Dear Springhouse community,
What brought me to Springhouse was my 14 year old son Skyelar who refused to participate in any way during his 8th grade year in the New York public school system. He wasn’t a trouble maker, he just refused to conform to a system that he didn’t believe had his best interest at heart. In his own way he was protesting the public education system and I could think of no good reason for him not to. So off we went to southwest Virginia (what a change!) to see my old friend and mentor Jenny Finn and find out what in the world this school called Springhouse was all about. We knew instantly that we’d found a place where we could build meaningful relationships and where my son would feel safe and genuinely cared for at school. What I didn’t expect was that Springhouse would lead to immeasurable, priceless growth for me as well!
As an intergenerational school I was invited to take part in a number of Springhouse’s adult offerings. The first, a group study of Sourced Design (the guiding principles at Springhouse) opened my eyes to the unique approach Springhouse takes to all learning. Some of the principles of Sourced Design I could relate to, like learning from the earth. I’ve always felt a deep connection to nature. However, other principles were difficult for me, like taking care of vulnerability. I hated the sound of that one! Despite the fact that it has been the hardest principle for me to grasp (and made me the most uncomfortable at times), it has of course, led to the most amount of learning and growth in my life.
Meeting regularly with a diverse group of people who are open and committed to studying Sourced Design (another term that sounded “weird” to me at first) has not only brought me immense joy but reassured me that my life has purpose. I am constantly reminded by meeting with the Springhouse community that I don’t need to feel imprisoned by the insanity that dominates the world around me. I can ground myself in the awareness and wisdom of life’s source and be assured that it’s possible to practice new ways of living in this world, even when that world seems so completely out of my control. But I need to stay connected to others who practice the same principles, otherwise I tend to get sucked back into the utter wackiness of our prevailing culture. That’s why the Sourced Design study group has been vital to my growth and peace of mind.
To really explore one’s soul involves a lot of abstract work, a lot of expressing oneself in creative ways where the only goal is inner growth and revelation (as opposed to producing something of interest to others). True North provided me with qualified instructors to guide that work in a safe
space. There are so few opportunities in our culture to do this kind of work consistently over an extended period of time in a group setting. I’ve been in countless groups where I felt perfectly safe to explore my inner light and celebrate that light with others, groups that made me feel good but led to little if any permanent change. In the True North program, the goal was to discover ALL of my soul, even the dark corners where the demons reside, not in order to rid myself of them but to know and befriend them so they would stop haunting me. I knew they were preventing me from the transformation I so desperately desired. Bringing this dark side of my soul out into the light made it possible for me to see that in reality, the demons were really more like mischievous little gnomes once I stopped fearing them so much. I learned to work with
them and see how they held their place in my life. I could accept myself as a whole and perfectly imperfect human, worthy of love and acceptance in life.
I moved forward from True North deeply transformed and with a commitment to use the tools I learned to continue this vital work indefinitely. I continue practicing what I learned for the sake of building more fulfilling relationships in my own life and providing an example of what’s possible in the other communities I live and work in. Springhouse continues to change my life in miraculous ways!
~ Martha Lutz
