Enjoying a summer day!
I am an Indonesian by birth and a psychologist by profession. Growing up in an urban setting of Jakarta, one of the most populated cities on the planet limited me from experiencing the natural world. Only a small part of my childhood was spent outdoors with nature, thanks to the pure spirit of a child who never thinks twice to respond to simple things such as rain and a puddle of water or running wild when there is a spacious space.
All the excitement to be “out there” with the natural world was laid dormant, repressed into the unconscious for quite a while waiting for the right time and moment.
Finding Green Mountain Monastery was the door that let that desire to be unbridled and free with nature. I came for the first time to Green Mountain Monastery in Greensboro in 2011 after discerning to leave my first religious community, following what I felt as an impulse to respond to a new mission.
I have been part of Green Mountain Monastery for almost half of its journey since its first branching out from its Passionist Community in Clarks Summit Pennsylvania twenty years ago.
During my first few years at the monastery, I travelled annually to Indonesia and other countries due to visa regulation which enabled me to build links with people and organizations that are also concerned with the future of earth and all beings on the planet. I introduced Thomas Berry’s thinking to people outside USA, especially in Indonesia, furthering it to a larger audience.
I continue to teach whenever visiting Indonesia and from the Monastery making use of technology to discuss and promote Thomas Berry’s teaching related to various issues facing the planet.
I translated Thomas Berry’s book, The Christian Future and The Fate of Earth into Bahasa Indonesia. Some of my writings in my native language are also published in different media (magazine and blog). A book I wrote on Thomas Berry and Laudato Si was released in 2018.
In my experience of meeting, teaching and networking with people and groups, the most striking experience was going to the tropical rainforest where the diversity and 'communion of subjects' between the inhabitants of the ecosystem is so palpable. It awakened my five senses towards life more than anything.
Here at the monastery where the diversity is different then tropical rainforest, sensitivity still directs my attention to all life even to the smallest member of the community of life of the land.
Through the visual image, I am taking photos to capture the beauty and messages of small creatures conveyed through the encounter. Photos a include many images from the land that catches my attention. Those images can be accessed at my photo blog: https://sramie.wixsite.com/voiceofbeings
Giant Forest Sequoia National Park
Teaching Carmelite Sisters, Borneo, Indonesia
Eco Leadership Training, Bandung Indonesia
Orangutan Sanctuary
San Luis Resevoir
