An open space for global conversation
redux
Days are become sadness, filled with sorrow builded by all we have come to be. With recrimination of self and of the subjugational societal systems of which our nations and our world are formed. I think and write of that 'how it came to be' – and search for the how and what of a new way, of a new reality, of a new and different story, of a new and different song.
To Be
For you and me
for us and them
and all that wander in between
Physician heal thyself? And look you now, for time passes - and not all are safe and sound within their beds whilst obscenities act within opportunities themselves engendered in rings of power, avarice and deceit - by twisted logic explained as 'needed and necessary'.
and Polar Bears will soon no more be seen.
Spurred by Socratic questioning shall we talk and think and chatter forever with good intent and aspirations high?
Shall we talk and think and chatter forever as we stretch and grow and reach?
For the sky?
Shall we dream and read and bleed as we watch those who never bleed but smile and connive in places within and without the public gaze?
And if we act, how might this be, each ourselves become as steps within a new community?
of spirit
and love
and concern for our humanity
Problems large and problems small, of person, community, state and global reach. Ignored, exacerbated, cosmetic make overs applied. Sops which by their nature cannot endure, words and ill sufficient deeds presented as 'the cure' - in cycles of insufficiency that dull the mind of each succeeding generation by the methodology of 'trick or treat'.
Can it be true that each generation is more informed and that on this and actions generated lie the hopes and future of all mankind? We believe it so - and that belief becomes our occupation and so we say and place our hopes and actions in movements of more informed dissent, seeking to build a better way. Yet these have never been the whole of each, nor yet of our own – generations – and this ignorant state of the great unwashed is by a full intent which of itself stretches back into our antiquities.
Educate the plebeian mob?
And have them know in their majorities how the systems of their world really are? That the subjugation and ignorance of their unkempt state is that great part of preserved Majesty, of Kings, Rulers and an elite class - endorsed by Laws which in their final analysis discriminate against the 99 percent.
In ways built by each succeeding generation and by our own, Occupiers and others too see answers which we can share, build and adapt to the needs of our time and, perhaps, form an enduring basis for those who will come after. In this we consider opportunities to push further than the past, our efforts and hopes enhanced by communications and interchanges more far reaching than any that came before
We know by history that we are not the first to seek this path and its likely that we'll not be the last
but it could be!
and why is that?
What and if and how to choose and shape to our own communities in individuality of demand and need and giving, in love - and in trust – and yet and in great measure
bedecked with similarity
What comes first and what comes second and what of all our choices would make the whole of it, and what whole would or should that be? Perhaps we here, with our faltering steps, sure yet not sure, for how can we know if we know enough (and what would be 'enough'?) have a certain most singular duty to be more than we presently are, as individuals, as Occupiers, as community and as humanity.
What we don't know is, by definition, what we don't know. And if not known then where is the certainty, if certainty there be, in that? Perhaps right there is the nub of it.
Journey of the Universe has now crossed the Atlantic and reached my door. Its as good as might be anticipated for a 56 minute production. That's not a great deal of time so Brian Swimme, Mary Tucker and their producers have concentrated on the overview of the creativity, connection and interdependence of the cosmic evolution and its echoes within some of our planet's indigenous cultures. Its a great watch and Swimme imbues the production with his own particular approach to evolutionary cosmology which in part owes much to his long term association with Tom Berry. Its also an approach which illuminates the 14 billion year evolution of self aware intelligent life and of course points at the only such example we know of. And yet the question which stark beyond any other has everything to do with future possibility, is left untouched.
Their work represents the continuation of an ethnic, cultural and evolutionary view of our universe first brought to the fore by Carl Sagan in the 1960's.
Swimme and Tucker are themselves the still living representatives of the 1960's cultural revolution which, incepted by the youth of that generation, was the first such challenge of entrenched elitist government, business and finance. The shock which that administered to the complacent status quo of elitism triggered a backlash which is still manifest and can be seen and felt in the latest financial crash and its targeted repercussions against the 99%
So let me quote the following passage from a somewhat similar but more extensive work originated in the 1970's. It made its début on public television - in 13 one hour segments from September 28, 1980 – December 21, 1980 - and stands still as the definitive such production, graced by a scientist of immense vision and humility and a musical score to die for.
I quote it not because its a brilliant but tiny part of an immense and equally brilliant work, but because it does address the question not posited by Journey of the Universe and as such has a quick and deadly pertinence for our times . .
and for all who occupy and seek to occupy . .
“The nature of life on Earth, and the quest for life elsewhere, are the two sides of the same question.
The search for who we are
All living things on Earth are made of organic molecules. A complex microscopic architecture, built around atoms of carbon.
In the great dark between the stars, there also are organic molecules, in immense clouds of gas and dust. And inside such clouds there are batches of new worlds, just forming. Their surfaces are very likely covered with organic molecules. These molecules are almost certainly not made by life, although they are the stuff of life. On suitable worlds, they may lead to life.
Organic matter is abundant throughout the cosmos, produced by the same chemistry, everywhere.
Perhaps, given enough time, the origin and evolution of life is inevitable, on every clement world. There will surely be some planets too hostile for life. On others it may rise and die out, or never evolve beyond its simplest forms.
And on some small fraction of worlds there may develope intelligences and civilisations, more advanced than ours.
All life on our planet is closely related. We have a common organic chemistry, and a common evolutionary heritage.” Sagan. C. (1980)
We can leave aside the prophetic nature of Sagan's work, much of which has been proved correct. In so far as Occupy is concerned, the real interest lies in these words . . and in the words which, by implication, are not said - (they are but not until episodes 12 and 13)
“And on some small fraction of worlds there may develope intelligences and civilisations, more advanced than ours.”
That 'small fraction' are the rump, the supposed small remains of a much larger number of worlds wherein intelligent and self aware life and civilisations have come into being. The simple supposition, based upon the only working model we know of, is that a significant number of those worlds are most likely to be comparable to our own in that they be interdependent upon myriads of interconnected life forms, and that the predominant form may well have reached its evolutionary apex by struggle and conquest and an uninformed subjugation and exploitation of other species.
This supposition posits a further extension, in that for all of those worlds, those higher intelligent civilisations reach a cusp, a certain point, a moment in their histories brought to them in their vast majorities and defined by their tooth and claw struggles for that planet wide predominance which all such do reach – and where we ourselves now stand. A moment and a time which offers only two stark and diametrically opposed choices.
To go on with an established ignorant, uncaring and presumed mastery led by corrupt elitism, and by that choice bring closer the estimated life span of many of the species of their planet, including themselves.
Or, by the peoples will, to change how they are, to withdraw from the peril which comes to the vast majority, to heal and mend each other and their planet and all its interdependent life and in so doing bridge the chasm between those that failed and those who have succeeded, and reach the ultimate destination of intelligent life. And in that realisation become as all who reach that point do become.
The universe, nurtured in contemplation of its highest purpose
Its unavoidably and manifestly true that we humans have now arrived at that cusp, at that point in our histories which will, in its outcome, determine the future of our planet, of its myriad species and, most particularly, of ourselves.
I think this awareness is what drew me to the Occupy Café, that and the nature of those who come here and, not least, by the nature, patience and informed wisdoms of its two stewards. Together with others of their ilk they are signposting for all who would come the journeys which are the necessary precursors to our own leap across the chasm which now stands before us, and which we must surely bridge if we humans are to reach our true destiny and, in that journey, become the benign stewards of our wonderful planet.
If we are those 'we' who would help to change our world and the ways in which we and our communities are, then we have more than ourselves, as in each of us, to consider, truism though that may be. In our quest we must identify and come to know and understand that we have a sacred duty to share all that we are and all that we know and all that we understand, not just with ourselves as individuals and Occupiers, but with our communities. Communities small and communities large, both of the soil and land and habitat and of the electronic and global village.
We must share everything
Knowledge wisdoms and resources of every kind and nature
The peoples of our world are presented in many ways, in many different groups, such as the haves, and the have nots. Such as -
half the world is dying of starvation, and the other half are dying from over eating.
Emotive – but basically an example of the double speak, exaggeration, and knowledge perspectives used by both sides at a moment of history when we stand at a transitional cusp in the social, cultural, economic and ideological confrontation destined to determine how we as a species are finally to be.
Shall we continue as destructive uncaring and ignorant exploiters of our planet and its peoples for the private gain and vices of our benighted nature?
“ . . Now, it's long been understood, very well, that a society that is based on this principle will destroy itself, in time. It can only persist, with whatever suffering and injustice it entails, as long as it's possible to pretend that -
the destructive forces that humans create are limited
that the world is an infinite resource
and that the world is an infinite garbage can . . .” Chomsky, N. and Herman, E.S. (1988)
Or will we at last become enlightened stewards of our beautiful planet and all its wonders with love and care, such that our understandings and knowledge may become the basis of a burgeoning and benevolent wisdom for our species?
“We are the privileged generations who have the opportunity to take part in an extraordinary endeavour to restore the Earth’s systems. It does not get greater than this. Far from being a project of impoverishment, developing sustainability gives each and every one of us a chance to use our talents, large and small, to the full. If we all come together, we can collectively contribute everything that is distinctive about humanity to halt the trail of destruction we are leaving behind us. We can afford to give life the time and space it needs to repair and rebalance itself and, while we do, who knows what other riches we will discover?” White. S. (2010)
We here, dissenters all, are fully aware that there are other ways, both old and new, that would overturn and make a mockery of our present systems and conditions and heal our planet and, in that great healing, allow all that is good about humankind to rise and grow and come together in ways which will forever mark the true destiny of our species.
all over our world there are scientifically attested programs, tested with rigour and proved in the field, which are known to offer potentials of enormous benefit to our world and our populations. In a world such as ours now is, some of these are available, but too many are protected by patent. (and that says everything about our present systems of valuation and exchange!)
Programs such as those incepted by Geoff and Sindhu Lawton, showing how to reclaim desert lands, bringing them into a productive cultivation of trees, shrubs and plants bearing foods of fruit, nuts and vegetables of every supportive specie, using only a good and benign knowledge of nature, 'creating' rain and water in lands devoid (or so it seemed) of water and where the soils had so much salt content that nothing has grown in history. A system which once started becomes capable of supporting its indigenous populations.
This in stark contrast to commercial enterprises growing food under acres of plastic with intense and constant irrigation by water brought in from elsewhere – their produce shipped to the shelves of supermarkets in the rich nations of our world - and thus paving the way for the demise of their home grown producers. You have to think about that for only a moment to realise how destructive the uncaring methodologies of big business are, and the contrast between those methodologies and the natural ways of benign permaculture.
(A far cry from the mighty Hoover Dam project which by an ignorant technological subjugation diverted the once mighty waters of the Colorado River to the otherwise desert lands of California and more. And where eventually, as the folly of moving water to deserts in such a way began to strike home, it served only as a magnet for people to come to the water promised lands until they overwhelmed the water tables and citrus farmers began to behave like nomads, uprooting whole farms and moving to areas where the water hadn't yet depleted, only to find themselves on a treadmill that repeated every so many years. That mighty Dam is destined to stand only as a forlorn testament to the folly of our forebears.)
Today there are hundreds of examples of nurturing and bringing forth resources by purely natural means and processes, using our brains and knowledge in benevolence and in harmony with our Mother Earth. Feed the world? With each nation able to feed its own? And clothe and house and bring all and everyone into a knowledge and experience which would light our imaginations and our hearts with the true flame of our humanity? Engaged in what and how we wish to be, not allocated as sheep to grind the wheels of business and commerce and industry. A system of production, government and societies described by Noam Chomsky thus -
“If it is correct, as I believe it is, that a fundamental element of human nature is the need for creative work, for creative inquiry, for free creation without the arbitrary limiting effects of coercive institutions then of course it will follow that a decent society should maximise the possibilities for this fundamental human characteristic to be realised. Now a federated, decentralised system of free associations, incorporating economic as well as social institutions would be what I refer to as anarcho-syndicalism and it seems to me that it is the appropriate form of social organisation for an advanced technological society in which human beings do not have to be forced into the position of tools, of cogs in a machine.” Chomsky. N. (1992)
So can we who now stand at the divide truly change, such that we too might fulfil that better destiny? It would seem almost by definition that the majority if not all of those who engage in dissent from our present systems, would believe it so.
And if that be true then we must build these dreams, this new story, from the roots on up, together and with all that will join and that we will join with. We need to weave with all the many peoples and organisations which seek and promote and actively are building that new story, such that we become a cohesive multi celled organic movement that can in concert and with full agreements truly change – oh – just about everything.
only in this sharing and coming together will we heal ourselves
only in this sharing and coming together will we heal and build anew our societies
only in these great sharings and this great coming together will we at last turn back the tide and begin to heal and nurture our beautiful planet
and this then is the sacred duty that transcends all else.
We must each of us give and give freely and in that giving come to know that this is the only way in which humanity can flourish and heal - and – if the life which our universe was always destined to bring forth is to have any true meaning - become all that we are surely meant to be.
and the great whales of femininity - and how right is that and reflective of the whole - sing their songs with their sisters and to the males of their community. Of what we do not know and cannot tell nor yet read, yet surely an impossibility that such songs are not of their own world, of their sorrows and their love and perhaps of their histories, spread within the majestic waters of their great seas. And perhaps of the malicious and destructive ways of humanity?
Can we who think and search for that better way, who learn to give and not to take more than we truly need, find a way to strip out the canker from within and bring new ways to be into our communities, building together and in joint harmony toward a humanity more profound. And more complete. These are the choices, stark but simple which face us now, as we find and test the tools we will surely need if we are to turn back the tide, rewind the clock and build a new future and a new world and that new story
where have
and have not
no longer co-exist
within a humanity stripped of greed and grown, not child, not riddled with the angst of teenage years, nor yet in the first flush of adult life – but grown to the completeness of full maturity - wrapped within the wisdoms and knowledge of those yet older still, in a world where sadness and pain still may exist, but embraced only with love and care and not despair and of times well spent and cherished
Perhaps then we too may sing the songs
that whales do
Sources
White. S.
Analysis:Denials, Stories and Visions – Greenpeace Business - WINTER 2010/ISSUE 8 – (accessed via Transition Hereford. England. 2010)
Sagan. C.
Cosmos: Part 2 of 13:One Voice in the Cosmic Fugue PBS TV (October 5th, 1980) Accessed via private copies of broadcast tapes June 1981
Chomsky. N. (1992)
Manufacturing Consent-Noam Chomsky and the Media (1992) Manufacturing Consent. DVD:Accessed 1993
(and Online video. Available From: http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-5631882395226827730 :Accessed January 16th 2007)
Thank you and let's sing together the new song. Mushin
Thanks Mushin, very much appreciated. Its by all the emotions and writings and experiences available within this space that my heart is able to direct my mind.
Oh, Don! I'm so moved, and appreciative. We've been talking about "synthesis" over on the thread for this week's Power of Dialogue conversation. Then I finally get around to reading this and discover such a beautiful example of it. As Mushin says, what you've captured is not just our New Story, but our New Song!
Here's a cyber hug:
{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{Don}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}
wow Ben that's just - well overwhelming - thank you so much and if that's how we hug in cyber space then yes for you too I enclose this
(((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((Ben)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
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