The USA saw an interesting election this past Tuesday. I’m not going to discuss the outcome with any dichotomous judgment – it is what it is. I have friends on both sides of this political isle and they are decent people. Of course there is a lot of name calling Read more…
If there is one thing that I think has kept people tethered and trapped by conditioning, I would say it is the need to conform to social norms that while on the surface sound reasonable, really serve to keep us in a state of constriction and compliance. Most people dream Read more…
“You are but a drop in the ocean… but what is an ocean but a multitude of drops” Cloud Atlas. As of writing this post to my blog the human population of Earth was approaching 8.2 billion people. That means 8.2 billion unique and beautiful sovereign individuals ready to express Read more…
As we move into a new sustainable world, it is important to note that it will be a new kind of society, one that will be defined by greater interaction and connected community, even as everyone will be sovereign and authentically self-actualized. If everyone is going to be living their Read more…
The one thing that most people are noticing during these challenging times is how change is coming. Yet, most people are fearful of large changes, since the unknown is a fearful place for so many and the illusion of the status quo seems more comforting. It’s the reason so many Read more…
“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and freedom” Viktor Frankel. If we are to thrive in the new world coming, we need two major things to change. One is to move Read more…
“Stupidity and unconscious bias often work more damage than venality. The point isn’t to get people to accept that they have biases, but to get them to see [for themselves] that those biases have negative consequences for others” Bertrand Russel. A continuation of a fictional reflection by a hundred-year-old Espe Read more…
” There are hundreds of paths up the mountain, all leading in the same direction, so it doesn’t matter which path you take. The only one wasting time is the one who runs around and around the mountain, telling everyone that his or her path is wrong” Hindu Proverb. Sustainable Read more…
“People try to do all sorts of clever and difficult things to improve life instead of doing the simplest, easiest thing—refusing to participate in activities that make life bad“ Leo Tolstoy. We must avoid the alarmism that is so prevalent with environmental activism and politics. We have some serious challenges Read more…
Economists do not like anything that cannot be put into some form of equation, which is strange if you think about it because economics is a social science (based on human psychological reactions). The goal back in the 1800s was to find a way to measure well-being derived from economic Read more…
A bit of a swing off my usual path today. I have readers all over the world, so, this post is not trying to be an affront to any religious beliefs (whatever they may be) but a comment on how many religious autocrats over the centuries have worked to keep Read more…
When medical doctors take the hypocritic oath, they vow to ‘Do No Harm’ when they practice medicine, because human life (and by extension, all life) is sacred and to use your skills to harm anything living is a crime against humanity and the natural world. The Oath is an ancient Read more…
“One way to pick a future is to believe it is inevitable” Richard Bach. I find it amazing that most people I talk with really want a better world that is sustainable and harmonious with the natural world, and also where everyone lives in unity and harmony. Yet, in the Read more…
I have been reading a lot these past few months, on all kinds of media (Left, Right, Mass, and Alternate), about something called the ‘Great Reset.’ This ‘Great Reset’ agenda sounds OK on the surface until one looks more closely at what is being said and who is saying it. Read more…
As most of you will realize in reading my blog, I spend more time talking about our collective cognition as the problem and not just the technological problems we create through our lifestyle choices. Environmental Educator David Orr talks about how we try to tweak ourselves out of our problems Read more…
Only through illumination of the past does a new future become visible. Here is where I take an incredibly complex idea and distill it down to an essential 100 words. I have been sat at my computer this past first week of January 2021 observing all the incredible goings-on. Obviously, Read more…
When people are afraid of losing something they need either physically or psychologically, they can be controlled. People with nothing left to lose can be dangerous to those in charge. The controllers placate them with enough things in their lives so they fear what little they do have may be Read more…
There is no shortage of great thinkers and researchers who have illuminated the risks being imposed up on us with consumerist worldview. Michael Pollan has clearly expressed the problems with our industrial food systems (see earlier post Relocalization and Community {Jan 2018}). Avoiding processed food and non-organic produce is a Read more…
(I have been asked to list the dates {month, day, year} for previous posts I refer to in my blog to help readers find them without having to scroll the now lengthy list of blog posts on this site.) First, let me reiterate my key comments from the last four Read more…
In the last post I emphasized how despite all the technological advances (and actually because of), we do not live in a risk-free world, and never will. I love hearing people quote anecdotal stories of gramps who smoked 40 cigarettes a day and drank a quart of whiskey a day Read more…
There is a simple yet profound saying that applies to trying to solve a problem while continuing the cause, “You can’t dry off when you are still under the running shower.” That pretty much sums up trying to become sustainable while continuing the consumer mindset. This mindset is an addiction Read more…
“Mindfulness is observing your life right now. Accepting your current situation without judgment or struggle. Allowing feelings to exist without letting them driving your actions. Noticing thoughts that occur without needing to buy into them. Taking action based on what you feel in your heart rather than old habits or Read more…
“Mindfulness isn’t difficult. We just need to remember to do it” Sharon Saltzberg In the last post I talked about choice as the way to create personal, social, and ecological freedom. I want you to think for a minute now about the one singular factor that controls much of the Read more…
“Complacency is not your friend. When you become complacent you turn yourself off. You begin to think that calmness is a way of life. You forget that the nature of life is chaotic change and then a season of calm, but then the storms kick in again. It’s not personal Read more…
I am amazed that I have to actually say this but the transition requires us to make a decision away from the consumer paradigm. WE don’t have to leave all the creature comforts and luxuries behind – let me dispel that ridiculous notion straight away – but we have to Read more…
A key aspect of a flourishing culture is one that allows people to be the creative beings they know themselves to be, in whatever form that takes for any one individual. I really believe that we are not meant to be just existing with no purpose. Societies all around the Read more…
Heretic – original use of the term, “Someone who is in possession of the facts and is able to choose.” Anyone in the world following politics in the USA will have noticed the final acts of ‘civic disengagement’ occuring. Since the 1950s, ongoing dialogue within towns and neighborhoods was slowly Read more…
We’ve had the problem of perceiving money as having innate value for well over 5 centuries now, but the last 100 years has seen it taken to new heights. After the first war and especially after the second war, a consumer mentality took hold with a large growing middle class Read more…
I had prepared three more posts when computers being what they are I somehow managed to lose the file as it was backing up. Despite spending two hours trying to locate a previous version, I have given up. So, today’s, blog is an overview of where we are to date Read more…
In the last post I commented on negativity when talking about problems and issues and also the use of interpretive techniques to get people to listen more attentively rather than just tuning out. The mass media has done a wonderful job in scaring us about a multitude of issues and Read more…