THE 7 PILLARS: HOW TO TAKE ACTION

We’ve identified 7 significant pillars where mycelium greatly benefit our lives. There are surely others, but this is a place to begin. While you may feel more connected to one area over another, each is to be respected, honored and celebrated. Our mission is to connect, unify and support each other, following the mycelial network’s guide to a better earth for all.

How do you incorporate each pillar into your life and community? We’d love to hear from you!

Join the conversation.

We are heading in a very precarious and dangerous direction for ourselves and for the many others who inhabit the world we live in and for those to come. From desertization, water shortage, food shortage, bee colony collapse, nuclear waste storage and disasters, oil spills, plastic pollution, global warming and more, to the sixth mass extinction in the history of this planet – we stand at a precipice. We are challenged to find solutions to long standing problems that we have not yet faced.

There is hope and you are standing on it! We have a partner that has traveled in time with us through our evolutionary process here on earth and they are perhaps more intelligent than we are in solving the very issues that mankind has created and is now facing. There are many projects utilizing the mycelium world to deal with our most pressing challenges, and the film begins to touch on some of the most promising

We are past the need to work on “sustainability” and are moving into a regenerative economy – this is imperative. A part of shifting our consciousness is shifting what we are creating with it. There are businesses cropping up everywhere that involve the cultivation, consumption and integration of mushrooms into products including faux leather, shoes, packaging and more. This is a regenerative model.

Another example of this is a whole new industry of mushroom foods (including as non-meat alternatives) that are being created. If communities can build economies that utilize these innovative ideas and create communities that mirrors the values of mycelium of mutual support, everyone flourishes.

We have only begun to explore the use and intelligence of the mycelium world and our current challenge requires us to break from old paradigms and innovate! Who will be our partners? Take a look at what we found and share with us what you know.

When we realize that mycelium is critical to life on earth, this intersection between the animal and plant kingdoms that gives us the food, shelter and medicine we need, what will we do to form a stronger and interconnected relationship with it?

Many of us were raised with a very limited view of mushrooms (as well as ample fear). We might know of mushroom soup, mushroom on pizzas and the button mushrooms, but how about the more exotic varieties of edible mushrooms? Few of us are versed in the complex and powerful nutritional and life supporting powers of the mushrooms, let alone the vast array of mushrooms that grow wild in our forests, parks and around our homes.

Here we give you a glimpse into the knowledge by connecting you to the world of foraging, and chefs who are experts with mushrooms who can teach us ways to utilize mushrooms for their culinary and nutritional benefits.

More and more people are interested in and are turning towards integrative medicine. With the cost of research at an astronomical level and funding for university studies coming often from drug companies themselves, it is challenging if not impossible to realize the potential of the fungi kingdom. However, because of the emerging issues around the loss of effectiveness of penicillins and treatment resistant diseases, there is work being done to study the promising gifts that mushrooms hold for us.

Working with doctors, nutritionists and integrative medicine workers of all kinds. We look towards a system where there is no longer competition but collaborations on learning and sharing what were are learning. Ultimately the responsibility for our health lies in our hands and the choices we make everyday.

There are currently no medications that have proven effective in dealing with the massive amounts of addictions, depression and suicidal ideation. Psychedelics are showing extraordinary results in clinical trials, and are on the fast track to becoming one of the most powerful transformative tools of our time.

In a world where people feel so deeply disconnected, the use of medications to further detach them may work to dampen the emotions that are experienced but often provides little relief and no profound insights into the internal experience of life. What science has shown is that psilocybin works to calm the region of the brain called the Default Mode Network and stimulates the connections between regions in the brain that normally may not be connecting as well.

The film touches on the ground-breaking work being done at Johns Hopkins, UCLA, NYU and other places and can be a portal to a meaningful and important conversation and exploration into the potential mushrooms offer.

At the core of all of the choices we make and the systems we create, is a fundamental relationship – our relationship to life and how we answer the question “what is life about.”

Throughout the ages of time, religions, as a form of spirituality, have worshipped entities including mushrooms and have used mind altering sacraments, including psychoactive mushrooms, as a form of divination. What are researchers learning about transcendence and the experiences that are being reported during a session of psilocybin?

What is really driving the fear behind the use of these mushrooms? Most of us were born into ongoing narratives or religions that defined our world experience however, the exploration into our own consciousness is a path that we all must explore. Becoming comfortable and in harmony with exploring the mystery of life, including the cycle of life and death and embracing ourselves as a part of this mystery is known to create a state of peace. This film reminds us just how mysterious, wondrous and powerful the experience of life is.

The indigenous were, and many still are very connected with the fungi world. They know how to use them in ways that only those who are connected with nature can truly appreciate. It is a skill that many of us have lost.

When we look at what we have learned to value in our culture, we can see that of the Mind, Body, Heart and Spirit, it is the Mind and the Body that has dominated our educational priorities. The ability to analyze, which is connected to the mind, and manifest, which is connected to the body, either in the classroom or in sports is highly valued. What struggles more is the feelings and passion which is connected to the heart or the dreaming and outside of the box visioning, which is connected to the spirit.

Arts, Music and the ability to create is what inspires us to imagine beyond our current reality and into a regenerative creation. It is about our ability to connect, to be curious, to be creative. It is what life is at its core, a creative experience.

Photography, music, film, poetry, and art are inspired by nature’s beauty and is a gift to us all. Expressions of creativity bring joy to those of us who express art, but also to those who are blessed to witness it. We are honored to share the works of artists around the globe who are guided by the mycelium muse.