MANIFESTO
Foundation
Blue Apple Holler is a place for learning, not for knowing. We have faith in the meaningfulness of existence, a faith in life itself. Beyond that raw fact of intrinsic meaningfulness, however, we acknowledge our primal ignorance. Blue Apple Holler affirms no particular dogma — except, perhaps, the kind and respectful treatment of others. And we welcome all who are curious and willing to learn without prejudice . . . inspired by, yet humble before, life’s mystery.
Focus
As is true of all animals, human beings’ role in the living world is complex and dynamic. Our minds, our bodies, as well as our senses of self and possibility are shaped by the world around us. Changing our world, we change ourselves. And what do we want more for our world and ourselves than to be nurtured, whole, and at ease? Thus, Blue Apple Holler’s programs focus on change as nurturance: nurturing creatures and environments alike in their essential mutuality. When we care for life, life’s raw abundance grows in us as love. Cultivation of that love is the heart of Blue Apple Holler.
Commitment
A commitment to life is a commitment to the generations. When creating programs, we ask ourselves, Do they honor the highest ideals of our ancestors? Will they help to create a world in which even the grandchildren of strangers will flourish?
Ethos
We are all in this together, or we aren’t in it at all. And look around you . . . you’re in it. So, take responsibility for it! Zero-sum thinking, fearful that you’ll lose if I win, is nonsense. Zero-sum thinking, shedding crocodile tears over the destruction of nature as the price of human progress, is nonsense. Rather, as much as each of us is responsible for ourselves, we are, each of us, response-able to the world. Or, to bring this down to a single word, Blue Apple Holler’s ethos is maturity. As a community, we look to each other to respond with maturity: emotional, intellectual, social, verbal, physiological maturity. Mature response does not mean always being ready to fix a situation, as a hero or a martyr; nor does it mean license to impose one’s personal ideals of goodness or rightness on another, however strongly held. Mature response is not evangelism, it is response — the expression of self that emerges out of deep listening, silencing the clarion ego, and witnessing the inscrutable reality of the other.
Blue Apple’s Holler ethos of mature response shows itself in several ways.
- Within the human community, it means that we strive to treat each other with kindness and respect. We hold space for one another, recognizing that different people have different needs as well as different thresholds of need.
- In relation to the land, it means honoring the generosity and abundance of the earth by receiving that which is offered with gratitude, and by taking that which is needed with humility and parsimony. As animals, we naturally seek to make our homes more hospitable. Maturity, here, asks us to do so with care for the territorial, chemical, and aesthetic consequences of our nest building.
- In relation to other animals, this ethos of mature response again exhorts us to humility, parsimony, and gratitude, without asking us to forswear our animal being. As for the arrogance that elevates humanity above other creatures, the insecurity that only finds its satisfaction in cruel humiliation of the weak: no, just no!.
Activity
Blue Apple Holler offers educational courses, workshops, internships, residencies, and events that focus on regenerative praxis, that is, on cultivating personal and communal renewal and resilience by working with and on, the earth.
Invitation
Blue Apple Holler invites you! All of you, curious and willing to learn without prejudice . . . inspired by, yet humble before, life’s mystery.