*********************** GAIAN VALUES ******************

ALL THAT IS -- IS A WEBS OF BEING

We belong to the Webs-of-being - - to the Cosmos - - to Earth - to Gaia.

Belonging is the protovalue from which all other values derive.

We belong to the physiophere, to the biosphere, to the ideosphere. We belong to Gaia. As the aborigines said it we are the ownees of the land, not the owners of the land. As Chief Seattle said it, We can not own the land, we are part of the land. We belong to and are inseparable from our culture-- from one another --from Earth -- from Gaia. We are interdependent with all that is.

Belonging is scientific fact; and, belonging is more than scientific fact.

Belonging is not merely being a member of, but it is being subject to- being in partnership with - - being responsible for. We belong to -- are responsible for --- the webs -of-being -- the universe -- theEarth -- Gaia. Belonging to-Gaia means recognizing that we are enmeshed in the webs-of-being and that our well-being is dependent on the well-being of Gaia. If we destroy Gaia, we destroy ourselves.

Belonging implies cooperation -- working with what is --- with Gaia -- the webs of being. Belonging implies community. In our face-to-face relationships with people we form community -- we belong to community. Belonging implies responsibility. We are responsible for Gaia. We are responsible for one another. Belonging implies Love. We can not separate love (agape) from the fact that we belong to Gaia. We love because we must love to preserve Gaia -- to preserve ourselves -- to preserve the webs-of-being

Cultures built on values other than belonging are doomed to self-destruct. A culture built on domination of the earth, and all the animals therein is doomed to disappear. A culture based on self-interest is doomed to disintegrate. A Culture based on survival-of-the-fittest will not survive. A culture based on competition will destroy itself.

To be stable and sustainable a culture must be based on cooperation, community, responsibility, love, honesty, caregiving, and the other values which are implied by and intertwined with one another and with belonging.

We can no more separate ourselves from belonging -- from Gaia-- and remain a viable culture; than an oxygen atom can separate itself from hydrogen atoms and retain the qualities of water.

Bill Ellis

Bill Ellis, of Rangely, ME retired early from his working life as a science policy consultant in agencies such as the National Science Foundation, Unesco and The World Bank. For the last 30 years he has work voluntarily to promote the broad range of social innovations that empower people at the grass roots and promote community self-reliance. One of these is as General Coordinator, of 'A Coalition for Self-Learning. With which he facilitated the drafting an online book, "Creating Learning Communities," and, the White Paper, "Life-Long Self-Learning," that promotes the recognition of the vast array of learning modalities in addition to public schooling -- e.g. learning co-ops, public schools, private schools, unschooling, charter schools. His mantra is "everyone should have the right, the freedom, the resources and the opportunity to learn what they want, when they want and how they want.