From Truth to Practice

Gaia's Call

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From Truth to Practice

Living the Four Great Truths in a Time That Matters Most

Brad Swift

May 02, 2025

Transcript

I slept well last night—which feels like a small miracle these days. (How about you?) I woke with a renewed sense of clarity. It’s time to write the next One Cause article. But not just another installment. This one feels different. More urgent. More personal.

We’ve walked together through the Four Great Truths over the past month. Each one revealing a facet of the deeper story we’re living into:

Interconnection: Everything is connected. Every action matters.
Sufficiency: There is enough—when we remember we are enough.
Reciprocity: Life thrives through give and give.
Stewardship: We are caretakers, not controllers, of this living Earth.

But what happens when these aren’t just ideas we believe in… but truths we live? Remember, we started with the Be, Do, Have On Purpose Perspective Model. That who we are (which includes our beliefs both individually and collectively) shape what actions we see possible to take, which gives us our results.

So, what happens when we replace the 4 Great Untruths with the 4 Great Truths, and equally important, we move from the head to the heart—to our hands?

Synergy of Truths: A Regenerational Lifestyle

Something powerful happens when these truths converge—not in theory, but in practice.

Synergy starts to amp up our results: Truth x Truth x Truth x Truth doesn’t just equal a better world but a regenerative future.

This synergy leads to what we might call a regenerational lifestyle—a way of being where care replaces consumption, collaboration replaces competition, and purpose becomes as vital as breath. It reshapes how we relate… how we raise children… how we vote, shop, garden, spend time, and tell stories. And most importantly, it calls us home to what matters.

We begin to reclaim our role as imaginal cells—the agents of transformation inside the chrysalis of this collapsing civilization. (More on that metaphor in a future article!)

It’s a lifestyle we’re just beginning to remember. In fact, many haven’t yet been introduced to such a possibility which is why I am encouraging you to share this article/podcast and the One Cause movement with others.

We’re creating a movement to a new regenerative future and way of life so please share this article. It’s a simple action of ‘reciprocity.’

Do the Great Untruths Just Disappear?

Here’s the rub: The Great Untruths don’t vanish overnight. After all, we’re surrounded by a culture shaped by them. So, they linger. They whisper. They try to seduce us back into old patterns:

“You’re on your own.”
“More is better.”
“Take whatever you want.”
“Control is everything.”

But every time we act from the Great Truths, we weaken the grip of those old myths. We realize that we’re never completely alone but always connected to nature and others. We embrace the truth that we have enough as we learn how to share, and that we’re more mindful of the resources nature is ready to share with us as we grow into being stewards of the earth — Eco-Guardians-in-training.

Earth Listening Circles: From Insight to Action

This is why Earth Listening Circles matter. Not just as events, but as practices.

In fact, your first Circle might be just you. One person. Sitting with the Earth. Listening. Asking, “What would you have me know?”

It reminds me of something my first coach taught me long ago:

Insight + Action = Growth & Development.

That’s what Earth Listening Circles offer: a sacred space to receive insight—from the land, from your heart, from the living world—and then to act on it. And with each action shaped by the Great Truths, a regenerative future begins to emerge.

Living It: Our Story from the Loving Homestead

Here on our little mountain homestead in North Carolina, we’re doing our best to live these truths.

Last week, our grandson Logan came for a full-day adventure with Grand-dude and Grandma. It wasn’t a formal lesson—but as we planted seedlings together, I introduced him to a new word: reciprocity.

He’s four. That’s a big five syllable word, and he got it. With muddy hands and wide eyes, he started to grasp that what we give to the Earth comes back to us in ways both delicious and profound.

Recently during our first Earth Listening Circle, I scouted some wild blackberry canes at Highland Lake Cove. My friend, who owns the land, welcomed me to dig a few up. Those berry plants will soon join the growing food forest we’re cultivating here at home. Reciprocity scores again.

And our larger family dream is coming closer too: Amber, Justin, Logan, and little Piper joining us to co-create an intergenerational haven we’re calling the Loving Homestead.

We’re not doing it perfectly. But we’re doing it together. And that, to me, is what living the Four Great Truths looks like.

Real-Life Ripples: Beyond Our Backyard

Living the Four Great Truths doesn’t require a perfect plan. It just takes a willingness to try. We’re not alone in this. Here are just a few ways others are living into these truths:

A public school in Oregon transformed its lawn into a pollinator corridor—inviting bees, butterflies, and students to learn side by side.
A Detroit neighborhood turned a blighted lot into a thriving permaculture garden that feeds dozens of families.
In Atlanta, a group of teens created a clothing swap and art-for-activism collective, reducing waste and raising awareness.
A Vermont seed-saving library is reviving ancestral crops and holding workshops on food preservation and land care.

Each one is small. But each one is also seismic because they’re rooted in connection, sufficiency, reciprocity, and care. These aren’t big institutions or governments. They’re people like you. Listening. Acting. Regenerating.

An Invitation Into the Now What

So here we are. You’ve read the truths. You’ve felt their pull. Now comes the invitation: Start small. Choose one. Try it on. Live it this week. Plant it like a seed in your own life and see what grows. Then, come back here and share what the experience was like.