Apocalyptic Now 1, 2, & 3

Excerpts from WE ARE ALL APOCALYPTIC NOW: ON THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF TEACHING, PREACHING, REPORTING, WRITING, AND SPEAKING OUT by Robert Jensen. 

Chapter 1:  What is an Apocalypse?

[…]; “revelation” from Latin and “apocalypse” from Greek both mean a lifting of the veil, a disclosure of something hidden from most people, a coming to clarity.

To speak apocalyptically, in that context, is first and foremost about deepening our understanding of the world, seeing through the illusions that people in power create to keep us trapped in systems they control.

Things are bad, systems are failing, and the status quo won’t last forever.  Thinking apocalyptically in this fashion demands of us considerable courage and commitment.  This process will not produce definitive answers but rather help us identify new directions. 

Chapter 2:  What is an Intellectual?

[…] real intellectual effort – the task of understanding how the world works and communicating that understanding to others […].

Intellectual work suggests a systematic effort to (1) collect relevant information and (2) analyze that information to discern patterns that help us deepen our understanding of how the world works, (3) to help us make judgments about how we want to shape the world.  […].  Defined in this way, it’s clear that lots of different kinds of people do this kind of intellectual work – not just professors, but students, organizers, political activists, journalists, and writers and researchers of various kinds.  They engage in the systematic effort in search of the answers to questions about the natural world, technology, human behavior, societies. 

[…] most intellectuals are subsidized by the institutions of the dominant culture.  The people who run those institutions generally expect a return on the investment, which argues for putting restrictions on the work of those subsidized intellectuals.  […].  These institutions prefer that research, writing, and teaching support the existing power system, and most intellectuals conform to that implicit expectation – either because they honestly believe in the system of power or because they want to avoid trouble.  But tensions arise when intellectuals follow paths that lead them to challenge the pre-ordained conclusions that the powerful prefer. 

[…]: The institutions that most often subsidize intellectuals (universities, think tanks, government, corporations) are the key agents of the social systems that produce inequality and threaten the stability of human life on the planet. 

Chapter 3:  The Condition of the World

Social Justice

More than 3 billion people survive – struggling for food, shelter, clothing, education, medical care – on less than what those in the privileged sectors of the developed world might spend on a fancy cup of coffee one morning. 

Inequality is a permanent feature of capitalism, and the gap between rich and poor is growing. 

In the United States, this class divide is also racialized, which is hardly surprising in a nation that has never transcended the white-supremacist ideology on which it was founded.

[…] the United States remains a deeply patriarchal society, […].

We live in a culture in which men are trained to see themselves as naturally dominant and women as naturally passive, in which women are objectified and women’s sexuality is commodified, in which men eroticize women’s subordinate status.  The predictable result is a world in which violence, sexualized violence, sexual violence, and violence-by-sex is so common that it must be considered to be normal, […].

We live in a woman hating world. 

A 2005 United Nations report, aptly titled “The Inequality Predicament,” stressed: “[…].  Focusing exclusively on economic growth and income generation as a development strategy is ineffective, as it leads to the accumulation of wealth by a few and deepens the poverty of many; […].”

Ecological Sustainability

If we remain on our current trajectory there likely will come a point – not in some future millennium but possibly in this century – when the ecosphere cannot sustain human life as we know it.  […] the living system on which we depend is breaking down.   

Look at any crucial measure of the health of the ecosphere in which we live – groundwater depletion, topsoil loss, chemical contamination, increased toxicity in our own bodies, the number and size of “dead zones” in the oceans, accelerating extinction of species and reduction of bio-diversity – and ask as simple question: Where are we heading?

[…] we can’t pretend all that’s needed is tinkering with existing systems to fix a few environmental problems; massive changes in how we live are required, […].  

More to come.  

BETTER PLACE

What follows is a summary of Karen Garvey’s SIX STEP PATH TO MAKING THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE. 

Simple things that take us to a better place.

1. Love yourself first. 

2. Stop judging.

3. Fear less.

4. Stop encouraging fear in others.

5. Support success and happiness in others.

6. Honor planet, animal & plant communities, and humanity.  

UNLESS ...

Earth From Space

It is my belief that one of the keys to being an effective leader is to understand and appreciate this amazing planet we live on.  The recent NOVA film EARTH FROM SPACE available at the link below is a great way to learn more. 

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/space/earth-from-space.html

CROSSROADS

CROSSROADS: Labor Pains of a New Worldview is an hour documentary that explores the depths of the current human condition and the emergence of a worldview that is recreating our world from the inside out. Weaving together insights and findings from biology, psychology, network science, systems science, business, culture and media, the film reveals the inner workings of the human experience in the 21st century, urging viewers to step out of the box and challenge their own assumptions about who we really are, and why we do what we do.

The film is available for free online viewing at the following website http://crossroadsfilm.com/watch/

 

 

BUDDHIST ECONOMICS

Ernest Friedrich Schumacher’s essay “Buddhist Economics” was first published in 1966 in the book ASIA: A HANDBOOK.  In 1973 it was included in Schumacher’s book SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL: ECONOMICS AS IF PEOPLE MATTERED.  This 47 year old essay jewel contains much wisdom for how we need to refocus our economy if we want to have a healthy and prosperous world.  What follows are some of the core concepts from the essay.    

We need to admit that our current economic system based on unlimited exponential growth on a finite planet has reached the end of its useful life, and that it continued use is causing serious problems for our State and our Planet.

We need to revise our view of work to see that its true value comes from the following three functions:

1.       allowing people to utilize and develop all their skills and talents;

2.       enable them to overcome ego-centeredness by joining together with other people in a common task;

3.       and to bring forth the goods and services needed for our communities to thrive.

We need to realize that using local resources to satisfy local needs is to most efficient way to a sustainable future. 

We need to adopt an environmental ethic where we no longer view our “natural resources” as simply means to create more goods and services - and instead start to embrace the reality that we are completely dependent on and part of the ecosystems that sustain us. 

We need to significantly reduce our energy consumption, phase out the use of non-renewable energy sources and transition to the use of renewable energy sources.  

These five ideas will go a long way in guiding us to a sustainable future.

Multiplicity Merged To Oneness

I would like always to point with delight at the many-splendored multiplicity of the world, and just as constantly utter a reminder that oneness underlies this multiplicity; I would like always to show that the beautiful and the ugly, the bright and the dark, sin and holiness are always opposites just for the moment, that they constantly merge into each other.  

Hermann Hess, “A Guest at the Spa”, from the book AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL WRITINGS