"The historical mission of our time is to reinvent the human,
at the species level..."
~Thomas Berry, PhD, Cultural Historian

Our Vision & Mission
University of Earth is an EcoSpiritual Wisdom School dedicated to helping create a world that works for all, both human and “other-than-human,” where the Human Community, the Natural World and the Divine Worlds go forward as one sacred community. And while we are far from living in such a world, we hold a firm conviction that this is the emerging zeitgeist, the “Spirit of the Times,” and it cannot be turned back. 

How long it takes to get there depends on us. Whether it takes decades or centuries, it will require unending grit and grace. The fate of much of life on Earth is now in human hands, such is the blessing and the curse of freewill, our capacity to choose. Our willingness to choose to imagine a beautiful new world, to create and live in harmony with the natural world and divine worlds is imperative. 

The Power of Imagination
Borrowing from the insights of the world's wisdom traditions and the revelations of quantum physics, imagining this beautiful future is perhaps the most important and powerful thing each of us can do every day even while we go about our daily duties working for a better world. All things come into being through the imagination, whether for good or ill. Social Scientist, Fred Polak concluded after studying the rise and fall of civilizations throughout human history “The positive image of the future is at work in every instance of the flowering of a culture and the weakened image of the future is a primary factor in the decay of cultures.  The potential strength of a culture can be measured by measuring the intensity and energy of its images of the future.”

University of Earth is dedicated to supporting the call for the reinvention of humanity and exploring new ways of living and relating as one sacred community. Let us begin. One step at a time, one foot in front of the other, in these our changing times. Come, imagine with us a bright and beautiful future. With the power of our hearts, our heads and our hands, let us be about the business of creating a world that works for all. 

“Numerous ancient prophesies, along with new understanding from science
point to this as a time of great planetary shift – the end of one cycle
and the start of another, possibly...the Golden Age of Truth.” 
~Kosmos Journal, June 2020

The Great Turning
We appear to be at a critical crossroads in what has been called the "Turning of the Ages" or the "Great Turning."  However, clinging to the worldview of a random, meaningless universe and the destructive ways of consumer materialism, many adherents of the waning "Industrial Age" and the present "Information/Digital Age" remain blind and autistic to this emergent Truth.

Albeit, the deep current of this "Spirit of the Times" can be seen in the meteoric rising concerns worldwide within the human community around social justice, ecological destruction, and surging interest in spirituality of every kind. We are being called to create a new world, an integral world that works for all, where the human community, the natural world and the divine worlds go forward as one sacred community. The very foundations of a possible Golden Age. 

What University of Earth Offers
Along with our online courses, degree and certificate programs, University of Earth offers on campus workshops, courses, and events at our Lost Sierra Retreat Center, each designed with our vision and mission in mind. 

Come, intern with us in our EcoLiving Project and Medicine Food & Flower Garden Project. 

Join us for our seasonal solstice and equinox gatherings for personal and planetary healing and transformation through sacred rituals and Heliotropic Breathwork.  

In addition, our Retreat Center hosts workshops and events for other organizations that are in alignment with our vision and mission of creating a world that works for all. 

Personal and family vacation retreats are quite popular here in our cabins during the summer months at this beautiful and magical setting. Let us host your eco-retreat wedding event and ceremony and receive the blessing of the Sacred Mother Mountain that enfolds this landscape. 

Schedule an outdoor EcoSpiritual/EcoTherapy consultation with U of Earth Founder, Rich Silver and learn transformative nature practices that you can take home. 

Reinvent yourself as a human! Camp in beautiful tent sites along National Wild & Scenic Middle Fork of the Feather River, dubbed the "Medicine River" or reserve "The Hermitage," our secluded yurt in a sacred grove of trees with stunning river views for a personal EcoSpiritual retreat.  Saunter along our many trails and visit the nearby Lakes Basin National Recreation Area's multitude of glacial lakes and trails.  

Reinventing the Human
As Thomas Berry indicated in the quote above, the key element to creating a world that works for us all is the “reinvention of the human.” We might ask, what does this reinvention look like? And we need to look no further than newer research based human development models to find hope for this possibility. Certain models point to more advanced, more mature stages of human development where we fulfill our greater potentials, stages that honor and integrate the human, natural and divine worlds.  And while the percentage of humans currently at those stages is minimal, the fact that they exist give us a starting point, a goal, and encouragement.

Many developmental scholars talk of a sociological “tipping point” when the momentum toward a new way of living and relating will begin to become the prevailing paradigm. Some are predicting that the most likely scenario for this emergence will be in the form of "Islands of Sanity" where the like-minded will come together in communities creating a ripple effect that will begin to spread throughout.

The central part of our vision and mission at University of Earth is assisting in moving us toward that “tipping point” by helping people learn about and fulfill those greater human potentials while supporting the creation of "Islands of Sanity." 

  "Humanity is not the last rung in terrestrial evolution. Evolution continues and man will be surpassed. It is for each person to know whether they want to
participate in the advent of this new species." 
~Mother Mirra Alfassa, Founder of Auroville  

It Begins with Each of Us
This challenging endeavor starts with you! Thomas Berry called it the “Great Work of our times of which nobody is exempt.”  The great wisdom traditions point to the primacy of personal accountability for one’s own life along with an accountability to one’s neighbor and community. Unfortunately, the colloquialisms depicting these truths, “Pulling oneself up by the bootstraps” and "I am my brother/sister's keeper" have become one of many polarities in the political world in America. Because politics is how we govern ourselves, these polarities are in fact the greatest obstacle to creating a world that works for all.

We are asked now to weave them back together into the tapestry of the one sacred community; across faiths, across genders, across races, across species, and most importantly, across political ideologies. There is no escaping the fundamental truth that we are all in this together.

Moreover, the wisdom traditions point to the fact that deep within us, the archetype of the new species already exists, what has been called our Higher Self. We are each endowed with an Inner Genius and each encoded with a Particular Work we are made for in this life. We, each one, have a unique gift we are meant to bring to the world as one sacred community. 

Before our indoor, now screen addicted, modern era and subsequent alienation from the "more-than-human" worlds, all societies supported and offered ways to help the youth discover and fulfill their true life purpose. Humans were expected to discover and offer their unique gifts to their communities.

"Education is in a crisis worldwide."
~Dalai Lama

Reinventing Society
The four central institutional pillars that hold up modern society, Education, Economics, Government & Politics and Religion have all been usurped by corporations and are all in need of reinvention. Conventional higher education, called by critics “consumer factories,” offers little to no opportunity to discover your unique purpose, your Inner Genius, in fact, the concept seems completely lost. Instead, people are encouraged to pursue careers that earn the most money and give you the greatest purchasing power, which in turn profits the corporations. The tragedy of this model is expressed by this simple equation: Consumer Materialism = Species Extinction & Climate Change.

Our capacity to create a world that works for all will require more and more of us to fulfill our greater potentials, as well as our "soul purpose"  bringing our unique gifts to our world in need. University of Earth is dedicated to this purpose. There is nothing more satisfying, nothing more fulfilling, nothing more invigorating than working to fulfill your "True Life Purpose." 

Your Particular Work

“We are each made for some particular work
and the desire for that work has been placed in every heart."
~Rumi
 

Central to our dedication to “reinventing the human” and creating a world that works for all is our online core course, Our Greater Work: Fulfilling Your Soul Purpose & Higher Potential. Course participants from ages 18 to 78 have found this course extremely valuable in helping them explore life purpose, their higher potentials, and a path forward. It is an honor to offer this course to all who hear the call to deeper and greater purpose and a more fulfilling life. 
For Course Info: EcoS 600: Our Great Work ~ Fulfilling Your Soul Purpose & Higher Potentials

"The future of this world is so much in question that each person needs to be considered a potential subject of a genuine 'calling' to serve in
some meaningful way."
~Michael Meade