The Sustainability Project: The Building of the Greenhouse
by Nicholas Zajac
The School of Metaphysics is a school of Higher education aimed at developing the Whole Self. So what does that have to do with sustainable living on our planet? Man is comprised of many expressions of being. Each expression is a reflection of the previous more subtle natures that come before it. A person with a strong mental perception can see this to be true. The School of Metaphysics is very good at teaching people how to ‘see’ into the spiritual nature of a person or a structure directly, identifying causal thoughts and attitudes that make up the habits and forms that are created. The people on our planet are now accepting this as common knowledge.
A huge part of sustainability is using energy that is available to us to the fullest. Part of a “green” College Campus is making the structure and the activities in accord with the way the planet gives and receives. Everything on the planet gives and receives according to its nature. Our nature is a little different, because we can improve our nature, speed it up or slow it down, temper our weaknesses and exalt our strengths as we choose. This is very special.
At the College of Metaphysics we’ve been growing a large portion of our own food for decades. Teachers like Dr. Daniel Condron have been teaching College students how to communicate with, and understand the root races that are in our environment so that we can help them fulfill their purpose, bring these forms into a higher vibration and build understandings of creation. The first chapter of Genesis says this is what we are here to do.
This is where the building of the greenhouse comes in. In order to have the full ‘dominion’ as Genesis describes it in the first chapter, which is our birthright, there are some obvious things that govern time as we know it on earth --- our Sun and the life cycles of all living things that facilitate this kind of responsibility.
Now it takes a shift in consciousness for us to be able to understand fully how to use our physical environment. It takes prolonged concentration with every activity, to see what is finished, and if there is anything left behind that is wasted energy, to live within the sphere of order, and support, and to give and receive. Being able to master this, and to improve space, and to improve self is a mark of adulthood. This is why it was so exciting to see Chris Sheehan (see related article) share this idea of making things sacred through harmonizing our creations with Universal Law.
We were talking about lots of things: sacred space, cleanliness, having reverence for our campus and becoming willing to work at it more, with more love, and more respect for who and what we are, to increase our level of expectation, paving the way for Project Octagon and other sacred structures, helping the planet make it a more graceful transition at a time of great urgency. All of this requires greater presence, greater willpower, greater inclusion of every moment.
Lots of the ideas came to the fore, solar power, eco-friendly building construction, recycling unused material to make new things, more efficient heating and cooling, hydroelectric power and the like. All of this comes in the future, and I tend to be a little impatient at times. I wanted to get further off the grid more quickly. So I thought the most obvious way to do this was to accelerate the amount of food that was being produced and to extend it further into the fall and start it earlier in the spring with a greenhouse. It has many benefits.
1. Money is saved that can be used for other, more important developments. It was part of my intention that this would help to leave a surplus for Project Octagon.
2. Students learn to use concentrated amounts of Light to accelerate growth. They appreciate linear time as a system of support for life and seeds. There is a counterpart for anyone studying the mind that can be seen here as well. Light, whether in the mind or the physical, and properly tempered, feeds and uplifts, nurtures and energizes everything it touches.
3. Using the sun’s energy to the fullest is a reflection of the efficiency with which we use the energies of our minds and bodies. Just as discarded or unattended things build up into clutter, and misspent energy gets wasted, the mind unattended and full of carelessly placed thoughts and ideas becomes messy and energy is misused. Using energy to the fullest physically requires one to use the attention mindfully and with efficiency.
Lao Tzu understood Superconsciousness and the Universal Laws of Creation through observing and mimicking of nature. He was humble enough to see what had come before him and to learn from it. This is something that is also happening at the College of Metaphysics.
There are lots of things that I learned in the process of seeing this idea to fruition. After having the idea, I asked Dr. Daniel Condron, the Chancellor if I could initiate this idea and why I wanted to. Then I looked at a catalog to see what was offered. I considered the needs of our campus and I wanted to leave room for improvement. Once I settled on a particular greenhouse I took it to Dr. Daniel and showed it to him. Then I had the chance to stand up before the brunch table at the College Campus and share some of what I have shared with you here, and then request the financial support for the purchasing of a Greenhouse. I was amazed at the amount of money that was raised and the support that was given to it. I asked twice over the course of 1 month, at meal times. Students at both school centers and the college were eager to participate in this part of the creative process and to give to it. We raised the 1600.00 needed to order all the parts for the construction project.
Over the course of the next few months I was able to come to the College of Metaphysics campus and build the greenhouse with the help of other students who wanted to volunteer their time. This is where I learned the most. I was able to begin the process of understanding how to walk the razor’s edge of mature vision and construction infancy. There were times when I was frustrated and impatient, and it was difficult to include people who wanted to help, to love the creation process in the midst of little setbacks or unbeckoned obstacles. Eventually, as I made peace with myself and with the big 50 foot long, 20 foot wide, 12 foot tall creature. I was able to remember what I wanted to produce within myself again. The harmony within my own self that is reflected through the physical creation process and the sustainable outcome that would come upon completion of this project was what I wanted. Learning happens in many ways, as long as we can see it for what it is, it will be the one thing we will never grow tired of in all our breaths and all the minutes of our waking life. So the simple building of the greenhouse is part of a much larger creation.
In short, to make a creation whole and complete, it requires more than one level of consciousness. I had to imagine and incubate the image, then I had to include others and be willing to identify and actively pursue karmic lessons and experience healing. There was a different step of physical activity for almost every part of this creation. Then I had to claim what I had accomplished and learned in the process.
This is just the tip of the iceberg of what happens when all of us on the planet become students of mind and Self through daily living. This is the reality that is the College of Metaphysics.•