Radical Noesis - Thinking outside the box

Marion was born in 1909 and grew up on Long Island as the daughter of a physician. She attended Pembroke College which later became Brown University and there met her husband, Warren. She and Warren first visited Vermont in 1932, and they both fell in love with the state. He was a teacher-a profession highly in demand during the Great Depression, but Marion did not become a teacher; instead, she became a librarian at the Putney School. Throughout the 1930s and 40s, she and her husband worked in various schools throughout Vermont and then spent eight years living in Rome.

In the eighties Marion and Warren lived back on Long Island in Sag Harbor where she worked ardently as an environmental activist with friends there who founded "Save The World", an anti-nuclear power movement. Later they returned to Vermont and settled in Rochester where they were very drawn to a shared housing facility for the elderly where Marion still lives subsequent to her husband's passing in 2005.

When I asked Marion how she became an activist she told me that her father modeled for her his connection with the earth, even though he didn't speak about it in those terms. He told his children that heaven is here, not somewhere else, and that their duty was to make the earth the paradise it was meant to be.

In those days, people did not speak of "environmental activism" because at that point, the planet was not yet in crisis as it is today. Nevertheless, Marion grew up with and retained a lifelong emotional and spiritual connection with the earth that some members of younger generations have only recently developed as a result of educating themselves about the crisis.

Marion repeatedly states, "We're part of the earth," and I asked her to explain to me what that means to her. "What I mean," she responded, "is that we are the earth thinking about itself. We are the global brain, as Peter Russell names it-the only species that we know of that can think about its own situation." If we are aware of that concept, she believes, then we are more likely to make the right choices that will benefit ourselves and the earth.

Marion attributes her understanding of this concept to her dialogs with Dominican sister, Miriam McGillis, when Marion had just turned 80. She says she was profoundly influenced by McGillis's perspective which made more sense to her than anything she had ever heard.

Marion repeatedly uses the phrase "the Great Work", and I asked her what she meant by it. It is a phrase used by McGillis but also by the historian, author, and geologian, Thomas Berry who authored the book The Great Work. Although she had been a librarian for many years, she had never heard of Berry or his books, but in recent years, Marion has met Berry, whom she affectionately calls "Tom" and emphasizes that he's five years younger than she is.

For Marion, "the Great Work" is one's understanding that one is the global brain and that all beings of the earth-animal, plant, mineral, and the elements of earth-are part of the earth family or community. It also means for Marion an understanding that nature never gives up and that the "blessed unrest" to which Paul Hawken repeatedly refers and which is also the title of one of his books, refuses to be crushed. The Great Work means understanding that we are not separate from, but are part of, the earth community and that nothing is more important than cherishing, protecting, and preserving it. In other words, we are the earth-not some disconnected entity-- endeavoring to sustain itself.

One of the most important aspects of the Great Work, according to Marion, is local action. She's very concerned about the effects of global warming on her own community in Central Vermont through which the White River flows. She's thrilled with the proliferation of small farms and local farmers markets in the state; in fact, she says there are too many for her to keep track up of. Right now, she's working with other residents in her living community and with other citizens in the Rochester area, to plant and maintain a four-season garden. She frequently attends meetings for environmental causes outside of Rochester and has been active in the Northeast Organic Farmers Association (NOFA) for a number of years.

When I asked Marion to tell me about the most rewarding aspect of her efforts she said that it has to be watching young people awaken to the Great Work. She knows she's made a difference in many lives but never expected to live as long as she has or have the influence she's had.

When meeting Marion I was taken aback with her altertness, mental acuity, and vitality. She wore no glasses or hearing aids and never had to ask me to repeat myself. She apologizes for her occasional rambling, but more often than not, I found it relevant, on some level, to our conversation. Marion is nothing less than radiant with joy, her remarks punctuated with lighthearted laughter. She takes a walk every day to the Rochester post office to pick up her mail, and she remains as physically and mentally active as possible.

When I asked her to what she attributes her excellent physical and mental state, she replied that much of it has to do with the nutritious foods she eats. She also acknowledges that to some extent she's led a modest, privileged life, having been able to avoid some of the hardships others have been forced to endure.

But Marion also attributes her good health to the Great Work to which she has devoted so many decades of her life, and she is a testament to the reality that poor mental and physical health among the elderly is often related to depression, purposelessness, and inactivity. From her perspective, none of this is necessary if an aging individual can remain committed to a cause and invest his/her energy in struggling on behalf of it.

When one enters Marion's room it's impossible to miss her refrigerator, covered with activist bumper stickers and her two file drawers labeled "Earth" and "Vermont." They leave no doubt that she will lovingly and enthusiastically attend to her passion for the earth and her beloved Green Mountain State until her last breath.

I remain in regular contact with Marion by phone, and she's reminded me several times that she'll be 99 on May 24. I don't know if I'll be able to attend her party, but I savor every moment of our conversations and will be forever grateful for what she has taught me and so many others about the Great Work.

Marion Leonard may be contacted at P.O. Box 437, Rochester, VT 05767.