the peace of mind weseek within ourself. And there you have them, the three Cortesian devotions to place,stewardship, and peace.I. A Devotion to PlaceA sense of place is a deep dignifying component of life, be it for human, animal, plant, orany other object. Most people simply go from place to place, transient windowshoppersand commuters of life. This is an ordinary relationship to place which little if anythought is given to. But there is another type of place: one in which we perceiveconnections and relationships, not in a superficial way, but in a way that stimulates anddeepens our heart and conscience.When we feel especially connected to a place, it gives us physical, psychological,emotional, and spiritual comfort. Such places can be grand and awesome, like acathedral or a national park. They can be commonplace, such as a neighborhoodcoffeehouse or a park bench. They can be momentary, like a place in line or a seat on acommuter train. They can be intimate, as the space before our altar or the embrace ofsomeone’s arms. The point is, when we feel this special type of connection to a place it isalmost as if we were enfolded and given a momentary sense of home.In fact, the very need for a sense of home is central to life, for humans and animalsalike. Home is a primal place for the human soul. It is where families are born, lifestories unfold, rituals are created. It is where most of us have our first connection tonature, a garden, an animal. And it is where we experience the rising and passing ofdreams. Most of all, however, I believe home is where we can learn to practiceunconditional love and respect.I am always struck by the image in war-torn Bosnia, just after the end of the war:women planting gardens in front of their demolished homes. This image solidifies any

elationship we might imagine to exist between a place, hope, and peace. But it alsostarkly contrasts two opposing tools of technology: the bomb and the hoe. As historianLeo Marx suggests, the split desire for “two kingdoms of force” — the machine and thegarden — is at the center of modern cultures. And for many people it is at the center oftheir perception of place. When homes are razed to create a new high rise or freeway,souls are displaced. When a community garden is paved over for parking, the souls andseasonal aspirations of numerous families are momentarily displaced. When a favoritehangout closes, our spirit shudders. When an old familiar park bench is vandalized orremoved, our spirit is demoralized.Increasingly, humans are becoming more and more nomadic. Most families inmodern societies have little or no roots to place. Because of changes in work, break-upof the family, or illness or crime, many people are continuously on the move, as often asevery two years according to social researchers. War, drought, natural disasters, anddestruction of local natural habitat uproot many people from places ripe with cultural andgeographic history. Without a sense of place to lay down roots, tens of millions ofhumans are literally orphaned on this planet each day — orphaned from their land,homes, stories, crafts, spiritual beliefs, and myths. Animals, insects, and plant speciescan also be included in this mobile orphanage, as destruction of natural habitat divorcesthem from nesting, foraging, mating, and distribution patterns.Of course, in modern societies the goal seems to be about leaving home. Most peopledon’t even give a second thought as to the cultural and geographical history of the placethey grew up, or the place they ultimately land to start a family themselves. As authorValerie Andrews states, “most of us have yet to realize how we are shaped by a givenregion, how our character is formed by simply being where we are.” She goes on tosuggest that by abandoning our places/homes, we attempt also to flee ourselves, dreamingof the happiness we might find in a new place. We strive for bigger and better, searchingfor something outside of ourselves to fill the void resulting from our restless instabilityand unease with ourselves and our place.In Keepers of the Earth, Native American Jeanette Armstrong explains that, in herOkanagan beliefs, not to know and celebrate that “we are our land/place is to be displacedand that unless place can be relearned, it compels all other life forms to displacement andthen ruin.” Anthropologist, Ashley Montague suggests that this displacement takes theform of a broken bond with a necessary matrix, a matrix, much like a womb, that offerssafety and harbors potential. Since our family came to the land we call Cortesia overfourteen years ago, we know first hand what Armstrong and Montague are talking about.I remember, for example, our first night’s stay at Cortesia. We were awed by thesound of great horned owls in the deep woods surrounding our homestead. This was fall,but the next spring we awoke to the sound of chainsaws. Over the course of the summerhundreds of acres of 100-year old woods were cut on surrounding parcels. I climbed tothe top of a 150-year old fir near our house and peered out, as an owl would I am sure,over the devastation. That fall there were no hooting owls, and to this day we rarely hearone.

Within this same year our only neighbor, the man who sold us the 22-acre parcel,began a perplexing task: to put up a fence right down the middle of a large three acremeadow which we shared. We were completely shocked, for the night before we sat inhis kitchen hearing him talk about the meadow having been there for almost a hundredyears. (I found out years later that he was right — I interviewed a ninety year old womandown the road who spoke fondly of growing potatoes there as a child) Over time, themeadow had become a wonderful wildflower haven and brightened the landscape formany months. But the next morning, he was setting poles (He was an impulsive andtroubled man in his heart, we soon discovered). Within a year the roaming deer and wildturkeys which traversed the open meadow seemed to disappear. The fence, as RobertFrost reminds us, might have made us “good neighbors,” but it proved a formidablebarrier for the flow of wildlife. Soon, this man sold his property to a young family. Thewildflowers awkwardly grew on both sides, until one day the new owners decided tofence their half of the meadow’s perimeter to graze sheep. In one year their meadow wasstripped bare of vegetation and remains that way today. On our side, the meadow haslush grasses and wildflowers, and the sheep stay close to the greenness alongside ourgarden fence. I hope that you can imagine how we felt about the disruption anddisplacement of such a wonderful meadow setting in just the space of a few years afterwe moved to Cortesia!I also remember strapping Sonji on my back when she was an infant to go exploresurrounding deep forests. I came across beautiful ponds, beaver dams, and mossy fairycircles of mushrooms. It was magical. A few years later our family sat atop a nearbyridge and watched bulldozers knock over powerless 80-year old trees and backfill thevery ponds I revered. The owner of this vast tract wanted to put in a small city ofcondominiums with its own municipal water supply. He claimed the land was so poor itcould not grow trees. His proposal was approved by local planners amidst a torrent ofprotest by us neighbors. But at the next level of regional review we came prepared withdocumented history and geology of the land, and the good stewardship by its previousowners for over a hundred years. We won.A Place for Wonder, Healing, & CelebrationA Cortesian devotion to place is a powerful tool for the will, as our victory abovedemonstrates. Oregon architect and spiritual visionary, Tom Bender, once explained toan audience of planners: “We lessen the soul of all places, and ourselves as well, whenwe take without giving and come to them without reverence to life and to land, to peopleand to place, to ourselves and to the creation of which we are part.”His message is profound. In it I hear the ultimate value of our heartfelt connection toplace: to evoke and be touched by wonder, healing, and celebration. I also hear that ourconnection to place is reciprocal, sort of like “in giving and nurturing we receive.” Itdoes not matter if this sense of place is a two-room apartment, a two-acre parcel, or a twofoot square altar in our bedroom. Neither does it matter if it is a garden in the corner of

our yard, a few potted plants in the corner of our living room, or just one small AfricanLily sitting by our computer. Nor if it is a vast wilderness, or a nearby park. Theexamples are endless, and they should be! For in each instance we should realize thatplaces act as mirrors to our lives, reflecting our good or ill will, passion or indifference,towards them back onto the people whose lives they touch. “Places, as well as people,”Tom Bender reminds us, “draw sustenance from how they are held in our hearts. Howwe feel towards them nurtures them, and they in turn nurture us.” (Side bar about A PlaceCalled Home in L.A.; the inner city gardens in NY)On a macro level, Earth can be viewed as a kind of household in which humanity isseeking to understand its wisdom and to find a sense of place in it. In fact, the wordecology literally means “household wisdom.” In this sense, each of us who holds ourpersonal places of home, desktops, car interiors, yards, nearby parks, and other outdoorsettings as dear to the heart are budding ecologists. It sounds strange, yes, and mostpeople would not want to be seen as an ecologist, per se, only because they believe to bean ecologist means to be an activist as well. But, activism comes in many forms. Someof us choose to join or lead a cause to “save places” or lives, as it were. Most of us,however, can activate a more personal sense of heart, and take charge at that point. It isthis type of “thinking with the heart and feeling with the mind” that is a Cortesianactivism of reverence for life.A Cortesian activist, if I may use that term without offending anyone, recognizes thatshe or he travels within and among the micro-households (i.e. places) of other cultures,plants, animals, and natural phenomena. What is respected, therefore, is the knowing thateverything has its inherently wise and intuitive sense of place: where it belongs and howand why it must bond and evolve within the natural order of things and relationships inthat place. All too often our human arrogance has overlooked the intricate details andhistory of evolution of a natural setting or another culture. For example, in our need toget what we want from nature, we often are not aware of our impact and subsequentupsetting of the inherent balance of vegetal or animal life in a particular naturalenvironment. We forget that a “biotic community” has developed, one that has stood thetest of and forging of time and of survival. This pocket of nature has shown itselfsingularly fitted to the conditions of that particular place. It has its own beauty with anunsurpassable sense of rightness. We might say the same of a specific culture in ouroverlooking their sacred geography, heritage, spiritual beliefs, folklore, and familialbonds to place.A Cortesian perspective attempts to consciously honor the principle of place, be it forhumans or nature. It honors the uniqueness of a culture and how that culture’s heritageand legacy can be sustained and regenerated. It honors the need of humans to feel a senseof dignity where they live and to feel safe, secure, and at peace. It honors what areperhaps the greatest needs of what is called the biocommunity of a given natural setting:the need for preservation of stability and diversity of plant and animal species, and theneed to maintain interdependent relationships among such species.

The separate needs of humans and nature may appear to be complex and challengingto comprehend. But the Cortesian way of life attempts to offer a practical strategy: tocontinue to foster the interrelationship of humanity and nature in a caring, compassionate,if not sacred way. This approach does not place humans at the center of nature nor doesit see us as the jewel in the crown of evolution. Rather we are reminded that our place onthis planet is always beside nature, amongst nature, within nature; in short, inseparablefrom nature. To not believe this is to ignore the advice of the revered scientistphilosopher,Gregory Bateson: “A creature that wins against its environment destroysitself.” Therefore, all forms of technology and science must consider what is worth doingin utilizing nature’s gifts and resources for human gain.A Place for Extraordinary DevotionPoet Gary Snyder reminds us, “We have no one to teach us which parts of thelandscape were once thought to be sacred, but with much time and attention, I think wewill be able to identify such sites again.” A devotion to place carries with it our empathy,not our desire to subjugate. A place well-cared for becomes a powerful place for thesoul. We feel this when stepping into a home or room that emits rich memory, nostalgia,and celebration of life. We feel this at a workstation that publicly depicts one’s love forfamily or relationships with personal pictures, items, and treasures. We feel this in aspecially created sitting spot in a garden, or a well-placed and time-worn bench in a park.Ordinary places are made extraordinary by the amount of our devotion to them. Theyfeel sacred to us because of our reverential attitude. Such places have an elevated spiritto them, if only when we visit them, because they give us opportunities to experiencewonder, healing, and celebration. Several years ago a woman sent an email to me fromNew York City, after reading a brief exerpt in New Age Journal about our sanctuarywork. She described how a particular bench in Central Park became for years herlunchtime haven. Here she pondered her work, healed herself from broken love,celebrated the change of seasons, and more than ever, gave thanks for life. She said shehoped she gave good energy to the bench for others to enjoy.We forget that we can extend ourselves to the environment as we do to our lovedones, meeting nature as a partner, accepting and respecting the natural world on its ownterms. We forget that we can do this with other people, cultures, animals. When weengage our relationship with nature and others on an intimate level, the relationshipgrows and deepens and becomes more secure. The old feelings of separateness andalienation become new feelings of unity, love, and truth.One day I received a call from a woman in Michigan. Inspired by an article thatappeared about our work in a national magazine, she described how her cul-de-sac ofneighbors created a special place in a small unused parcel of ground by the street. Theimpetus was to honor, by planting a tree, the life of a neighbor’s husband whounexpectedly died. But neighbors saw it as a wonderful place to gather and chat, so acouple benches were set by the tree. And then children were inspired to plant and

maintain flowers. She told how a tremendous sense of solidarity and pride had grownbetween the families, and that special place was a key daily sanctuary.Empathy, partnership, sustainability, indebtedness and gratitude, and resacralizing ourrelationship to a particular place should be seen as both a personal and societal mission.This is the power of devotion to place and living ecologically in the true spirit ofreverence. Without reverence, a place, both its physical and spiritual power, crumbles topieces unloved, unmaintained, abandoned, and destroyed. Reverence is the glue thatholds our wonder, healing, and celebration of life in special places together.It takes time and perception, involvement and love, to become part of a place and todraw sustenance from being an integral part of its specialness. Recent years have foundpeople rekindling a special relationship to places in their lives. Numerous books and afew bestsellers, for example, give instruction on how to use principles of Feng-shui toarrange the objects in our places of living (such as home, garden, work, business,desktop, office, etc.), so that there is balance and regenerating energy or life force, calledchi. Other books offer advice on how to deal with clutter, how to talk to and caretakeplants, how to make a house a true home of enchantment for the soul.I see people’s renewed preoccupation with place as proportional to the desire forsanctuary. We want to feel an active participant in the creation of spaces that move,inspire, and regenerate our soul. This is much different than packing things up and takinga two-week vacation at a remote retreat, only to return to the same stressed environment(home, work, school, commute, take your pick). When we have created familiar and veryaccessible places in our lives as small sanctuaries, then we are sure to ennoble them withour reverent intent. And this is very Cortesian.A home setting is an excellent place to consider such Cortesian qualities as respect,courtesy, honoring, gratitude, humility, awe and wonder. Sure, you have known thesequalities before, and I am sure you practice them to some degree in your life already. Butnow see them through Cortesian eyes as expressions you feel strongly devoted to,whatever place or culture you may visit. See them alive in your attempts to make anyplace you are at a true island of grace to nurture the spirit.A Place Called SelfI want to leave you with these thoughts about place, but it seems to me that one lastinsight is appropriate to share. And it will only take a moment. You see, perhaps themost important place we should consider testing our Cortesian philosophy is withinourselves. Each of us is a place unto ourselves, in some respects an island, in otherrespects inseparable from our surroundings. I am sure I don’t need to belabor the point,but the fact is, we often don’t take care of ourselves as if our body, heart, and mind werebefitting temples. Moreover, I am sure, we occasionally fail to honor the sameperspective about others.The point is, we affect people with our presence, whether we know it or not. Somepeople read our facial expressions in the same way they interpret a shadowy part of a

park: stay away! Others read our body language with the same caution as walking onice: don’t perturb or else! Still others see a kind light in our eyes, like a welcomebeacon, and just know that they can be embraced and accepted in good conversation. Inany case, we often park ourselves amidst our family, friends, peers, and community asindividual places (I find it amusing to consider that we even have placemats to denote ourpresence at a dining table!) that emit the energy of our thoughts and emotions in full viewof others. What I am suggesting, and I will leave it at this until more fully explored in thenext chapter about Sanctuary Work, is that we can create our own self as a reverent beingwith the same Cortesian attitude of reverence as we extend to others and nature. We cannurture a landscape of the heart and create a place in our soul that is both peaceful andmagnetic. Then, the embrace of our arms, the palms of our hands, the touch of ourfingers, the look in our eyes can become yet another desirable, worthwhile, if not sacredplace in this world for others to visit!II. A Devotion to StewardshipFor over twenty years I drove by a quaint little house in town located on a busy streetcorner. The owner, an elderly man, tended a modestly productive and beautiful gardenand a couple of apple trees. He used entirely organic methods, and one could find himout there fiddling with his plants just about anytime of the day or season. Early lastspring, having not driven by for nearly seven months, I noticed the garden was indisarray. By mid-summer the garden had been leveled and partially paved over toprovide room for a car alongside the driveway. Apples lay littered on the ground. Istopped and approached a young man in the driveway and asked what had happened tothe old man. He said he had died and the house was taken over by a rental agency; hewas just a student renter. He offered me all the apples I could take, noting that the treeswere going to be removed because their falling fruit was a nuisance. A year later now,the yard is just an efficient landscape of weed-choked lawn.The word steward literally means “keeper of the place,” and stewardship depicts thiskeeper’s duties or nature of service. The death of my unknown elderly friend was notjust that of an old gardener, it was the passing of a noble steward, a person who kept hisplace with a kind and loving spirit. He was truly a housekeeper of meritous value tomany passersby and nature.In our book, The Sanctuary Garden, we do not use the word gardener. We speakinstead about the Keeper of the garden, the Keeper of water, the Keeper of light, and soon. These are not mere roles we should feel obligated to fulfill. They are in keeping withCortesian values, namely the recognition of rights, duties, gifts, and privileges as theyexist in a reciprocal relationship.

Each of us, therefore, should see ourselves as a steward of our home, family,partnership, community, country, and ultimately the Earth. It is simply not enough to seeourselves as visitors or tourists. Each of us should honor and care for whomever orwhatever resides in these places with devotion and reverence. Our stewardship shouldreflect the kind and clear-hearted nature of service to ourselves, others, and nature. In thissense, then, we can be noble housekeepers, keepers of love, keepers of friendship,keepers of our community and surrounding natural environment. I have identified severalqualities that make unconditional stewardship very Cortesian in expression. Within thesequalities you will hear words such as keeper, teacher, friend, guest, host, borrower, all ofwhich speak to the reciprocal unifying roles inherent in good stewardship and reverentliving.Harmonic AttunementWhen we think, “I want an Earth that is healthy, a world full of peace, and a heart filledwith love,” we have initiated a caring relationship between our heart and mind. RudolfSteiner calls this process “heart thinking”: committing ourselves to build a bridgebetween our mind’s intellect and our heart’s emotion so that we think, feel, and act out ofour full humanity. When we further ask the question, “How can I serve the well-being oflife on this planet, in whatever form it presents itself?” we are consciously seeking tobond our thinking heart as “our Brother’s Keeper.”Heartfelt stewardship can only exist in relationships. And it can only be initiated byreleasing the tension of separateness. We all can relate to this tension of mistrust, fear,anxiety, or the need to control others or defend ourselves (i.e. our thoughts, emotions,beliefs, possessions, etc.). But we can also relate to experiences in which this tensionwas replaced by feelings of unity, trust, love, and compassion. Such experiencesdissolved any perception of distance, replaced instead by an overriding sense of harmony.This is the power, for example, of a person who is able to develop a trustworthy andrespectful relationship with animals, especially wild ones, as exemplified in the recentbestselling book, The Horse Whisperer. But it is also the power of a mate giving grace tothe errors of a spouse in the form of forgiveness, thereby reaffirming a deeper sense oflove, trust, and service to the relationship.What makes harmonic attunement possible in relationships? I believe it has to do withrecognizing the necessity for reciprocal courtesy as a function of the inherent rights,privileges, duties, even gifts that are important in sustaining and regenerating bondedconnections.The idea of reciprocal courtesy is not new. It has been a cornerstone of a perennialphilosophy, a form of moral ethics, in ancient tribal and native cultures, Easternmysticism, even the teachings of Jesus Christ, Gandhi, and others. The well knownprayer of Saint Francis (“Lord make me an instrument of your peace. . .”) is a testimony

to reciprocity, especially in the lines, “For it is giving that we receive/ It is in pardoningthat we are pardoned.” Native Americans exemplify this noble sense of courtesy in theirritualistic gestures of reverence toward animals, seeking permission from the animal’sspirit for its use and honoring the animal in return in their myths, songs, and crafts.Our family is of immense gratitude for the privilege to live with nature as our Teacherof Reciprocal Courtesy. Tricia, for example, goes through a tremendous bonding processwith a particular flower she will use in a flower essence preparation. She just doesn’tpick a flower. She recognizes its artistry amongst a backdrop of nearby blooms andfoliage. She ponders its special relationship with its surroundings. She speaks to itlovingly before she becomes still and silent next to it. Then she begins to meditate,focusing and aligning her will with the flower. She may sit for as long as an hour untilshe is ready to ask permission to cut it. Then she goes through many more steps, eachwith heartfelt effort, towards its emergence as a flower essence. Many users personallyattest to the potency of Tricia’s blends, feeling their rightness and effect in their ownlives.We forget that, as humans, we are part of a coherent community of biotic forms (notjust human forms!) in which there is a constant reciprocal interaction following a logicthat at best can only be described as inhuman. We only need be reminded that we inhalethe very air that plants and trees exhale. Physicist, David Abram, in talking about thisinteraction, suggests that “what is important is that we describe it as an exchange, nolonger a one-way transfer of random data from an inert world into the human mind but areciprocal interaction between two living presences — my own body and the vast body ofthe biosphere.”The implications for this awareness of reciprocity are profound and have numerousscientific, philsophical, and metaphysical theories supporting it. Nobel laureate andscientist, Barbara McClintock, for example, speaks quite freely about her “participatory,”almost enchanting, relationship with plants and their genetic makeup. Explaining herwork with corn cells, she says: “I found the more I worked with them, the bigger andbigger the chromosomes got and when I was really working with them I wasn’t outside. Ipart of the system . . . it surprised me because I actually felt as if I was right down thereand these were my friends . . . As you look at these things they become a part of you.”A key to fostering a reciprocal respectful relationship is to honor the “teacher” qualityof a particular native culture, human being, animal, plant, or other natural phenomenon.Such receptivity allows an interaction based upon good intentions, not insensitive orselfish exploitation on behalf of just one entity. Our teachers appear around every cornerof our lives and in every place we go. Nature is full of teachers, many of which holdclass daily in our yards, gardens, or houseplants. Each member of a family is our teacher,whom we can learn how to honor, respect, and receive inspiration. Other cultures are ourteachers as well, helping to broaden our compassion and positive regard. In fact, everybeing we meet teaches us something about ourselves, how we can become betterplanetary citizens and Keepers of the Sacredness of Life.

Cortesian courtesy, therefore, honors and upholds a native culture’s bondedrelationship to its land, geographical region, and sacred places as the source of and tetherto its spiritual and historical integrity. Out of an act of compassionate courtesy, onewould not consider breaking the bond between a culture’s relationship to its heritage andsense of place. Similarly, a Cortesian steward reveres an animal or plant species for itsrelationship to its immediate environment and ecosystem. To honor this bond means toreconsider the amount or intensity of our desire to disrupt this relationship for purelyhuman gain. Human relationships can also be included in these examples. Citizen andcultural diplomacy can only work where reciprocal respect is honored. Men and womenmust also respect and honor gender differences, finding unique and co-creative ways tosteward each other. Couples and families must strive to create intimacy out of respect,honor, and reciprocal trust.Admittedly, to put such high ethics of reciprocity into daily practice, and to do soconsistently, is tough and challenging. We have to fight our ego, insensitivity, even ourpride and ignorance. At every turn in our relationship with each other, our family, ourhome and land, Tricia and I have been hammered with the realization that every thoughtand intention comes with a price. But by surrendering many years ago to the need topersonally steward our individual souls through meditation, prayer, and service to others,we came to realize that the value of simply trying to live with reverent intent faroutweighs any preconceived outcome.Unconditional ServiceModern society induces us to do things for material gain — for money, power, fame orcomfort. Because of this, as Indian philosopher and scholar Satish Kumar suggests, “wehave been taking and taking from each other, from the environment and from our ownsouls, without any thought of giving back or of replenishment.”Relationships — between humans, between humans and nature and animals — grow,deepen, and are replenished out of an investment and reinvestment of energy. Our familyknows, for example, that every spring we must reinvest our commitment to the garden.You see, we have this seasonal relationship going with it which obligates us to dutifullyaid in its sustainability. Otherwise, because of our natural gardening approach, thegarden would revert very quickly to a place of excessive wildness. Similarly, we reinvestin our family by taking regenerating outings, if only to go to a movie or play badmitton inthe front meadow. In the garden, I occasionally need to restore a trellis or Tricia mayneed to rework a raised bed. Similarly, when we feel too much tension arising betweenus, Tricia and I work to restore our equanimity through truthful and compassionateconversation. We take time everyday, and throughout each day, to replenish our spiritthrough meditation, laughter, and sharing our service to each other. We replenish ourbody through regular exercise and by healthy diets. We sustain our friendships in thecommunity by staying in touch.

Such effort is really not extraordinary. Millions of people engage in replenishingactivities everyday. But couched very consciously in an overarching life philosophy,such as that offered in Cortesian reverence for life, our sense of stewardship takes ondeeper intent and practice. The unconditionality of reverence and respect for the humanand natural world calls for a sharing and giving of our energy in the spirit of informedneed and cooperation. This is stewardship at its best, when both hands are extended tooffer service in its replenishing roles: restorative, regenerative, and sustainable.A number of years ago we and a handful of friends were privileged to visit privatelywith the esteemed Indian philosopher, Satish Kumar. From that meeting I took with me awonderful way to perceive how unconditionality of service within Cortesian philosophycan translate to worthy practice. Kumar talked about the way of replenishment that ispracticed in India. Three replenishing principles apply: yagna, replenishing the earthand nature; dana, replenishing culture and society; and, tapas, replenishing our soul andspirit. The application of these concepts is just as valuable in Western society.Replenishing the Earth & Nature (yagna).Earth and nature are the very resources and source of our existence: our food and water,homes and clothes, tools and inventions. Earth’s resources are finite, therefore we cannotkeep taking without giving anything back. Instead, we must be alert and thoughtful as toour effects. Restorative, regenerative, and sustainable ecology, agriculture, science, andtechnology must be part of our thoughtfulness to replenish nature, not only for humanneeds but for the needs of all species. Indeed, the simplest way to practice yagna is toask ourselves “When is enough enough?”Pulitzer Prize winning author Barry Lopez, with his usual incisiveness, warns us thatthe geographies of North America, “the myriad small landscapes that make up thenational fabric, are threatened — by ignorance of what makes them unique, by utilitarianattitudes, by failure to include them in the moral universe, and by brutal disregard.” Yeteven amidst what Lopez calls the “homogenized national landscape,” people are still heldby two things dear: landscape and memory. He continues: “If society forgets or nolonger cares where it lives, then anyone with the political power and the will to do so canmanipulate the landscape to conform to certain social ideals or nostalgic visions. Peoplemay hardly notice that anything has happened, or assume that whatever happens is for thecommon good.” Sometimes we only need look at the progress of our community to graspwhat Lopez is saying, and to answer the question, When is enough enough?In my own community of Eugene, Oregon, the greatest change of its landscape overthe past 150 years occurred over a five-year period of intense development in the late1990’s. Gone went the pastoral, farming landscape as the urban growth boundary wasenlarged over and over to make room for tract homes with average price tags of near$200,000. Gone went the wetlands interconnected with two large rivers that merge atEugene, and with them precious species-protection habitat as soft-tech industrial parksand shopping centers were created for business and commerce. Gone went historicalstructures and 150-year old boulevards of shade trees downtown as new parking towers

and wider roads and bridges met the demand for more automobile traffic. Meanwhile,the homeless found nightly refuge for their van or car in industrial parking lots, churchlots, and even a football stadium parking lot. Small, independent family-ownedbusinesses, especially book, hardware, clothing, and specialty item stores, closed almosten masse at the appearance of large corporate retail and warehouse structures on thecity’s outskirts. Eugene’s downtown pedestrian mall is a veritable ghost town.One might argue that all this development and enterprise creates new worthy places,housing, and businesses in a community. The problem, however, is that it keeps acommunity and its citizenry divorced from a secure sense of place — a place of historyand constancy, rather than one of constantly changing landscape. As a result, our owncommunity has experienced incredible tension among its leaders and citizenry with littletime for harmony. We have not given back to the landscape anything but asphalt, mindboggling huge parking lots, strip malls, and denuded new housing tracts. Our waterquality is in question and so is the air. But worse is our ethics toward yagna.Look around your community, your neighborhood, the few open spaces that mightexist. For that matter, look in your own backyard, if you have one. Take note of naturein its smallest landscape. I received a letter recently from a single mother and her threechildren who live in Detroit. She described their simple way of giving back to natureright in their own tiny backyard: researching and planting the types of flowers that attractbutterflies. Within a year the yard had become a haven for wildlife, not just butterflies.But the real thrill was discovering how much their efforts created family solidarity amidsttight economic conditions.Perhaps the best way we can practice yagna is to try to live more simply. T.S. Eliotonce said that not all desires are desirable. Think about this. Living simply is notnecessarily living with less; it is about living with less desire. When we consume endlessitems, we are in effect taking from the Earth. No need to be preachy here. Hundreds ofbooks have been written and thousands of people in hundreds of organizations areworking hard to inspire, educate, and assist people in living in ways that help to replenishnature through restorative, regenerative, and sustainable means.Replenishing Culture & Society (dana).The word dana means generosity — the act of giving and the gift itself. Consider thatfrom the moment of our birth we are taking sustenance from our parents, relatives,friends, neighbors, and teachers. We receive the gifts of human contact as well as humancreation. We enjoy the fruits of others’ work and the history of our culture: cities, roads,schools, churches, parks; literature, art, music, religion, inventions.In a gesture of reciprocal service, dana asks us to share our time, skills, talents, goods,and energy with our community. By seeing our service as a gift to society, the quality ofour work and involvement will continue to grow as well. Let me share a story about howthis is possible.Tricia and I have been gardening together since 1981. When we continuouslyreceived the bounty of organic produce and beautiful flowers from our garden, we sought

an opportunity to share our insights with others less fortunate. As it were, a nutritionalgardening program at the university had received a grant to provide raised beds free ofcharge to the elderly in our community. Tricia volunteered and soon became theprogram’s coordinator. When the grant money ran out we were undaunted and startedour own nonprofit organization, the Garden Stewards Project. We expanded theopportunity for a free garden to low income families throughout the county. We alsocreated a “can’t fail” educational program complete with Master Gardener support fromthe county extension service. For over eight years, each spring Tricia oversaw avolunteer force of up to thirty people. The project tapped deep into the community’sresources for donations of wood, soil, amendments, plants, tools, and machinery to makeit all happen. Work parties were organized over a one month period to get all beds builtand planted — every one of them in a family’s backyard. And we never paid ourselves adime or asked for money! Hard work? You bet! Exhausting! And it did its best to put astrain on our marriage at times. But you see, the Project had a motto: “Plant a seed ofHope. Nurture the Earth. Harvest your good Efforts.”The Garden Stewards Project had a checking account with no money in it. We didn’tneed any. We were investing energy and resources into the community, into peoples’lives, into the Earth; we touched wounded spirits, disabled, and old bodies; and wetouched the hearts of children. We know this for a fact! One volunteer became inspiredto create a large community garden for those people without yards or those who relied onthe county food bank for supplementary food. After eight years our project had done itswork, serving to inspire and seed similar efforts around the country and within our owncommunity. It was time to reinvest in dana. You see, we had personally grownimmensely throughout the process until, as a couple, we envisioned an even largerpurpose of gardening — to provide sanctuary for the soul. Out of this vision the CortesiaSanctuary Project was born.If we are inclined to feel helpless amidst society’s constant change, perhaps we canconsider what help we can be to our immediate surroundings. It is not enough to whineor feel we are being dragged by our hair through life. Life is not so much about what wesee it to be. The truth may be that we see life as we are. The act of giving empowers usas givers, as generous stewards, and is the soil out of which mutural trust and respect cangrow.Replenishing Our Soul & Spirit (tapas).The energy we give out is an expression of our intellectual, creative, emotional, andspiritual sides. Sometimes we express ourselves negatively as in anger, greed, violence,insensitivity, and the like. Other times we emit positive energy such as love, kindness,caring. In any case, this discharge of energy must be restored and regenerated.Unless we pay attention to the healing of our souls we cannot be whole. This almostreads like a law of life. Many people suffer from a wounded spirit or soul, having beenabused, dishonored, forgotten, disabled, used, or “burned out.” Patch jobs just will not do.Instead, we must go deeper into the sacred well. We must taste and believe in the waters

of our own sacredness. To serve and know oneself in a loving way is very replenishing.Meditation, prayer, sitting calmly, walking in nature, fasting, journal writing, gazingfondly, going on a pilgrimage, reading something inspirational — these types ofexperiences are replenishing to the soul and spirit and are important means of stewardingourselves. For many people these experiences are also a foundation or impetus forfinding sanctuary daily.I am reminded of a story told by a much-loved and respected naturalist at YosemiteNational Park. A woman quickly drove up to him just inside the park and said, “Please,you gotta help me. You see, I only have half an hour to visit. Where should I go?” CarlSharsmith looked long at her and finally replied: “Well, mam, if I drove all that distancewith only half an hour to visit this glorius place, I think I’d go right over there, sit on thatlog, and have a good cry!”When we take charge for replenishing our soul we soon relinquish our concern abouttime, burdens, payoffs, or destinations. Instead we become a Keeper of our own soul’sflame, integrating this special work of self stewardship naturally into our daily routines.It is then that we realize that every direction we journey is the right direction.(sidebar story: from Satish Kumar, No Destinastion)A wise old man with a long beard was riding with a woman on the back of an elephantinto the forest. He promised to take her to a land of gold and jewels. “Why are we on theback of an elephant?” the woman asked. “Let’s go on horseback so we can arrive morequickly.” The wise man said, “I don’t know the way. Only the elephant knows the way.”The woman argued, “This is stupid. A horse is much more intelligent than an elephant.”The wise man replied, “It’s not a question of intelligence but a question of going the rightway.”Humility, Modesty, & FrugalityThese aspects of stewardship — humility, modesty, frugality — appeal to the voice ofour conscience. Such adages as love thy neighbor or cause no unnecessary harm (theGandhian concept of ahimsa), or even the simple koan simple in means, rich in ends, allspeak to a Cortesian quality of life.With humility, for example, I can observe that a forest or garden, like all of nature,can only restore, regenerate, and sustain itself at its own pace, in its own unique ways,and only at a capacity and ability it can handle without disturbing the delicate equilibriumand balance of relationships between all its species. Of course, most practitioners offorestry, agriculture, and, sad to say, gardening will argue with me. But the truth is,forests today are grown and harvested on a sustained yield basis, much like farming. Forthis to be profitable, however, it is believed that forests must exist as monocultures; anydiversity of vegetation is undesirable. Unfortunately, this form of practice has led towaves of unique insect and fungi infestations which in turn stimulate a scientific fighting

esponse for control. The harvest cycles have also been truncated, causing fast growingwood with terrible structural integrity. If you have sorted through a lumber yard latelyfor your weekend building project, you know exactly what I mean by poor quality ofwood.Industrial forms of agriculture similarly push the natural cycle of nature. Plants arejacked up with drugs for quick growth and sprayed with insecticides to control foragingbugs; the soil is sterilized with herbicides to control weeds and unwanted vegetation. Theresult is not only depleted soil, but nutritionally empty produce. Gardeners who do notpractice organic methods also use synthetic means to work their backyard and producegigantic tomatoes or dahlias, while doing whatever they can to control insects and weeds.These are just a few familiar examples of human hubris with nature. The stories,however, are many and demoralizing and extend even into the way we treat each otherand other cultures. In the Amazon rainforest, for example, corporate greed for cheaperbeef to feed first world citizens can in one fell swoop kill off the delicate balance of bothnature and the rainforest inhabitants. Compassionate scientists have determined that boththe rainforests and the cultures that live there are so diverse that you can literally findtotally different vegetation, folklore, customs, medicinal use of plants, and spiritualbeliefs just a few miles a part from each other!It is our duty as stewards of this planet to learn and practice the fine art of borrowingfrom nature, other cultures, even our neighbor as an honorable Guest, as a kind andthoughtful Friend. We must also learn how to share as an honorable Host. No longer canwe only consider our own needs, but the needs of others who might share the sameenvironment. This principle recognizes that as humans we should be acutely aware of thepower of our personal will and that our actions can have specific good or bad effects onothers who are also dependent on that place or setting we occupy. This principle alsounderscores the need to engage in restorative, regenerative, and sustainable practices inour ongoing relationships with others and nature.Friend, Guest, Host, Borrower — these are Cortesian qualities of character thatremind us of a more honoring, courteous relationship possible with both humans andnature alike. Eknath Easwaran, in his inspiring book The Compassionate Universe,underscores this ideal: “We need people with the artistry to live in simplicity as thehummingbird does, enjoying the nectar without bruising the flower.”The Highest GoodCortesian stewardship accepts the need for every life form to evolve and live toward itshighest good. This concept is embedded in the reverent question, “How can I servetoward this end?” Indeed, the challenge of every soul is to discover its significantpurpose in life. For many humans this is a thirst that may never be quenched given thenecessity to expend great amounts of energy toward daily emotional or physical survival.Consider this quote by George Bernard Shaw:

“This is the true joy in life: the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as amighty one, the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; thebeing a force of nature instead of a feverish clod of ailments and grievances complainingthat the world will not devote itself to making you happy.”Each of us must hear the challenge of our soul to be trustees of ourselves and theEarth, to live to our fullest potential, and to inspire that in other beings and species. Wemust have a vision and be visionaries. We must learn to give grace, love unconditionally,forgive, and say “I made a mistake, I am sorry, I will make things better.” We must feela sense of commitment and devotion — to a duty, task, person, relationship, conviction;to a sense of place and rightness. We must believe in the generosity and caring behindour giving of service, knowing that “I give, therefore I am.” By striving toward thehighest good within ourselves, others, and nature, we kindle a compassionate flame.III.A Devotion to PeaceAmidst the clamor and conflict of life on Earth today, the ageless personal desire forinner peace perhaps remains the final challenging frontier. A Cortesian way of livingmakes it possible to come to this state of peace by our very heartfelt devotion to placeand stewardship. In many respects, we must alter our lives in order to alter our hearts.We must see the world through eyes of caring and compassion, wherever we findourselves and whomever we find ourselves with.Peace is the gift we receive by trying with occasional success, and after much trail anderror, to live with reverence. It is a gift of reciprocity, for as we give with reverence wereceive peace in knowing that our intentions were pure and selfless. When we begin tofeel such peace of mind, such kindness within our hearts, we know that we have begun tounlock the deep abiding relationship and livelihood possible with all other humans,nature, this Earth, and God.Many years ago, amidst much upheaval inside my soul, I was watching the movie,The Last Temptation of Christ, based upon Nikos Kazantzakis’s bold novel by the samename. Suddenly, something happened to me, a marvelous challenge. I noticed thatthroughout the movie, whenever Jesus departed from someone or finished speaking, hewould say “Peace be with you.” I thought that Jesus (really the actor) spoke withincredible sincerity and kindness, and so easily! So, I took it upon myself to try thesesame words on others. I remember the first time I heard the words come out of mymouth — so awkward, so strange sounding, perhaps too contrived. But my friend didn’tflinch. Then I tried it again with another, and the words felt just as awkward. But thisfriend just looked at me kindly. I continued sharing these words with still more people,and the awkwardness and contrivedness began to disappear. The words now resonatedlike a mantram within my head, and I felt a true sense of sincerity begin to take hold inthis wish-gift to others. For nearly the next thirteen years, during the time our family

operated a fresh juice pushcart in town and at festivals, I said these words to everycustomer — literally tens of thousands of times. Now, “peace be with you” has becomeso internalized that I literally do feel this power of peace resonating within.During this period of vocalization of peace I progressed rapidly in meditation.Admittedly, the world still jostled me around and fought for my attention, but I foughtback. Perhaps my best weapon was the word cortese with its reverent philosophy.Reading sacred literature also fortified me, as did music and composing. The birth offamily and coming to our 22-acre land we call Cortesia allowed me to deeply explore acompanionship with nature.I tell you these things because peace does not come separate from your absorptionwith life. It is not some jewel you can purchase at a seminar promising quick results. Itdoes not arrive on a silver platter. Peace is more like a necklace consisting of manybeads or facets of behavior. And the chain is only as strong as the weakest link. I believethis, that, as Schmookler so eloquently details in his book, The Parable of the Tribes,there cannot be peace among one hundred people if just one does not embrace it. Therecannot be a full sense of peace within my heart or mind, if I have just one thought ofselfishness or unkindness.So, peace is a state of being, like love, that we make a renewed investment ineveryday. It’s a tough road, and sometimes even small stones look and feel like giganticboulders. But it is our constant reverent devotion to the places and relationships in ourlives that ultimately shapes each stone into a precious gem of behavior.Around 1990 I came across the work of the late Danaan Parry, the founder of theEarthstewards Network. His sole intent was to help people understand how by healingthemselves they could open up the force of peace on Earth. Dozens of books have beenwritten about peace, so important is it on the spiritual path. The books by the VietnameseZen monk Thich Nhat Hanh are especially accessible. But Danaan’s Sevenfold Path ofPeace, as described in The Earthstewards Handbook: A Guide to Healing Ourselves andHealing the Earth, stands out to me as one of the most practical examples of livingpeacefully. Let me briefly share with you this path of peace.1. Inner Peace.Affirmation: “When we are at peace within our own hearts, we shall be at peace witheveryone and with our Mother the Earth.”Our own heart is the beginning point of each day’s journey of service. Therefore, wemust always find those ways to love ourselves and nurture that inner sense of peace. Wecan aid this journey by fostering attitudes of truthfulness and honesty to ourselves andothers; withhold harsh judgement or criticism; explore our fears and accept our faults andlimitations. We can also meditate and pray daily, take an occasional retreat, do pleasantthings for our body (fitness, yoga, t’ai chi, massage, other bodywork), commune withnature, do journal writing, read inspiring literature, engage in a soulful form of art orcraft. Finally, we can engage in heartfelt volunteer service to other humans, animals, ornature.

2. Earth as a Living Organism.Affirmation: “When we recognize that our planet itself is a living organism co-evolvingwith humankind we shall become worthy of stewardship.”Many scientists are of the thought now that every life form on earth is an important“cellular” part of one self-regulating living organism that we know as this planet. Thetemperate and tropical rainforests, for example, are like vast “weather lungs.” It is ourhuman imperative to develop a respectful relationship to our total planet. We must beconcerned about the overall health and well-being of Earth, and the best way is to see theEarth as a living being that merits our good service.3. Planetary Stewardship.Affirmation: “When we see ourselves as stewards of our planet and not as owners andmasters of it there shall be lasting satisfaction from our labors.”There are many ways to express our awareness of planetary stewardship: reduce waste,recycle, minimize use of unnecessary or over-packaged products, use environmentallysafe cleaning agents and garden/agriculture insecticides and herbicides, show care in useof water or in what is released into waterways, compost, weatherize and/or useappropriate technology (solar electricity, heating, water heaters, etc.), minimize huntingof wildlife, use or engage in more fuel efficient forms of transportation, plant a gardenand regularly plant trees, develop an attitude of concern and caring about the naturalenvironment and the unnecessary exploitation and destruction of habitat and naturalresources. This is just a smattering of possibilities, but the point is, each day foster arenewed sense of loving devotion and commitment to this planet’s well-being.4. Right Livelihood.Affirmation: “When we accept the concept of right livelihood as the basic right of all weshall have respect for one another.”The concept of right livelihood goes way beyond ordinary ideas such as a job, career, lineof work, or trade or profession. It is deeper because it envelops three basic principles:• You do something because you love doing it and feel genuinely full and satisfiedwhen doing it,• You find your primary reward in serving people and/or nature and creating somethingmeaningful (beautiful, useful, etc.) rather than in amassing large sums of money;• Your relationship to other humans and this planet is based on sharing and cooperating,rather than on competing and achieving.Right livelihood is a deep expression of personal values that honor the need toincrease the quality of life not only in your life but in the lives of others and nature. Whatyou do, therefore, does not have to be attached to your work (although a blending of thetwo would be ideal); right livelihood may be engaging in special volunteer work, doingheartfelt childcare, being involved in community or global issues, fostering a reverentialrelationship with nature or some animal as a form of recreation or avocation. The point

is, whatever it be, do it from your heart with a great amount of conviction and loveknowing that it gives you a sense of inner peace and joy.5. Sacredness of All Life.Affirmation: “When we respect the sacredness of all life we shall be truly free.”When we broaden the concept of life to include each human being, each inhabitant of ourplanet (from microorganisms to vegetation to animals), and each object (whether it bemade by nature or human), then we create an opportunity to acknowledge uniqueness.Out of this appreciation for uniqueness should flow all those human behaviors that treatlife as sacred: respect, reverence, honor, compassion, gratitude, courtesy. Honoring thesacredness of life can be shown in a number of ways: celebrate important milestones oflife (birth, death, marriage, adulthood, etc.), create a ritual of gratitude before each meal,find a more compassionate relationship with household “pests” (instead of blind killing),eliminate personal racist or sexist thoughts and behaviors, honor and protect children andelders, show concern for the environment and endangered animal/plant species, engage incitizen diplomacy work, become informed about the needs of others less fortunate thanyourself, and act from your heart.6. Ego Transcendence.Affirmation: “When we free ourselves from our attachment to our ego-personalities weshall be able to experience our oneness.”This may be a tough one to figure out, but consider the basic make-up of your characterand personality. This “self” that is you has been called by psychologists your “ego.”This ego-self craves for things such as pleasure, safety, comfort, control. It expressesitself through thoughts and feelings, and is fully devoted to looking out for itself. Aboveall, however, this ego is attached to this physical world for it believes this is where it cantruly get all its needs met. On one hand that is true! But what really replenishes, heals,and enlivens the soul? It is those thoughts and behaviors that embrace the needs andwell-being of others, human and nature alike. It is those feelings that say, “I tried, gavemy best, forgave, served with my heart, prayed with my soul; I surrender my will.”When you feel more and more unattached to all the offerings of this world, yet you feelfully involved in the unique way you can contribute to its well-being, this is the type ofovercoming of your ego that is meant by transcendence.7. Oneness.Affirmation: “When we experience our Oneness — our total connectedness with allbeings we shall be at peace within our own hearts.”Oneness lies at the very heart of the Sevenfold Path of Peace for it means that we havecome to this realization out of our perceived sense of separateness or uniqueness fromother beings. This Oneness is most characterized by a spiritual quality of unity, a feelingof some intimate, total connection that can be phrased, “That which is God in me seesthat which is God in you.” To experience this feeling of Oneness with nature, an animal,

flower, sunset, and with another human being is a revelational experience for the soul.But by daily kindness and open-mindedness to the differences in others, by making aconscious effort to not judge or stereotype people or species of nature, and by living ourlife with humility and awe and wonder for creation, we will find we can repeatedlyexperience a sacred connection with life.ConclusionMany of the Cortesian concepts I have shared cannot even be said to be new. After all,there have always been people in every walk of life who have promoted a respectful andreverent relationship to life. But, taken as a whole, I believe that most of the ideaspresented in this chapter call for a name that exemplifies the reverential spirit. Cortesiais one word that, given its historical heritage and nobility, appears to speak to the positivechanges in both attitudes and behaviors that people are willing to make to enhance life onEarth. I am certain that, as you reflect upon the concepts in this chapter, you will be ableto see life a little more Cortesian. You will perhaps see a politician who seems veryCortesian in his or her approach to governance. A certain business will have Cortesianprinciples at heart. And you will notice those people who show heartfelt concern for theenvironment, native cultures, and women’s and children’s issues. Whether they know itor not, such people are putting Cortesian philosophy to practice. Each is an emissary fora compassionate way of life.Think about this again: Earth is like a sacred sanctuary. It is in need of a new andvibrant common vision and voice that celebrates the sacredness of life. Your ownpersonal concept of sanctuary is your personal form of “activism.” It is your opportunityto reflect upon the difference you can make daily, not only in your life but in the lives ofothers.A Cortesian philosophy and way of life reconnects us with our ultimate capacity tolove and to carry the torch of that compassionate, reverential love wherever we mayjourney. For this reason alone, Cortesia, as a new view of the world, cannot be owned byany corporations, leaders, dictators, scientists, or theologians. It is already aflame withinthe make-up of life, and it is being discovered daily by humans all across the globe. Ifyou ever have reason to doubt this, go into the sanctuary of your soul and reflect uponthese words by the philosopher, Teilhard de Chardin:“Someday, after we have mastered the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, weshall harness for God the energies of love. Then for the second time in the history of theworld, man (humans) will have discovered fire.It is our sincere hope that the philsophy of Cortesia we offer you gives you a stableboat in which to harness your personal energy of love. The truth is, your overarchingdesire for peace will ultimately bring you into a reverent devotion to place andstewardship. Your devotion to peace will only intensify the journey. And your devotionto peace will always lead you towards sanctuary.

Copyright © 2007 by Christopher Forrest McDowell, Ph.D.Excerpted from a work-in-progress.Correspondence: www.onesanctuary.com (peace@onesanctuary.com)