ON THE PASSING OF BILL MOLLISON

[Michael Grove]

With deep sorrow, we wish to inform family and friends that Bruce Charles

“Bill” Mollison, the “Father of Permaculture,” has passed away. He departed

peacefully from this world in Hobart, Tasmania, just before 11 pm AEST, on

the 24th of September, 2016.

After founding Permaculture Institute in 1978, he formalized the training of

practitioners, which directly impacted hundreds of thousands of lives, and

indirectly many millions more. For his service to humanity, he was honored

with numerous awards, including the Right Livelihood Award in 1981. But

of all the accolades he received, the one he was most proud of was the

Vavilov Medal, in large part due to the tenacity, courage, and contributions

of the award’s namesake, who Bill considered a personal hero. Bill was also

the first foreigner invited and admitted to the Russian Academy of

Agricultural Sciences.

Bill will be missed by many who loved him for his strength, courage,

intellect, humor, and benevolence. He gifted so much to the world: a vision

and framework for a positive future, a special concern for developing

countries, and above all, hope.

This is the Bill that the public knew.

For those who were his intimates, words are especially difficult, breaking

under the weight of what the heart feels and longs to express.

Our thoughts and prayers are with Bill’s family and close friends, who

kindly request privacy and space during this difficult grieving period; at

an appropriate time, a public memorial will be announced for those who

wish to formally extend their condolences.

A massive tree in the forest of humanity has fallen. But in keeping with

Bill’s invincible optimism, these verses from the great mystic, Rumi, are

perhaps most appropriate:

When you see my procession, don’t cry, “Gone, gone!”
For me it is a time of meeting and reunion.
As you lower me into the grave, don’t say, “So long.”
When you see that lowering down, consider a rising.
What harm is there in the setting of a sun or moon?
What seems a setting to you is a dawning.
What seed goes into the earth and does not grow?
Why are you doubting this human seed?

 

Bill, you will never be forgotten.

The above is an official statement of the Permaculture Research Institute, prepared at the request of Bill’s widow, Lisa Mollison.

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[Michael Grove]

All over the world there is a feeling that something is deeply wrong. It is often felt more than seen, an unnamed darkness that keeps millions (even billions) of people disconnected from the reality of authentic life-affirming experience. Too many of our so-called leaders are asleep at the wheel — they talk about economic growth at all costs as the only viable solution to mass poverty, wealth inequality, the climate crisis, and other planetary-scale crises humanity must confront in the 21st Century.

Those with a spiritual bend might say that a shadowy presence has shrouded much of the Earth. People are sleeping through the same nightmare, unable to awaken within the dream. They are like Mr. Anderson and his peers in The Matrix movies, plugged into a cultural system that feeds on their bodies and souls while keeping them unaware that they are living in a dream world.

What if the pain so many of us feel is caused by the same cultural sickness? How might we diagnose it? What are its root causes? And most importantly — how do we heal ourselves and the world around us?

This culture tells us that humans are selfish and greedy. It says that we are nothing more than individual islands of ego floating in a sea of chaos. It is the Great Myth of Separation that takes many forms. We’ve seen it as humans apart from nature, reason divided against emotion, body separate from mind, one tribe distinct from another. This mental tendency to categorize the world according to its separations is the root cause of illness in the world today.

And it has a name. It’s name is Wetiko.

Joe Brewer