The Re-Greening of Our Hearts (Part 1)
A Practical Philosophy for a Successful Planet
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Oct. 2011 – Here we are in the thick of Occupy Wall Street, with the movement and its message spreading worldwide, loud and clear: No more collusion by government and Big Business. No more tax cuts for the already rich and dirty. No more destruction of our planet for the bad habit of bullying-billionaire-ism, an epidemic disease attacking the weak of heart and low morale.
In the first weeks of the ongoing Fukushima disaster I read too many editorials describing the choice between a nuclear or more sustainable future as hinging on the monetary cost to multinational companies, government, and taxpayers. Does it also make you squirm in your skin to hear our world fixated on economic gain at any cost, with the real possibility of environmental collapse as well as species and human extinction from toxic waste streams given secondary concern? Do you care more about remaining “competitive” in the international marketplace above the survival and health of your children and family?
I have reached my limit of political puppet talk to distract attention from and justify the destruction of life on Earth. I couldn’t give a crap about the International Marketplace, whatever it is. Come to think of it, I think we should downsize the mythic International Marketplace by 90% (I’d still like to have curry powder to cook with) and replace it with hundreds of regional festivals where we all camp out and envision a new, locally-based future. Camp Headquarters will be biking distance from your home!
“A sacred choice is one that does not seek to compensate for a wound, but to heal it.” `~Rick Vassalla~
We need a new paradigm for living and doing business on Earth, not just an adjustment of the current system. We need a modus operandi that is eco-centric not solely human-centric. This orientation forms the crux of Deep Ecology, which perceives nature as sacred, not primarily a commodity for human progress and development. By granting Nature a right to live and thrive, we grant the same to humanity. We can no longer pretend as though nature is forever indispensable and able to re-grow itself no matter the pace at which we use it up. Or that some fantastic messianic miracle of technology is going to save us and regenerate what we have denigrated. Even if there were such a technology, what kind of world would remain in the aftermath?
While green goods and technologies are a step towards a solution, it’s no longer enough simply to re-package a small percentage of our rampant consumerism model as “green.” We need pervasive sustainability, extending to the greening of our hearts, so that actual care emerges for our world, as opposed to image-manipulation for the sake of disguising our same capitalism, over-consumerism, and exploitation of nature.
While on hikes and otherwise quietly enjoying nature, I often come across other visitors to the forest (more accurately, they usually happen upon me sitting in a strange way and place) that act as though they have just walked into a Disneyland…Disneyland with the mute button on. So seemingly foreign to them is an experience of nature’s silence and awe. If you do not get out to nature often, treat yourself to some time out of the city. Immerse yourself and soak up nature to remember not only what sustains us physically, emotionally, and spiritually but what deserves a good life for its own sake.
Sit under the tree in your yard or patio with your children, or any children, for an hour or even overnight (but don’t discuss the International Marketplace!). Feel yourself and your children in relation to the current course of humanity. Think and feel into your life’s purpose ,and your family’s, and what matters most to your enduring joy and integrity and perhaps even from the perspective of the end of your life. This is not a morbid suggestion but a sobering, life-enhancing perspective to grasp what really maters for today, tomorrow and hopefully, “our future.” Appropriately, this message was echoed by the late Steve Jobs, when he addressed the Stanford graduating class…
“Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to loose. You are always naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.” —Steve Jobs