"When sleeping women wake, mountains move!"

-Chinese Proverb -

Connections

It's the third planet from the sun -- a tiny blue sphere spinning for a moment in time -- a remarkable place that was kind enough to yield just the right elements to sustain a phenomenon called life. Where each creature is as unique as the world we call home and a day begins in much the same way for all. Maybe that's when it crosses your mind; in the warmth from a ray of sun or the kindness of a stranger it occurs to you how one life touches so many others, and you begin to see how all things are connected like the blood that unites one family and you come to realise that mankind did not weave the web of life we're merely a strand in it, and whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves, on the third planet from the sun.

IT'S NOT JUST A PLANET

IT'S HOME

The Hour of the Wolf

You have been telling the people that this is the eleventh hour.
Now you must go back and tell people THIS is the hour,
And there are things to be considered:
Where are you living?
What are you doing?
What are your relationships?
Are you in right relations?
Where is your water?
Know your garden.

It is time to speak your truth,
Create your community.
Be good to each other
And do not look outside yourself for the leader.

This could be a good time!
There is a river flowing now very fast.
It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid.
They will try to hold onto the shore.
They will feel they are being torn apart,
And they will suffer greatly.
Know the river has its destination.

The Elders say we must let go of the shore,
Push off into the river,
Keep our eyes open,
And our heads above water.
See who is in there with you and celebrate.

At this time in history,
We are to take nothing personally,
Least of all ourselves.
For the moment that we do,
Our spiritual growth and journey come to a halt.
The time of the lone wolf is over.
Gather yourselves!
Banish the word struggle from your attitude and vocabulary.
All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner
And in celebration.

We are the Ones we've been waiting for.

- From the Elders of the Hope Nation -

Richard Henry Tawney (1880-1962)

In a diary entry in 1912 Tawney wrote:

"If modern England and America are right in believing that the principle aim of man, what should be taught to children, what should serve as a rough standard of merit, what merits approbation and respect, is the attainment of a moderate - or even immoderate - standard of comfort, and that moral questions arise only after this has been attained; then they must be content to go without religion, literature, art and learning. These are not hard to find for those who really seek them, or who seek them first. But if they are sought second they are never found at all ..."

The choice we all face is not between less and more wealth, it is between less and more civilization.

"We assume that the greatest misfortune which can befall a man is poverty - and that conduct which leads to the sacrifice of income is unwise, impractical, etc; in short that a man's life should be judged by its yield of income, and a nation's life by its production of wealth ..."

Tawney was concerned with humankind's seemed obsession with the fallacy that the most important problems are economic problems. He thought the challenges go deeper, and what was (is) needed was (is) a reformation of the fundamental philosophy of life. It's not, as BillClinton famously once said, 'the economy, stupid!', according to Tawney it's moral philosophy, stupid!

He wrote in the 'Acquisitive Society' published in 1920:

"These are times which are not ordinary, and in such times it is not enough to follow the road. It is necessary to know where it leads and, if it leads nowhere, to follow another. The search for another involves reflection, which is uncongenial to the bustling people who describe themselves as practical .... But the practical thing for a traveler who is uncertain of his path is not to proceed with the utmost rapidity in the wrong direction: it is to consider how to find the right one." (p.2)

Tawney considered those who pursued economic productivity and growth as an end in itself as flawed. This approach has been tried and found wanting. Increased productivity alone will not dispel our social or environmental problems. To find the 'right path' Tawney turned to the writings of Ruskin who suggested the purpose of industry is to supply humankind with things that are 'necessary, useful or beautiful, and thus to bring life to body and spirit'. By making the pursuit of productivity the end-goal industry is left to produce goods and services with no other guiding principle than 'more is better'. In these circumstances factories manufacture goods which to some are seen as wealth and to others are seen as waste. It would be better not to produce unwanted goods. Instead of producing and consuming our way out of societal problems, it may serve us to take time to reflect, to simplify, to consume less. Dare it be said to consume what we need as opposed to what we think we want, or what the marketeers tell us we want. Could there be a higher guiding philosophy than consume more, produce more?

Lest it be forgotten Tawney reminded us when he wrote in 'Religion and the Rise of Capitalism' published in 1954, "even quite common men have souls, no increase in material wealth will compensate them for arrangements which insult their self-respect and impair their freedom." (p.233)

If productivity, growth and the accumulation of wealth is not the end-goal, what is? Tawney did not have a singular response to this other than to suggest that the standard applied to an assessment of the ideal is 'transcendental, religious or mystical'. An attempt to articulated an ideal in a definitive sense is impossible. The purpose of life is more likely to be found by first directing our attention towards spirituality, literature, poetry, art and learning before that of mammon.

For an expansion of these ideas read Gerald Alonzo Smith 'The Purpose of Wealth: A Historical Perspective', in Daly, H.E. & Townsend, K.N. (1996) Valuing the Earth: Economics, Ecology and Ethics, MIT Press, London.

We Are All Leaves On One Tree

Imagine being a fish in a bowl. You fall out with your fellow fish. You become so angry that you decide to foul the water, 'That'll teach them a lesson,' you think to yourself. But, of course, it is your water too. Hey ho. Welcome to Planet Earth. There's the human condition in a nutshell. We all imagine that we can pull a fast one over the people around us. They in turn, think the same about us. Yet we are all leaves on one tree, parts of one organism, aspects of one persona.

Mantra for 2008

Embrace

Peace

Love

Hope

Harmony

Joy

Acceptance

Compassion

Inspiration

Creativity

For All

The gift that keeps on giving ...

"The Indian giver understood a cardinal property of the gift; whatever we have been given is supposed to be given away again, not kept. Or, if it is kept, something of similar value should move on in its stead, the way a billiard ball may stop when it sends another scurrying across the felt, its momentum transferred. You may keep your Christmas present, but it ceases to be a gift in the true sense unless you have given something else away. As it is passed along, the gift maybe given back to the original donor, but this is not essential. In fact, it is better if the gift is not returned but is given instead to some new, third party. The only essential is this: the gift must always move."

Hyde, L. (2007) The Gift: How the creative spirit transforms the world, Canongate, Edinburgh, p.4.

Healing Heart

Just when the

caterpillar

thought the

world was over,

it became

a butterfly.

Both Sides Now

Rows and floes of angel hair
And ice cream castles in the air
And feather canyons everywhere
I've looked at clouds that way

But now they only block the sun
They rain and snow on everyone
So many things I would have done
But clouds got in my way

I've looked at clouds from both sides now
From up and down, and still somehow
Its cloud illusions I recall
I really don't know clouds at all

Moons and Junes and Ferris wheels
The dizzy dancing way you feel
As every fairy tale comes real
I've looked at love that way

But now its just another show
You leave em laughing when you go
And if you care, don't let them know
Don't give yourself away

I've looked at love from both sides now
From give and take, and still somehow
It's loves illusions I recall
I really don't know love at all

Tears and fears and feeling proud
To say I love you right out loud
Dreams and schemes and circus crowds
I've looked at life that way

But now old friends are acting strange
They shake their heads, they say I've changed
Well somethings lost, but somethings gained
In living every day

I've looked at life from both sides now
From win and lose and still somehow
It's life's illusions I recall
I really don't know life at all

I've looked at life from both sides now
From up and down, and still somehow
It's life's illusions I recall
I really don't know life at all

- Joni Mitchell -

Head Heart Hand

It was reassuring to listen to Professor Alastair McIntosh this week. We perceive the world in similar ways. In response to issues like climate change he says 'hold the vision and don't dislocate yourself from the society you are trying to effect change'. He didn't think dropping out to some far off place was the solution, instead he suggested there was a need to take up the challenge and find holistic ways to integrate head, heart and hand and to engage people around you.

There are different ways of understanding head, heart, hand. Some see it as knowledge and the reasoning of the head, such as science, technology, economics, politics; combined with courage of the heart, sometimes known as the psyche, as in psychological to mean spirit; allied to the activism of the hand. The head, heart, hand motto came from the Arts and Crafts movement; 'Head' for creativity and imagination, 'Hand' for skill and craft, 'Heart' for honesty and for love.

Alastair's presentation was about climate change, his argument being that politics, technology and economics represented by the head, cannot solve the problem we face on its own. We also need to engage the heart and the hand. By doing this we will build relationships with empathy that feel good. By tackling climate change in this way, joining politics with spirit and action we make it personal and we journey within. If we stay at the level of the head we will keep consuming and remain apathetic to the world around us and the emptiness this creates will never be removed.

This thesis echoes that of reconnecting mythos and logos. Logos represents facts, reason and science. Mythos represents the deeper structure of reality and holds this deep reality of the universe together. By reconnecting with the mystical each person can connect themselves at the soul level to all that is around them. We then understand that the harm or exploitation we do to others we are ultimately doing to ourselves. And in there lies the key to a new reality, to the building of new relationships with the other and to change.

Beannacht

On the day when
the weight deadens
on your shoulders
and you stumble,
may the clay dance
to balance you.

And when your eyes
freeze behind
the grey window
and the ghost of loss
gets in to you,
may a flock of colours,
indigo, red, green
and azure blue
come to awaken in you
a meadow of delight.

When the canvas frays
in the curach of thought
and a stain of ocean
blackens beneath you,
may they come across the waters
a path of yellow moonlight
to bring you safely home.

May the nourishment of the earth be yours,
may the clarity of light be yours,
may the fluency of the ocean be yours,
may the protection of the ancestors be yours.

And so a slow
wind works these words
of love around you,
an invisible cloak
to mind your life.

by

John O'Donohue

Right up to the moon - and back

If I lay here, if I just lay here,
Would you lay with me?
And just forget the world.






Those three words are said too much,
They're not enough.
All that I am,
All that I ever was,
Is here in your perfect eyes.

Questioning Days ...

We cannot let fear of making mistakes keep us from finding what we can do.

Only those who do nothing can avoid making a mistake - and even then, idleness is a mistake.

The first step is hardest.

But with every effort, the potential increases and confidence gathers.

When we waver, it is natural instinct questioning if we are on safe ground - and whether we should go on.

It is at our point of greatest questioning we should go on.

It is at our point of greatest questioning that we should gather our faith and force and move into new higher levels of self-confidence.

Nothing can stop us when we know we have what it takes.

Our reward is not just winning alone, but the new reservoir of strength and spirit that is our resolve to do better and better.

-Cherokee-