While the aristocracy continues to extract vast sums of money and resources from the earth and her people, even those in the "richest countries in the world" are having to make due with less. Less travel means less exposure to other people and other ideas. If it were not for the internet, there would be a nearly complete collapse of awareness and understanding of the variety of cultural differences that we all live amongst. Provincial thinking only worked when we were in tiny isolated communities. Currently we are experiencing a mushrooming of information and a growing sense that we are all one big family. Our myths are entwined, our laws are overlapping and our cultural similarities far outweigh our differences. In the infinite arc of time, the changes that overtake us daily in the early twenty-first century (according to the Julian Calendar) are greater than those experienced throughout a whole lifetime just a few hundred years ago. Information storage and retrieval alone account for more change than we could have fathomed just twenty short years ago. Our imaginations have had the tethers of possibility loosened and we are able to set course on wider seas each day.
I spent a bit of time today looking at the page views for this blog over the past two years. I was amazed by two things. The numbers of page views dwarf the total numbers of copies of my old fanzine. The international readership that has found my blog too has been phenomenal. Whereas my old printed version of The Otherfish Wrap took days to produce and were limited to how far those actual pieces of paper could travel, using electronic media allow me to write more quickly, use less resources and touch the lives and intellect of far greater numbers of people as well as touching them over a larger geographic area. The rapid pace of change is like a double edged sword. The Earth seems to have been distilled. I have to appreciate and understand that my audience is larger than I can fathom, yet still appreciate each and every reader. No small task for someone who feels most at home with old way organizing techniques of hand shaking, hugging and sharing meals with those who share similar ideas, supporting them through their own unique crises and sharing a sense of abundance in the face of oppression by the power elite. By streaming electrons is discreet ways, we can relate to one another in a whole new way that years ago took weeks, months or years, in an instant.
The difficulty arises in that we can see more and more details that pertain to the lives of the aristocracy. It is strange and strikingly different from our own lives, although more and more people, of all social and political colors are beginning to see the facts about where we have come to and where we are headed. Our understanding of where we have come to and the choices that we make for the future depend on an ever expanding storehouse of data. Understanding that we can never "know it all" is at the heart of both compassion and sustainability. Honoring our limits and accepting our interdependence on an intact and integrated whole can be both humbling and enlightening. "Having it all" becomes more and more tied to letting go rather than acquisition. Getting to see how the other half lives can be disorienting because our "reality" is so dissimilar to that of the wealthy of any culture. The difficult hurdle that we need to overcome is the thinking that somehow the wealthy "have" something that is valuable. In fact, the more "well-off" frequently suffer from dislocation from their own families, often their communities, and their materialism often interferes with their appreciation of both spiritual and emotional riches that are hard to take into account in dollars (or any currency) alone.
As we have been shown more and more details of the lives of the ultra wealthy, the power brokers and the marketers of capitalism, we see many more things that we lack, understand a bit more fully how little our lives matter to the ruling class and, in some cases, dream of what we would do if we "won the lottery". What we don't seem to see enough of is what really makes for a fulfilled life. Loving, being loved, holding babies and sharing of oneself all seem to receive short shrift in out materialistic societies. Is it inevitable that we will always want what we cannot have? Or, are we capable of getting beyond this sense of lack for the sake of future generations? Frequently I am asked, "What would you do if you won the lottery?" My response is most often to give it all away. I would buy land to make parks, especially in areas that are urbanized, but in the headwaters as well, to help protect water quality. I would especially like to give it to not-for-profit organizations like ECO-Tours of Wisconsin so that their programs of reforestation and environmental education will live on after my passing. Coming from poverty and lack, perhaps, has given me a different perspective than many, but the quality of life that others can hope for and experience weighs more, in my mind, than my own freedom from want. Acquisition only inspires until the act of procurement has passed. At this magical moment, the very object of our desire changes from an inspiration to action to an eternal responsibility. A tax, if you will, that must be paid in the form of protection, maintenance and upkeep, as long as we "own" it. When I get my "dream house", it won't make me happy unless I can share it with others. When I get a sailboat, I will take people out in it to bring them pleasure, that is what I will love about it. Sustainability cannot be about competition for scant resources. No other creature is as enamored with the idea of lack as humans have proven to be. I will stand as a testament to abundance. I will make a go of it no matter how limited my resources, I will continue to try to reach out to those I love whether I have much or little. I will continue to produce as much of my own food as possible, care for whatever part of the planet I may find myself in as possible and care for and support those around me. Hopefully, leading by example will teach an enduring lesson to those around me and inspire in others a reciprocal relationship that benefits the earth, her creatures and the very systems that provide us with clean air, water, food and protection from the elements when we need it.
I spent a bit of time today looking at the page views for this blog over the past two years. I was amazed by two things. The numbers of page views dwarf the total numbers of copies of my old fanzine. The international readership that has found my blog too has been phenomenal. Whereas my old printed version of The Otherfish Wrap took days to produce and were limited to how far those actual pieces of paper could travel, using electronic media allow me to write more quickly, use less resources and touch the lives and intellect of far greater numbers of people as well as touching them over a larger geographic area. The rapid pace of change is like a double edged sword. The Earth seems to have been distilled. I have to appreciate and understand that my audience is larger than I can fathom, yet still appreciate each and every reader. No small task for someone who feels most at home with old way organizing techniques of hand shaking, hugging and sharing meals with those who share similar ideas, supporting them through their own unique crises and sharing a sense of abundance in the face of oppression by the power elite. By streaming electrons is discreet ways, we can relate to one another in a whole new way that years ago took weeks, months or years, in an instant.
The difficulty arises in that we can see more and more details that pertain to the lives of the aristocracy. It is strange and strikingly different from our own lives, although more and more people, of all social and political colors are beginning to see the facts about where we have come to and where we are headed. Our understanding of where we have come to and the choices that we make for the future depend on an ever expanding storehouse of data. Understanding that we can never "know it all" is at the heart of both compassion and sustainability. Honoring our limits and accepting our interdependence on an intact and integrated whole can be both humbling and enlightening. "Having it all" becomes more and more tied to letting go rather than acquisition. Getting to see how the other half lives can be disorienting because our "reality" is so dissimilar to that of the wealthy of any culture. The difficult hurdle that we need to overcome is the thinking that somehow the wealthy "have" something that is valuable. In fact, the more "well-off" frequently suffer from dislocation from their own families, often their communities, and their materialism often interferes with their appreciation of both spiritual and emotional riches that are hard to take into account in dollars (or any currency) alone.
As we have been shown more and more details of the lives of the ultra wealthy, the power brokers and the marketers of capitalism, we see many more things that we lack, understand a bit more fully how little our lives matter to the ruling class and, in some cases, dream of what we would do if we "won the lottery". What we don't seem to see enough of is what really makes for a fulfilled life. Loving, being loved, holding babies and sharing of oneself all seem to receive short shrift in out materialistic societies. Is it inevitable that we will always want what we cannot have? Or, are we capable of getting beyond this sense of lack for the sake of future generations? Frequently I am asked, "What would you do if you won the lottery?" My response is most often to give it all away. I would buy land to make parks, especially in areas that are urbanized, but in the headwaters as well, to help protect water quality. I would especially like to give it to not-for-profit organizations like ECO-Tours of Wisconsin so that their programs of reforestation and environmental education will live on after my passing. Coming from poverty and lack, perhaps, has given me a different perspective than many, but the quality of life that others can hope for and experience weighs more, in my mind, than my own freedom from want. Acquisition only inspires until the act of procurement has passed. At this magical moment, the very object of our desire changes from an inspiration to action to an eternal responsibility. A tax, if you will, that must be paid in the form of protection, maintenance and upkeep, as long as we "own" it. When I get my "dream house", it won't make me happy unless I can share it with others. When I get a sailboat, I will take people out in it to bring them pleasure, that is what I will love about it. Sustainability cannot be about competition for scant resources. No other creature is as enamored with the idea of lack as humans have proven to be. I will stand as a testament to abundance. I will make a go of it no matter how limited my resources, I will continue to try to reach out to those I love whether I have much or little. I will continue to produce as much of my own food as possible, care for whatever part of the planet I may find myself in as possible and care for and support those around me. Hopefully, leading by example will teach an enduring lesson to those around me and inspire in others a reciprocal relationship that benefits the earth, her creatures and the very systems that provide us with clean air, water, food and protection from the elements when we need it.
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