Consciousness

We are entering the Age of Aquarius in 2012, November 11. It will be a new time. The entire psyche is changing...This Age you will all serve is the Age of Awareness, an Age of Experience. This transition to that Age began in the Piscean Age. The Piscean motto was: "I want to know. I need to learn." The Aquarian motto is: "I know. I want to experience." You will have to deliver experience to everyone. And you must deliver the experience to your self each day.

-Yogi Bhajan PhD, The Mind

In these last few days of pregnancy, feelings of anticipation and eagerness have enveloped me and every member of my family.  I can only imagine how much my life is going to change, irreversibly, in what could be a week or a matter of hours. While there is not a lot else that I can or wish to do, I have been reading and meditating many hours of the day. I am simultaneously devouring The Mind and Living the Good Life. Though very different in theme and principle, both books relate to the feelings of uncertainty and excitement drummed up by the expectation of Tallulah. They have also stimulated my thoughts about another highly anticipated venture, my family's exodus to an "off the grid" residence.

Living the Good Life, written by Scott and Helen Nearing, is an extremely detailed account of a fifty year old couple's move from New York to Vermont during the Great Depression. With little knowledge or experience in farming or building, they moved to the country motivated by their desire for spiritual peace and self-sufficiency. They ultimately built several spaces, taking obstacles as they came and allowing the Universe to provide them with the solutions they needed. They developed a system that almost completely detached them from the US economy, which was their initial goal.

Though we don't plan on hand churning our own cement like the Nearings, we do aspire to live sustainably, as disconnected from mainstream life and economy as possible. Though the location is yet to be determined, there are many prospects, and regardless of the whereabouts, the vision remains. Our house will be powered by solar panels and a wind turbine, have a water catchment system and chemical-free purification, use composting toilets, candle lit lanterns, and a stone oven. My mom, the driving force behind this project, has a relentless vision and I have found her enthusiasm to be contagious. 

The Mind is a book dictating several of Yogi Bhajan's lectures about the projections and facets of the human psyche. I cannot begin to describe the extensive theories this book contains, but one of the overlaying themes is the value and necessity of human consciousness. Though we have encountered many who say that the transition to an eco-friendly home will be too difficult, I am certain it is possible. The only prerequisite to this massive undertaking is a commitment from all participants  to consciousness. We must manage our consumption of resources; water, power, heat etc. We will plant and live off of several indigenous fruits and vegetables and trade with the surrounding farmers for products we don't wish to produce. We will all take part in maintaining the property, which, after visiting a solar powered home and speaking with its inhabitants, seems to entail a lot more work and knowledge than one would think. 

Though it won't be easy, with the exception of the birth of my daughter, I have never been so enthused about anything. I refer to this project as my mom's legacy, using her wisdom and fervor to provide for her family in a time when the length of resources is unknown. I am so proud I am able to be a part of this mission and contribute to creating a haven for my daughter in these times of economic and ecologic uncertainty. As I anticipate the birth of my daughter and the movement into the Aquarian Age, which many have declared the commencement of the apocalypse, I find equanimity in the belief that salvation can be found in a life lived consciously. I look forward to sharing these values with Tallulah and contributing to the creation of a being who will understand and live into the art of awareness.

We have not solved the problem of living. Far from it. But our experience convinces us that no family group possesing a normal share of vigor, energy, purpose, imagination and determination need continue to wear the yoke of a competitive, acquisitive, predatory culture. Unless vigilante mobs or the police interfere, the family can live with nature, make themselves a living that will preserve and enhance their efficiency, and give them leisure in which they can do their bit to make the world a better place.

- Living the Good Life