From a YouTube viewer of my video on climate change:
A species stupid enough to cause global warming isn't going to be bright enough to solve it!
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My response:
Our species has great potential, but a key step involved is re-connecting with Gaia, our Mother Earth. The more folks do that, the more we will realize that our fate as a species and that of the planet are intertwined and that we are PART OF this living planet. Wisdom about what to do will come from that awareness!
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His/her response:
But how many thousands of years would such a huge jump in evolution like that take - we simply don't have the time left to hope for an entire species to suddenly start operating on such a massively heightened level of awareness
Most members of our poor human race are still happily driving cars and watching X-factor!
---------------
My response:
Brings up interesting philosophical points, e.g., how much of our human events are destiny vs. how much is decided by us as individuals? First, I am not convinced that an evolutionary step is REQUIRED for salvation of the human race to occur. Second, we have to ask if it is possible to separate survival of civilization from survival of the human species. If you believe it's OK to separate the two (as I do), then the next question is obvious: How can we deconstruct civilization vs. let it be destroyed via violent chaos?
If evolution is necessary, I think it helps to look at how evolution has happened in the past. If memory serves, there is never a gradual change in any species. Evolution happens in surprising leaps! And if you know anything about how individuals make personal changes, it is by stress/challenge that we grow or develop. Who is to say if we are not already on the precipice of a major evolutionary jump of awareness?
If you'd like to help, here is the link for the full version (in one piece) of this video:
http://www.cascadecreativeservices.com/GH/VideoClip.htm
Feel free to pass it along. And when you do, please encourage people to act assuming that they have power to make changes that will make a difference. We humans are nothing if not self-fulfilling prophesy beings. Positive thoughts=positive results. Pardon me if I sound a bit New-Agey, but I truly believe in that.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Living As If Mother Earth Matters...She Does.
Liberal vs. conservative, right vs. left, business vs. labor, rich vs. poor, us vs. them. I think the old dichotomies that we have used in the past to frame political discourse are quickly becoming obsolete in modern politics.
The reason? The monumental challenges we as a society, as a civilization face: peak oil, global climate change, economic depression, the increasing rate of species extinction. They all scream out for a redefining of how we think about our world and our place in it. In my view, this is a good thing…and long overdue. For about as long as I have followed politics, I have felt we need to redefine how we frame this raucous conflict we call politics. Old paradigms must fall by the wayside if civilization is to maintain any foothold on this planet as it attempts to adapt to a crashing system based on the ridiculous assumption of unlimited growth and an abuse of nature as if it were a bottomless toilet.
The more we really see that our economy is built on top of a fragile, living planet, the more we see that we are not masters of a dead sphere of rock with a thin coating of life. We are not even stewards of this self-regulating planet, often called “Gaia” by scientists in a new field of study called, "geophysiology," but rather humble participants; partners, if you will. As such, we are responsible for doing our part to obey the laws of mutuality that govern all life on our sacred, life-sustaining sphere.
If that sounds about right to you…if you have this nameless, gnawing feeling in your gut that something is very wrong with what we call civilization, I assure you: you are not alone. My assertion is that it is time to develop new paradigms based on a respect for our true, more humble, place in the system of life on Gaia. Let’s start by working together, using scientific reason, to determine what is right for the planet. Then put our discoveries at the center of all decision-making. Revolutionary? You bet! But such a re-assessment can only bring a lasting harmony and help us to rediscover humanity’s true connection with our living planet. And that would be well worth the price of admission.
Happy Winter Solstice and kind blessings for a New Year...
John
Liberal vs. conservative, right vs. left, business vs. labor, rich vs. poor, us vs. them. I think the old dichotomies that we have used in the past to frame political discourse are quickly becoming obsolete in modern politics.
The reason? The monumental challenges we as a society, as a civilization face: peak oil, global climate change, economic depression, the increasing rate of species extinction. They all scream out for a redefining of how we think about our world and our place in it. In my view, this is a good thing…and long overdue. For about as long as I have followed politics, I have felt we need to redefine how we frame this raucous conflict we call politics. Old paradigms must fall by the wayside if civilization is to maintain any foothold on this planet as it attempts to adapt to a crashing system based on the ridiculous assumption of unlimited growth and an abuse of nature as if it were a bottomless toilet.
The more we really see that our economy is built on top of a fragile, living planet, the more we see that we are not masters of a dead sphere of rock with a thin coating of life. We are not even stewards of this self-regulating planet, often called “Gaia” by scientists in a new field of study called, "geophysiology," but rather humble participants; partners, if you will. As such, we are responsible for doing our part to obey the laws of mutuality that govern all life on our sacred, life-sustaining sphere.
If that sounds about right to you…if you have this nameless, gnawing feeling in your gut that something is very wrong with what we call civilization, I assure you: you are not alone. My assertion is that it is time to develop new paradigms based on a respect for our true, more humble, place in the system of life on Gaia. Let’s start by working together, using scientific reason, to determine what is right for the planet. Then put our discoveries at the center of all decision-making. Revolutionary? You bet! But such a re-assessment can only bring a lasting harmony and help us to rediscover humanity’s true connection with our living planet. And that would be well worth the price of admission.
Happy Winter Solstice and kind blessings for a New Year...
John
Friday, December 19, 2008
The arc and poetry of hope...
If we are to survive the coming multiple crises of wars, scarcity and economic decline, global climate change, disease and population growth, we have a clear choice to make: Reject the separate, individualistic approach and embrace community-based self-reliance, or. . .die desperately clutching on to an obsolete paradigm. The arc and poetry of hope has a vital role to play in our success in achieving the more positive of the two possibilities.
What will ease our feelings of impending doom and gloom? Hope in the face of no reason for hope is the answer. I try hard to practice a willful disregard for the temptation to abandon hope. Hopelessness is no longer a luxury we can afford. We can take great comfort from the fact that there are a huge variety of rising movements for change that are all contributing to a better world in their own way. Sometimes we see them as opposing or conflicting, but I see it differently. The movement for human rights, the movement for a spiritual re-awakening, the movement for empowering voters in poor and minority communities, the movement for a life that is simpler and closer to the land, the movement for taking control of our own health and vitality. All these movements and many more represent different lines of attack against an obsolete and corrupt system of death-worship: modern civilization. We need a new way of seeing the world. We need a new way of solving our problems. And that new way is already coming up, as a flower that forces its way through cracks in concrete. Slowly, with sureness of its right to live in the sunlight.
The single most important, if inadequately expressed, notion arising out of all these trends or waves of change is a healthy skepticism of the institutions of our modern society. I happen to share that skepticism. Any society that has institutions that promote the status quo, with little or no regard for what makes sense for the citizenry, is suspect for me.
As I reflect on my adult life, I have found that the motivation for any political action has been a rejection of a culture of selfish, irresponsible, decadent, self-destruction. We are awash with activities and media that entice us to think of ourselves first and everything else last. The antidote, I believe, is for us to embrace a general concept of what I call self-reliance. While the temptation is to interpret that as another aspect of a society hell-bent on worshiping individualism, I wish to clarify. When I think of all the things that are not life-affirming about modern society, I have discovered that there are two fundamental errors that emerge:
a) the scale of our institutions and economic and political activities
b) and the speed that we are expected to pursue these activities, which has, according to my experience, increased dramatically in the past 20 years
Self-reliance is the only way to get off that treadmill. It is an expression of an attitude and a moral compass that can re-orient us in a way that coincides with the way we, as human beings, were designed: to live in small communities of people we know and trust and at a speed that closely matches the speed with which nature unfolds. By self-reliance, I mean a spirited rejection of corporate culture that subtly beckons us to fill the void of our loneliness with the purchase of things. “Work, buy, work, buy and shut up!” our daily dose of mainstream media screams at us. It is, to say the least, a false God, but the complexity comes when we examine HOW to do be free of the mess. Developing community and focusing on the simple pleasures of living and being are some of the first steps to fight back.
If we are to survive the coming multiple crises of wars, scarcity and economic decline, global climate change, disease and population growth, we have a clear choice to make: Reject the separate, individualistic approach and embrace community-based self-reliance, or. . .die desperately clutching on to an obsolete paradigm. The arc and poetry of hope has a vital role to play in our success in achieving the more positive of the two possibilities.
What will ease our feelings of impending doom and gloom? Hope in the face of no reason for hope is the answer. I try hard to practice a willful disregard for the temptation to abandon hope. Hopelessness is no longer a luxury we can afford. We can take great comfort from the fact that there are a huge variety of rising movements for change that are all contributing to a better world in their own way. Sometimes we see them as opposing or conflicting, but I see it differently. The movement for human rights, the movement for a spiritual re-awakening, the movement for empowering voters in poor and minority communities, the movement for a life that is simpler and closer to the land, the movement for taking control of our own health and vitality. All these movements and many more represent different lines of attack against an obsolete and corrupt system of death-worship: modern civilization. We need a new way of seeing the world. We need a new way of solving our problems. And that new way is already coming up, as a flower that forces its way through cracks in concrete. Slowly, with sureness of its right to live in the sunlight.
The single most important, if inadequately expressed, notion arising out of all these trends or waves of change is a healthy skepticism of the institutions of our modern society. I happen to share that skepticism. Any society that has institutions that promote the status quo, with little or no regard for what makes sense for the citizenry, is suspect for me.
As I reflect on my adult life, I have found that the motivation for any political action has been a rejection of a culture of selfish, irresponsible, decadent, self-destruction. We are awash with activities and media that entice us to think of ourselves first and everything else last. The antidote, I believe, is for us to embrace a general concept of what I call self-reliance. While the temptation is to interpret that as another aspect of a society hell-bent on worshiping individualism, I wish to clarify. When I think of all the things that are not life-affirming about modern society, I have discovered that there are two fundamental errors that emerge:
a) the scale of our institutions and economic and political activities
b) and the speed that we are expected to pursue these activities, which has, according to my experience, increased dramatically in the past 20 years
Self-reliance is the only way to get off that treadmill. It is an expression of an attitude and a moral compass that can re-orient us in a way that coincides with the way we, as human beings, were designed: to live in small communities of people we know and trust and at a speed that closely matches the speed with which nature unfolds. By self-reliance, I mean a spirited rejection of corporate culture that subtly beckons us to fill the void of our loneliness with the purchase of things. “Work, buy, work, buy and shut up!” our daily dose of mainstream media screams at us. It is, to say the least, a false God, but the complexity comes when we examine HOW to do be free of the mess. Developing community and focusing on the simple pleasures of living and being are some of the first steps to fight back.
In an effort to help my brother start his own blog (hopefully he's well on his way...), I did a google search...and I came across an entry in an Indonesian person’s blog that quotes me from a Feb. ’07 opinion piece I did for Blue Oregon, an Oregon political blog!
Check it out:
http://kekayaanhati.multiply.com/journal/item/354?&item_id=354&view:replies=reverse
You have to scroll down the page a bit, but it’s worth it!
Kinda trippin’ huh?
So, I guess destiny has asked me to do some more writing. I'm a little encouraged to see that at least SOMEONE listens to what I have to say. The key question is...will it lead to wealth and fame...no, just kidding...I mean, will it or anything I do lead to a rise in political, spiritual and cultural consciousness? The kind one might call a NEW REVOLUTION!? I'll settle for an EVOLUTION, but I'm not so sure the planet can wait for the timeframe that implies. Remains to be seen!
Love and kind blessings to all beings always (want to be sure to cover everyone at all times, right?)
;-)
John
Check it out:
http://kekayaanhati.multiply.com/journal/item/354?&item_id=354&view:replies=reverse
You have to scroll down the page a bit, but it’s worth it!
Kinda trippin’ huh?
So, I guess destiny has asked me to do some more writing. I'm a little encouraged to see that at least SOMEONE listens to what I have to say. The key question is...will it lead to wealth and fame...no, just kidding...I mean, will it or anything I do lead to a rise in political, spiritual and cultural consciousness? The kind one might call a NEW REVOLUTION!? I'll settle for an EVOLUTION, but I'm not so sure the planet can wait for the timeframe that implies. Remains to be seen!
Love and kind blessings to all beings always (want to be sure to cover everyone at all times, right?)
;-)
John
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