Spiritual transformation, nothing less
Chatted with friend Judy tonight about my doing some photo work in Amish country here yesterday. I’m working on a collection of photos for a new book project.
She’s spent a lot of time as a never-really-accepted yet embedded Yankee in the Amish communities treating psychiatric disorders, which she says, along with epidemic proportion genetic disabilities, are rampant in the Amish community that has gene pools shrunken to high risk levels. It is a testament to the power of cultural beliefs and norms that value compliance over communal health and sustainability. Not unlike the cultural norms and beliefs that continue to fuel the global meltdown and escalating terrorism we’re currently engaged in.
I’m beginning to suspect it’s not as simple as “education.” I think it’s nothing less than a spiritual transformation, which is exactly what we all need to get busy learning how to create if we’re really committed to healthy, sustainable communities and planets.
