"Today, more than ever
before, life must be characterized by a sense of Universal responsibility, not
only nation to nation and human to human, but also human to other forms of
life."
- the Dalai Lama
We live in a world where violence, cruelty, severe
environmental degradation, miseducation and social injustice, corporate greed,
corruption and the sowing of disinformation have become the norm. We have been living in this world our whole
lives, as have our parents and our grandparents, and many of us are now facing
the challenge of having to teach our young ones that this is the world we live
in. We have either become ‘comfortably
numb’ (Pink Floyd), and our reactions may range from choosing to believe that
perhaps these issues do not concern us directly, or rationalising that this is
part of the natural evolution of mankind on this planet and therefore these
things are better left alone to unravel and unfold themselves, to telling ourselves that concerning oneself
with these issues is a hopeless cause, or rather left to those organisations,
groups and movements that are somehow more qualified to do something about
it.
Or we let the sadness, shock and
horror of the reality we live in sink into our bones until we are compelled to
say something about it, find a way to act - get up and look for others who can
see that these are issues that must be questioned and challenged, and then
question and challenge them together until they buckle and break like the
frail, insubstantial and unsustainable things they are.
Are we really the sheep we have been told we are? Are we really so helpless and dependent on
this world that we are willing to live our whole lives letting someone else do
the ‘hard work’, whatever this may be, so that we can have it easy and get on
with what we individually deem to be more important? What IS really important? How do we measure this - how do we value life and activity on this One Planet? How do we honestly
face ourselves in order to even begin asking this question? And once we look at this question, other
questions may arise, such as, is this world really in so much trouble, how far have
we gone and can we really do anything about it?
If you are personally affected by these conundrums I would
encourage you to make a short study of the progress of human history in order to find out just
where we – as only one form of life on this planet – stand in relation to the
limits of growth and development this planet is able to sustain. I am talking about simply doing some reading
on the rise of the Industrial Revolution, colonial expansion, the Scientific Experiment
and now, our Technological and Information Revolution; how we came to the point
where our survival was dependent on these investigations, and what we have achieved
through them: what the effects have been, not only on our quality of life,
but on our philosophies and the development of our thinking, our evolution as a
species, and the effects these have on the other creatures, on our environment as
well.
A short study of our recent history will reveal just how
much we have accomplished in the space of a few centuries, and it will give you
a greater perspective on the problems that have surfaced due to some of the above-mentioned inquiries, on the new opportunities that have arisen and, importantly, on the
negative effects that these revolutions have caused and how very quickly we are
learning that the philosophy of growth and progress at any cost was short-lived and
completely unsustainable. In short, a
bit of research on your part will aid your personal understanding of your own
existence, your own growth, development and dependence on your own thinking, on
others and on the environment, and it will put you in a better position to
determine what is important to you.
What is essential in this review you undertake is your understanding of concepts such as the rise of the individual, the rise of power and how we have, throughout our histories, constantly shifted the ways in which this power (and wealth) has been organised and distributed. It has always seemed to me as though we see-saw between being either too clever or too simple-minded to fully realize what we have in terms of nature, life, intelligence and any true understanding of Power.
It has also occurred to me
that we humans, and perhaps the myriads of other life forms too, have
accelerated in many ways far faster than we are able to compute, and that this is
perhaps the reason behind our loss of control and management of our society,
our failure to address the needs of the majority, and how this also manifests
in our loss of environment, both spiritual and physical. Or maybe I am completely wrong, and Nature is
following its course. In which case it
seems that we are indeed doomed, since, as Deepak Chopra says, “A permanently
victorious species risks its own extinction.”
If it is in our nature to be so destructive, so blind to our own
actions, so willing to shrug off responsibility, and we then choose to act from this nature without a second thought, then perhaps we are not
deserving of our place on this planet after all.
But accepting responsibility is realizing
that We are the ones who got ourselves into this mess, and We can get ourselves
out of it if we want to. We have
discovered and achieved so much, but there is also great damage, a great cost to
these achievements and if we do not pay the price, who will? I have this raging energy in me that refuses to submit to the
fear of my nature, the fear of finding out about what is really happening ‘out there’. I have an idea, and I am not the first, that if we could each open up
to the fright of life and allow that side of us that empathizes to reach out
for just a few moments each day, in some way we are doing something that bends
the future into a different shape than the one that we are presently offering
to our children. And it is important
that we open up to this fright if we can, no matter how small we allow this
opening to be.
At some point someone
came up with the maxim “Ignorance is not an excuse”. We have entered a period of history where we
really do not have any more excuses for inaction. We have the internet and therefore more
access to more knowledge than ever before, we have the technological know-how
to affect the necessary changes we need to and are going to make to many of our
currently unsustainable practices, but most importantly we are each beginning
to awaken to the idea of ourselves, our planet and each other – ‘togetherness’,
Ubuntu, and the power of the many.
We
have all heard about the great ideas, about re/upcycling, fair trade, sustainable
living, and alternative energy, to name but a few! What is vital on the individual level is no longer the challenge of merely How we can get on board,
but How Far we can, each one of us, take these ideas in our own lives, and how
much we can affect their manifestations in the world around us. I am hearing more and more how positively
people are choosing to think, the idea that we are already changing our world
and that, yes, perhaps it is happening slowly, but it is happening. We have the mind. We have the heart. We have the power. Let’s organise. Social revolution = human evolution.
- photos by Lil Shaun
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Part 2 of this blog will address the emergence of NPOs as an
answer to these vast political, social and environmental questions. This is a call to all of you out there who care
to dare yourself, scare yourself, get out there, and share. Please tune in next week when I continue to explore this issue. In the meantime, get
to know your neighbours, take a walk, find out what’s happening in your
neighbourhood, town or city, take the time to be alone with yourself and think about
things, talk to others, share your fears and ideas, use the technology that’s
available to you. And remember to turn off the evening news (it's hardly ever good news) and keep doing your own homework!
