Well, if you haven’t figured it out by now, Crossroad Village is located at the very crossroad of the America’s. Situated in a picturesque countryside setting in the Republic of Panama – a geographically tiny though strategically vital nation linking together the two great American continents, it is here that we launch The America’s Project.
The America’s Project [TAP] is the overriding theme of Crossroad Village. Beyond the obvious importance of maintaining a positive relationship amongst ones’ closest neighbors, TAP is predicated on the notion that it makes strong economic and geo-political sense for the approximately one billion people living in 22 sovereign nations throughout the North, Central and South American continents to create a hemispheric cooperative partnership.
TAP is neither an EU-like plan to erase national borders and create a common currency, nor a government run program to increase trade like the now failed Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP). Aside from ignoring the fact that national borders and distinct languages are integral to the rich tapestry of cultural diversity that make the world an interesting place, such government imposed plans often fail to recognize the reality that any constructive relationship must be based upon individual trust and friendship. To be successful, it must be a bottom-up experience.
TAP is designed to promote individual relationships based upon mutual respect and trust at the personal level, a process that will undoubtedly take generations. Let’s face it – the relationship between the industrial giant of the north and many of its southern neighbors has been less than hospitable over the decades. There’s likely some fence-mending that will be needed – which does tie into the headline of this post.
Just what is this ‘condeagle’ thing? Well, it’s all about a legend that is curiously ubiquitous amongst many indigenous cultures on both continents – evidenced in ancient Mayan texts, and the subject of oral tradition to this day among Hopi and Navajo elders in the north, shamans high in the Andes, and natives deep in the Amazon. Known as the Legend of the Condor and the Eagle, it tells us of a time in the distant past when human societies split into different paths: one focusing on our intuitive and spiritual nature – represented by the Condor; the other emphasizing the rational and material side of our being – represented by the Eagle. The legend said that in the later part of the 15th century the two paths would converge – and the eagle would drive the condor to virtual extinction (think 1492). Five centuries later, their paths would again cross signaling a new epoch in which the condor and eagle would have the opportunity to re-unite and fly together as one – along a common path. It was prophesized that if this was to happen, they would create a remarkable offspring that would change the course of human history.
Such legends, whether derived from ancient religious texts (Jonah & the whale) or metaphors passed on by oral tradition, can be understood on various levels. The most widely accepted interpretation of this prophecy was eloquently expressed by tribal chiefs at the “First Encuentro (meeting) of Indigenous Peoples” held in Quito, Ecuador in 1990: “Our leaders said that we should not forget to pass this message to our children. We will reunite our family and our people. When this is done the people will fulfill their destiny.” In other words, these cultural leaders were speaking of a fulfillment of the condor and eagle prophesy – a re-uniting of the technology based cultures of the north with the more intuitively oriented, earth-centered societies of the central and southern regions –including their larger non-indigenous populations.
Importantly, each side brings value to the relationship; each also has much to gain that has either been undiscovered, forgotten or ignored. The synergy will create a sum that is greater than its parts. Perhaps the condeagle will symbolize ‘connected simplicity’: a society wirelessly inter-connected that promotes only intelligent technologies that empowers, improves lives and cultivates aspirations while choosing to de-emphasize materialism and strengthening its stewardship of those natural resources that we too often abuse.
Bottom line: CV residents will have many opportunities, though no obligation, to participate in various TAP initiatives and community programs focusing directly on a reconciliation and synthesis of condor and eagle lifestyles. Baby boomers living a purpose-driven retirement alongside young residents seeking to build a better world for their children will live and work side-by-side to create a community based on cross-cultural respect, sustainable development, corporate social responsibility and community-wide, proactive decision-making.
It is important to note that “the future” doesn’t simply happen; every individual creates his or her own future out of an infinite number of possibilities. As a society, we also create our collective future out of a similar infinite number of possibilities. Let us join together and choose to create a just, sustainable and peaceful future for our grandkids and their grandkids.
Future posts will discuss the specifics of individual initiatives; however, at this point I will open the forum to general discussion.
