The Garden We Carry

Transpersonal and Indigenous Pathways for Planetary Peace

The Garden as a Living Metaphor

There is a Garden that lives in memory, in ceremony, in the body, and in breath. It is carried not only within human hearts but also within the mycelial webs of the forest, the roots of ancestral teachings, and the rhythms of Earth herself. In times of planetary disruption and spiritual fragmentation, this Garden becomes both a metaphor and a living curriculum—a call to re-learn how to live in right relationship with all of life. Drawing on my  book chapter forthcoming, The Garden We Carry: Re-Learning to Live in Right Relationship, this article expands on my invited talk  for the Sofia University Global Online Conference 2025, which explores intercultural dialogue as a pathway to peace. Through a transpersonal and Indigenous lens, the Garden becomes a portal into sacred pedagogy, expanded states of consciousness, and embodied planetary care.

Re-Learning Right Relationship

In an age marked by mental health crises, ecological collapse, and cultural dislocation, there is a need for educational paradigms that extend beyond abstract knowledge into lived, soul-centered wisdom. Transpersonal education invites such a shift—a pedagogy that integrates spiritual insight, ecological intimacy, ancestral memory, and embodied presence. Indigenous knowledge systems have long upheld the ethics of the heart—Respect, Reciprocity, and Responsibility—as foundational principles of relational life. These values align with transpersonal approaches that center the self not as separate, but as an emergent part of a more-than-human field of consciousness.

By interweaving transpersonal education with Indigenous kinship, the Garden we carry can be reactivated—tended through practices of ritual, storytelling, community learning, and ecological service.

Sacred Pedagogy: From Crisis to Coherence

The sacred pedagogy explored here emphasizes:

Expanded States of Consciousness: Psychedelic-assisted education, deep meditation, and dreamwork as modalities that awaken ecological empathy and insight. Embodied Practice: Movement, breath, and somatic inquiry serve as vehicles for integrating fragmented parts of the self into planetary belonging. Ceremonial Education: Rituals and land-based learning re-orient individuals toward cycles of regeneration, humility, and interdependence. Ancestral and Mycelial Memory: The mycorrhizal networks beneath our feet mirror relational intelligence—decentralized, reciprocal, and profoundly alive. This becomes a pedagogical archetype for mutual nourishment and community-based wisdom.

By walking the Garden path, learners become stewards, not consumers—creators of meaning, not merely recipients of information.

The Pluriverse of Peace-Building

The Garden is not one. It is many. In the pluriverse of worldviews and wisdoms, a multiplicity of epistemologies coexists—each rooted in local earth, cosmology, and culture. Peace-building, then, is not a universal solution but a plural relational process. It involves listening across traditions, honoring the sovereignty of Indigenous and Earth-based peoples, and dissolving the illusion of separateness. This is not only educational—it is political, ecological, and spiritual work. As transpersonal and Indigenous paradigms converge, a deeper coherence emerges: one that affirms that peace is not the absence of conflict, but the presence of right relationship.

Key Takeaways

Transpersonal Education as Sacred Practice

Transpersonal learning must move beyond individual insight into embodied, planetary service. Learning becomes a sacred act, aligned with ecological regeneration and soul evolution.

The Ethics of the Heart: Respect, Reciprocity, Responsibility

Indigenous principles offer an ethical compass to guide relational learning and community-based inquiry.

Planetary Pedagogy through Ceremony and Kinship

Ceremonial, land-based, and somatic education practices restore right relationship and build resilience amidst planetary uncertainty.

The Mycelial Archetype of Learning

Education modeled on fungal intelligence invites collective care, mutual nourishment, and decentralized wisdom.

Call to Action

In this time of great transition, educators, facilitators, and cultural weavers are called to become gardeners of consciousness—tending to inner landscapes while cultivating outer worlds of peace. The Garden we carry is not a metaphor alone; it is a living curriculum rooted in Indigenous kinship, transpersonal inquiry, and Earth-honoring practice.

•  Re-learn right relationship.

•  Listen to the more-than-human world.

• Carry the Garden—and tend to it with sacred care.

From heart to heart,

Dr. Regina U. Hess

Birthing an Ancient Future – Multidisciplinary Council of Peace-Builders