Today I came across a really great article called The Great Turning by Joanna Macy. It addresses the shift happening within the world, from the "Industrial Growth Society to a life-sustaining civilization". What I like most about the article is that it incorporates the different aspects of this shift; it has helped me link the jigsaw pieces together and has helped answer some questions I have had for a while. These questions include what is the point of direct action or protests (like stopping someone chop down a woodland) when the problem is so global and there are so many problems that we can't address them all? Or what is the point of trying to change government when it takes so long for any changes to be made? Or what is the role of spiritual change in the changing of the world?
The article lays out the three dimensions to the change that is going on: actions to slow the damage to Earth and its beings; analysis of structural causes and the creation of structural alternatives; and shift in Consciousness. It describes the parts these all play and gives examples of each. It is an article that to me helps create a more whole understanding of part of the change we humans are undergoing, and in doing this it creates more faith in the fact that positive change is happening.
I will leave you with a quote from Joanna Macy's website:
"The most remarkable feature of this historical moment on Earth is not that we are on the way to destroying the world-we've actually been on the way for quite a while. It is that we are beginning to wake up, as from a millennia-long sleep, to a whole new relationship to our world, to ourselves and each other."
Thank you for your post Sushil. Sorry for the slow reply, have just been finishing my degree.
ReplyDeleteSadly I don't have time to read the whole article you have writen, so I will just comment on what you have writen here.
I agree with what you have writen here to a point - I think the industrial / consumer society has some very major flaws and the distruction of nature, the twisting of emotions to suit business, the meaningless inherent in the system, and the mental problems induced by such a lifestyle and also by media such as tv, videos and such like, and the complete non-sustainability of it all is of great concern and needs to be changed. However I don't agree that that the system needs to be destroyed, because I am not sure that would stop suffering, but in some ways may increase it. Rather I think that major steps need to be taken to dramatically change the way we go about our lives to a more holistic approach. That the negative aspects, which I agree is a large part of it, need to be rapidly diminished, but that the positive aspects need to be kept, and that this should be merged with the positive aspects of past ways of living (which respected nature and community). I believe that these two together, along with new things that would develop, could take us forward to a better future.
I would be interested to hear your veiws on this. I am sorry I have only talked in general terms, but I will have a good think about specifics at a later date.
Mark
PS. On the subject of attention spans and peaceful minds check out this article, called Visual voodoo: the biological impact of watching TV, at http://www.iob.org/userfiles/File/1260.pdf It is most interesting and makes a very good argument for avoiding TV altogether due to it affecting our ability to concentrate, amongst other things.