We’re looking forward to introducing you to Darren Silver . Check out our conversation below.
Darren , so good to connect and we’re excited to share your story and insights with our audience. There’s a ton to learn from your story, but let’s start with a warm up before we get into the heart of the interview. What do you think is misunderstood about your business?
It is not infrequent that people think my business, Great Earth School, is just for those that are walking a path of an artist, wilderness guide, or healers. What is more accurate about my business, is that there are people from all walks of life, in different life cycles and occupations. I have had CEO’s of major corporations, Emmy nominated musicians, and a carpenter all in the same room. This kind of diversity makes for such rich work together and learnings because people are coming from different backgrounds and life experiences, and yet, finding the common thread between each other.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
There are two areas of work that are important for me to highlight here. One is the Great Earth School, which is a school devoted to empowering the genius inside everyone. The school was born out of over a decade of guiding people into the wilderness for rites of passage or vision quests. After about 6 months or a year of people doing a program with me they would call or write me, sharing they lost touch with all the change that had taken place on our program. Whether they got a new job, started a family, or began college – the reasons are many – people needed more time to integrate the transformation that had taken place on a program. After years of hearing this, I put together a powerful year long container to help facilitate deep integration of transformational experiences.
Wilderness rites of passage in modernity is primarily a forgotten art. Whether from childhood to adolescence, adolescence to adulthood, or adulthood into elderhood, there is a way to make it through major life transitions, There are skills, tasks and responsibilities for one to learn. A wilderness rites of passage is a ritual opportunity to be witnessed in community, held by a guide, and pass through from one stage of life to another.
Great, so let’s dive into your journey a bit more. Who saw you clearly before you could see yourself?
I think this question highlights the importance of community. If there is something definitive that I could point to that supported me in my own development, it is having elders that saw in me things I couldn’t see in myself. I imagine there are still many things my elders see that I can’t yet see. I remember getting ready to teach feeling very insecure about my leadership, and a few of my elders providing words of encouragement that at the time gave me the courage to keep going.
Aside from elders, there are a few teachers that saw in my things that I couldn’t see in myself. One of them being author and teacher Tom Brown Jr. There are so many moments I can remember when I studied with him where he would provide insight into the path of Vision.
Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
Oh my, there are so many times I’ve almost given up.
In my own wilderness rites of passage, I can recall being hungry and alone, just craving heading back to basecamp where I could have some food and company of others. Those thoughts are extremely tempting to entertain and in the moment can require every bit of strength to return to a place of renewed purpose.
Also, being a small business owner, handling so many logistics along with the greater vision there are many times I have wanted to just get a ‘regular’ job where someone can just tell me what to do. These thoughts are usually short lived, coming at times when I am overwhelmed with all the tasks to do while having to teach as well.
So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. Where are smart people getting it totally wrong today?
I think there are so many intelligent people in the world today with so many gifts, talents, even vision for a better world. What I think people are missing is their disconnect from the natural world. In my world view, there are a sense of agreements, original instructions, or right relationship we are to have with nature, and on a global level, we have forgotten these agreement, subsequently, found ourselves out of balance with nature.
What if all the incredibly smart people of the world came together to reconnect our culture more closely with the natural world?
From agriculture to city planning, public education to health and wellness, there are so many innovations that can be made that are closer to our human design and to the earth.
Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: How do you know when you’re out of your depth?
This question cracks me up a bit. I feel there are only a few areas I feel I am in my depth, so there are many, many more areas I feel out of my depth.
Sometimes with young children or teenagers, I feel out of my depth in how to relate to them. Language, slang, terms for things, seem to change so much that I sometimes hand out with kids and feel like somehow, I became an old person. I don’t understand what they’re talking about!
Also, when it comes to modern things like book keeping for my technology, gosh, I am capable of working with modern technology, but there are folks that have so much more tact and progressive practices. I feel like a luddite when it comes to technology.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.darrensilver.earth
- Instagram: @ds.silver, @the_return_podcast
- Youtube: @thereturnpodcast
