Earthbody Matters
Conversations with a skeptic
Earthbody is a markedly different project, which invariably raises questions about its curious origins and purpose, its core philosophy steeped in ancient tradition and application in everyday living. In this casual conversation with an Earthbody skeptic, I discuss matters in general - from spirituality and religion, to God and the grid, the Age of Aquarius, and the kitchen wizard that rules the 2016 South African Restaurant scene.
How does religion and God feature in your work?
Earthbody is a spiritual body of work. It’s not a religious project. There’s a big difference. Religion is a public affair where followers adhere to a prescribed doctrine. If you were Catholic for example, you would adhere to the Catholic creed. The same would be true if you were Jewish, Greek Orthodox, Muslim or a follower of any other faith. Spirituality is all about your personal truth and relationship with God. There are no rules as everyone’s path is unique, a fact that's emphasised repeatedly on the website. To have a personal experience, you cannot be dictated to regarding what you should or should not be doing or believing. As Deepak Chopra says: “ Religion is belief in someone else’s experience. Spirituality is having your own.”
God in the Earthbody work is not a bearded, old white chap sitting on a fluffy cloud up in heaven. God is both male and female. The word ‘God’ has strong male and religious connotations, which is why I’ve also chosen to use other sacred names throughout the Earthbody website like the Creator, Sacred Feminine, Spirit, Source, Divinity, Heart, Christ and Golden Consciousness.
As for heaven ... it's not a physical place, but rather, a state of awareness. Experiencing ‘heaven on earth’ is to live in the moment. When you’re aware and fully present, nothing gets in your way. The moment is perfect. I know this sounds airy-fairy, but think about how you feel after you’ve totally immersed yourself in doing something you love. It can be anything – planting a new bed in your garden, baking a cake, building a model train or learning to fly. When you’re absolutely engaged, you’re blissed out ... in heaven … here on Earth.
Did God create the Earthbody grid and if so, why?
I would like to believe it is God because anything else would be too scary to contemplate. I’m not a conspiracy theorist but there’s something odd about this grid. It looks engineered to me and that in itself raises some interesting questions about who we are and why we may be living in a reality defined by this grid. I’m comforted by the fact that we’re able to recognise and understand the grid’s mechanics, or at least some of them. A sinister motive seems unlikely when you view it from this perspective.
Access to the grid shows us things about ourselves that we might not otherwise have seen. We’re offered an opportunity to ‘free’ ourselves from debilitating attitudes and situations. We may not always take up the opportunities, even if our ways are hampering or causing us harm but, knowing what issues we’re dealing with, automatically releases some of their stranglehold over us, so there is change. Most importantly, knowledge of the grid obligates us to make use of its positive attributes.
Ancient spiritual traditions may provide some insights as to the purpose of the grid. They speak of Earth as a school of learning for rapid soul development. Aspects of our soul take on physical form in order to develop facets of awareness. Once we’re aware of something we never lose that awareness as souls even after physical death. Earth is considered a tough school of learning but a quick means of soul growth especially at this time in Earth history.
Why is this time in Earth history considered to be so important?
There is a common theme across cultures regarding this time in Earth’s history. It’s often referred to as the end of days. The Mayans for example, marked December 2012 as the end of a way of living. In the Vedic tradition we are described as emerging from a 1200-year cycle of deep sleep called the Kali Yuga. This period is likened to a Dark Age, where civilization degenerates to a spiritual low point. Humans are 'asleep’ from a consciousness perspective, which results in a period of upheaval. The Hopi Indians also see us living through discord and strife as we emerge from the last days of the 4th Age.
This time in astrological terms is described as the crossing of ages – from the Age of Pisces into the Age of Aquarius. The chaos we see around us is evidence of the transition. Our lives are changing and we have to adjust routines and dump our destructive habits if we’re going to thrive in this new dynamic. The Age of Pisces out of which we’re emerging/we've emerged had a strong religious emphasis. Belief ruled supreme, which meant that truth could be in flux. Blind acceptance and obedience meant that people could be easily manipulated. The Age of Aquarius is different. God/the gods are within us, not outside of us. We’re at the centre of things. The rise of militant religious groups is typical of those resisting change and holding onto old structures.
The Age of Aquarius is a social sign, with an emphasis on globalisation. We see people coming together - communities of like-minded thinkers - with common cause and shared experiences. Being bullied and ignored as a collective body is a thing of the past. People power is a real phenomenon. There is strength in taking a collective stand. The August 2016 municipal elections here in South Africa is proof of that. The ANC never believed it would be defeated no matter what it did. Losing three important metros to the opposition - the administrative and commercial capitals as well as Nelson Mandela Bay, a municipality named after its greatest icon was a reality check.
People power has toppled governments. The Arab Spring changed the political and social landscape in North Africa and the Middle East. Just recently, the South Korean president, Park Geun-Hye was impeached over a corruption scandal. Hilary Clinton's presidential campaign, was scuppered by an email scandal. Big businesses that have cheated and lied to their stakeholders, continue to be exposed with these 'Aquarian' energies. The Volkswagen emission scandal and Sepp Blatter and the Fifa fiasco, are great examples. Both had got away with their shenanigans for so long, that they never believed they would be found-out. It’s not easy to pull the wool over people’s eyes. Advanced technologies and especially computer technologies that drive the internet and social media platforms are hugely influential features of the Age of Aquarius. Instant global communication forces transparency. With the good, come the challenges and need to manage things like cyber-attacks, hacking and the dissemination of false information.
When I started with this website in 2007 there were no Tablets or iPads; there was talk of a new social networking service called Facebook. Look where we are today!
This time is important because of what’s to come. It’s described in the spiritual tradition as the Thousand Years of Peace, and the New Golden Age. Yes, this is very esoteric sounding, but we’ve had other Golden Ages, so there is precedent. The Golden Age of Athens under Pericles in the 5th Century BC followed years of wars with the Persians. Democracy was birthed along with major developments in art, philosophy, literature and theatre. There were major philosophical advances through key thinkers like Aristotle, Socrates and Plato. Renowned sculptors like Praxiteles emerged and architectural feats like the Parthenon were accomplished.
There are many people, me included, who have difficulty accepting the intangible. If it doesn’t have a physical form that I can touch, I have difficulty believing in it. Where’s the proof?
I have found great value and understanding of my own life through the practices, tools and techniques that make up Earthbody. You may not find them as valuable and that’s fine. Everyone’s path, as I mentioned before, is unique. There will always be something else that resonates with you.
As for tangibility, everything that has physical form began as an intangible concept. To build this office, there had to be an idea (intangible thought), then a discussion with an architect (intangible words), who went ahead with the drafting of plans (tangible) recruitment of the developers and construction of the building (tangible). You thought out this question but you can’t show it to me. It’s the same with love, the emotion that drives all of us. You can feel it, but it has no form. You can’t measure it, define the amount of space it occupies or describe its texture or smell.
Over the many years of development of this work, I have found that people who use the tangibility argument do so for two main reasons. Firstly, they’re lazy. No offense intended. They want answers delivered to them on a silver platter. Earthbody and particularly the reading modules, which are personalised, are not an instant panacea; reflection is required and people don’t always want to sit quietly and contemplate their lives. They’re so desperate to keep up with the world at large, be noticed and approved by their peers, that they miss out on themselves. The emptier they feel, the more they run, like hamsters on a wheel, round and round they go.
The second reason people hold back, is fear. They have no personal experience but they’re scared to come too close – they’re fearful of discovering things about themselves or someone’s told them the information is ‘witchy-poo, hocus-pocus’ and that they have to beware, or their faith doesn’t permit them to investigate. People doubt or buy into other people’s beliefs when they don’t have sufficient knowledge. Fear is overcome with understanding, and that comes through first-hand experience.
Can you give me a practical example of how Earthbody works? Are you working on something in particular that you might want to share?
I decided to plot the top rated restaurants for 2016. There are various lists and whilst they differ in how winners are selected, that doesn’t influence where these restaurants are positioned in the grid. Their locations are always the same whether they’re ranked first or fifty. I noticed something interesting about South Africa’s top 10 in the Mercedes-Benz ranking. Eight of the ten restaurants were located in sectors associated with mastery, and six of those with master alchemy, in other words, kitchen wizardry. I used a reading module called ‘A Perfect Location’ to determine these locations. There’s a lot that can be said about these positions, but let’s focus on the number one restaurant, The Test Kitchen in Woodstock Cape Town. This restaurant is ranked 22nd in the world S.Pellegrino Restaurant Awards for 2016.
The Test Kitchen is housed in the Old Biscuit Mill, which is located in Sector Six according to the Perfect Location reading module. Sector Six is recommended for mills and bakeries of all sorts – from large-scale factories to petite patisseries. The Old Biscuit Mill as the name suggests, was an old Mill for Pioneer and Standard Mills as well as Pyotts, the biscuit manufacturers. It was the perfect location, which may explain its numerous incarnations and longevity. Keeping the name for its current form as a trendy dining and shopping destination, is genius. There are other restaurants within this complex but the key with Sixth Sector placements is mastery of skills and consistent excellence, which is chef Luke Dale-Roberts’ forte. Consistency requires routine. Routine becomes a boring slog when there's no interest. With passion for your craft however, routine takes on a ritualistic quality, which is when magic happens ... as in innovative gastronomy. Luke Dale-Roberts is in the right place for his skills. That's not to say he wouldn't thrive elsewhere; it's just that by being in the perfect location he's got the right 'ground support' which makes life a little easier and allows him to focus on his expertise and the world notices! I would love to know what inspired him to choose the Old Biscuit Mill as a location. Inspiration – In-Spirit – the Spirit within, always guides us right. For those who lack inspiration and just want information, Earthbody can locate you in that perfect place to showcase your skills.
Salome Pouroulis
December 2016