AN ALTERNATIVE HOLIDAY IN THE SUN at an holistic holiday venue offers a chance to “use your vacation to save the earth”. M. Scott Peck argued persuasively that authentic community is the salvation of the planet. Holistic alternative holidays allow you to experience how living, working, playing and learning in the context of authentic community brings a sense of solidarity and empowerment, dispelling the alienation and powerlessness many of us feel caught up in our western consumer culture. On an holistic vacation we discover that we can “live our truth and make it count” toward creating a new culture of partnership, cooperation, nonviolence and sharing of our planet’s resources.
ECOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE For Larry Levine, a holiday is holistic if it is concerned with relationships and connections. One of the transpersonal relationships we all share is our relationship to the environment. Therefore one kind of holistic vacation is one that provides the basis for a healthy relationship between nature and culture. In other words, “eco-tourism”. And eco-tourism is not just about living in a bamboo hut in the forest. It too involves community and the possibility of holistic education—learning together how to balance our own uniqueness with the needs of a collective with a shared vision.
