Resurgence Summer Camp 2008

I have just returned from the Resurgence Summer Camp held at the Green and Away tented conference centre in Worcestershire. I hadn't been before and was a little apprehensive at what I would find. In the end I came back on an emotional high, not an ecstatic or adrenaline filled high, but a deep feeling that I had at last made some deep connections within me that had been yearning to find a home. I could write at length about many things, but perhaps they will evolve into further blogs. Instead I offer a summary of notes from my notebook and a glimpse into some personal experiences.

• A group of 100 or so people with whom I felt a deep affinity and connectedness with at many different levels


• A great campsite: vegetarian food, all meals outdoors, wood-burning showers, solar power, compost toilets, camp fire and all intimately surrounded by trees.


• Although I didn't attend many of the main talks (too much already to think about) I found the workshops on creative writing very inspiring. I would have done the Deep Ecology one but got tied up with a very interesting discussion group on the use of spirituality in daily life


• Talks by Satish Kumar were very inspiring as was his idea to promote Slow Sunday and to get us all making bread


• The morning meditations were hugely profound to me. It is ages since I have been in such deep group meditations and these were unique to me. Very holistic, very open and I felt completely free to be who I am. The silent walk down by the river for an hour or so at 6.30 am on a beautiful sunny summer's morning was amazing. I'll write it as a separate blog


• Spending time in the kitchen cutting boxes of cauliflowers, chopping piles of carrots and cucumbers and making a bucket load of bread was a big highlight


• Washing all the kitchen pots, pans and utensils after the first evening meal


• Sitting on my own in a large yurt on a hot summers day surrounded by comfy cushions and just listening to muted sounds of the camp outside


• Showering out of doors and looking at the campsite around me


• Swimming in the nearby river on a hot summer afternoon with cows looking on


• The Sweat Lodge and subsequent mud bath! I had been apprehensive about this but after chatting with someone I went along. It was great, only about 10 of us, but it was well lead and I felt no sort of scary spiritual undertones. It was very dark, very hot and great fun!


• Wildflower walk: we were all given magnifying glasses and went to see what flowers we could find around the campsite. Everyone found this fascinating.


• Conversations. I had too many to remember!


• The meeting on daily spirituality. I was deeply moved by this gathering/sharing when we all stood together to hold hands. Don't know why, but I wanted to cry! Perhaps I was feeling no longer alone and some of the people had walked a path similar to that which I have done (as had others on the camp). We were joined by a butterfly and a baby toad by the way!


• Walking barefoot for several days


• Listening to the band Dragonsfly, and the storyteller (pictured)


• Helen Moore, eco-poet


• The Grief of the Earth


• Labyrinths being a form of body meditation and prayer (not that I walked the one there though).


• An apple tree shows unconditional love: all are welcome to have an apple, humans, birds, wasps and worms etc.


• Love is not the same as liking.


• Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it (quote from Mary Oliver, Poet)


• Teach me


• Sitting under a tree is a temple


• Creation is always ongoing


• Hold a bread making/eating party


• Make beautiful things - slowly!


• When God made time, he made plenty of it


• Why waste finite materials to save infinite time?


• Art is good art when you use it in your life

And more!

The camp was gift to me to appreciate and unwrap. I could have done much more, listened more, spoken to people more and thought more, but I did what I did and I feel profoundly moved. Thank you to all the people I met, to all who organised it and to the whole of Nature and the Great Creator for being there for us.