Lessons linger years after
Standing Rock
“An important lesson I learned at Standing Rock is that everything can be a prayer.”
Years have passed since our feet were on the ground at Standing Rock, but the shift in our way of Being and our way of approaching social and environmental activism remains.
On the day that we returned home from Standing Rock, Megan reflected, saying:
“This has been my first experience of an environmental movement that’s spiritually integrated. Where a sense of the Sacred is at the heart of our decisions and our actions. And that’s been profoundly influential for me."
Prayer and Action
The experience instilled in our community a desire to strike a balance between being and doing; between prayer and action. And to integrate the two so that it’s not one or the other, but that there’s a true balance. Where the doing is the prayer, and the prayer is the doing. And that takes a level of awareness and slowing down.
Slowing Down
Slowing down has been a major lesson learned from our time at Standing Rock. How much more powerful can we be in our action when we take time to be careful and considerate? Slowing down gives us the ability to make good choices and make sure that our actions are just before we rush to get something done.
A New Story
“It’s not the old story that more is better and faster is better. Our experience at Standing Rock is part of a New Story."
— Megan Toben
Integration
Our upbringing in the mainstream culture influences our worldview, our thought patterns and even our style of activism. That’s why it was so profound for us to witness and stand in solidarity with indigenous activists and leaders. What we experienced was a deeply moving and inspiring way of effecting change.
We continue to integrate what we learned, as we aim to come into balance. It doesn’t have to be one or the other. We can recognize that efficiency, productivity and organization have their place and are wonderful, powerful technologies, AND that they’re not the only way. In fact, when they are the only way, there can be consequences with severe repercussions. So, let’s really integrate the lessons of the industrial growth economy with the lessons of the more ancient, indigenous, feminine, life-sustaining societies. And that’s how we move forward as a species… we hope!
Listen In
To hear more about what it was like to be at Standing Rock during the demonstrations against the pipeline, listen to this podcast: Dream, Freedom, Beauty: Episode 42