As always you have articulated that which bewilders us all: how is it that so many cannot see/feel the connectedness of everything, as within so without, poison the earth and we poison ourselves. Kill others and we kill ourselves. I practice qi gong daily to feel connected to all energy and I wish everyone could find a way back inside to a spirit connection. Living with the mystery is especially challenging these days and maybe that is the point. From great pain and turmoil can come an equally great enlightenment. Yours is a welcome voice and your heart resonates with many who you may never meet . Thank you.
A quote from the science fiction book Dune, written 60 years ago -“Once, men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them.”
Thank you, Charles. Unwittingly I feel you are modelling what is essential at this time. Sitting in the grief and the not knowing of even the questions, and simply being present is actually the first seeds of emergent possibility. Together with you many of us can be in this space together, simply holding one another in these times.
The technocratic world is a symptom of the generations of separation from the earth. The urge to control all living things without regard to the intimate connection that all living beings share. Blinded by left brain solutions without regards to the repercussions that are sure to come. How do we move forward? This will not be accomplished by remaining in the system. It will only be accomplished by grass roots individuals with mountains of courage and creativity that move outside of the system and start building the new, one step at a time. Governments and corporations will not listen to the cries of the people. So, we must remove our energy from the machine that keeps on running without regards to damages that are left in its path.
I hope you are right. Personally I don't feel able to entirely remove my energy from the machine though. For example, to stop using electronics made with rare earth minerals obtained by deforesting the Congo.
I understand your frustrations. However, we cannot eat the entire dinosaur in one bite. Each of us can use our innate talents and focus on what we can do, connecting with like minded individuals. Humans are extremely creative and there will be solutions. I am 68 years young and I did not choose this incarnation to see humanity fail and through my many experiences I have faith that we will move forward and not backwards.
Hi Charles - yikes, I feel it too, the futility and the hope. Thank you for calling us together to share the grief and possibility of our time.
Did you see that Robin Wall Kimmerer saluted your work in her new book The Serviceberry? And The Spectator Magazine gave it a glowing review whilst also mentioning you by name. Congrats, I am happy with and for you. The seeds you sew continue to spread and take root - Hoooray!
In response to your last paragraph - for decades I have desired collaboration and co-creation and just as I was about to give up my life-long work of developing up the Sun Villages financial model (a new way for investors and eco-homes to come together) when Regen Place network and their Bioregional Institute, https://www.regenplaces.network entered my life and swept us off our feet. We have found our piece in the puzzle to co-create and grow a network of place-based alliances focused on building the social infrastructure and capacity for places to initiate community-led projects for the regeneration of cities, towns and bioregions. Unless bottom-up action networks form, which puts people, the planet, and future generations first, we will not only lose control of our housing, our food, and our energy to banks and big corporations, but could also lose control of our life. Bill Mollison, one of the founders of Permaculture, motivated and inspired many during his later life and now 30 years later, these two offshoots of his work have found each other. In 1977 we joined with Bill Mollison, and the Sun Villages model began its evolving journey with his blessing. We invite others into this collaboration to establish a new way of being in the world.
"You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” - R. Buckminster Fuller
For the last 2000 years, we were to learn the Golden Rule; to love thy neighbor as oneself. For the next 2000 years, we are to learn: We Are Thy Neighbor. All is One.
“When a complex system is far from equilibrium, small islands of coherence in a sea of chaos have the capacity to shift the system to a higher order.” - Nobel Laureate Ilya Prigogine
Margaret, I was (still am?) a huge fan of Fuller and Prigogine, old school cybernetician and a child of the 80s myself. Now I am considered old... Plus I lost any and all hope, as I see no place for reason in the world anymore, madness and more madness is the name of the game these days, the majority can't see two steps ahead... I'll look into your site, and if I could muster enough courage, I might contact you...
Please write the article. You are a voice for hundreds of thousands that share your belief but don’t have the knowledge or eloquent writing skills to write the article.
Well done, Charles and welcome back. This is the Charles I had respected and admired for years but had nearly given up on in the last few months of ugly politics. I too, had a really visceral response reading that NYTimes opinion piece trumpeting even more intense industrial agriculture efforts - i wanted to scream and started writing a response but gave up in frustration. Yours would have been - and i hope still will be - much more persuasive.
Thanks (I think). I never abandoned my values or my wits. I've been trying to apply them to the situations that come into my life. Not always successfully.
Hi Charles. I'm not sure exactly where John is coming from, but maybe I can be provide some insight as someone who relates somewhat to what he says. By and large, I've found your work extremely inspirational. It has provided me with hope and motivation in moments of perceived futility - leading me to do things like start a small ecology club that did small things like beach cleanups and sustainable food festivals at a local community centre. Especially your passages in "More Beautiful World" about morphic resonance and creating fields of causality through small uncalculated acts, such as Kalle Lasn taking time away from Adbusters to care for his 95-year-old mother in law, and Patsy giving egg drop soup and personal care to her elderly real estate client, have been much needed water for a thirsty soul. Maybe you are able to write so elegantly and inspiringly on these topics because you know the territory of despair so well. I often do feel for you in this area, and I too have worried about where it has taken you recently in some of your political thinking (I say that with love and respect, and not condemnation). With Trump's election and some of the terribly anti-ecological stuff he's planning to do, returning to your "More Beautiful World" book, especially these passages, have helped inspire me to start such a small group again in my new area, after a couple of years of complacency. Just know that the world needs and appreciates sensitive people like you. Despair is important to feel, for a time, but as a habit of mind, despair is not an option. Like Buddha said about anger, it is like drinking poison. Maybe a glass or two of wine once in a while (technically drinking poison) is okay - it might even be helpful for your mental health or for creating a sense of conviviality. But it can kill you if you drink too much of it too often. And like Nietzsche said "If one stares into the abyss for too long, the abyss starts to stare back into him." Since Covid, Charles, I must say with love and concern that this quote makes me think of you. I have always sensed a certain wound of all-or-nothingism or perfectionism in your writing, and perhaps that's why you're so good at helping others to overcome those tendencies of mind. I hope you will find ways to do this for yourself. I will always respect you and appreciate your work, even when I disagree with you. I hope you will consider whether returning to some of your roots of hope and inspiration may be warranted in this season of your life. Peace, blessings, and every good.
It is baffling how the slaughter in Gaza continues without little regard for the suffering and morality of killing and maiming innocent people. If a different country were doing this (say Russia), what would be the politician's view of it all? I don't understand some of the workings of the world.
The problem for you, I probably should not say it, is that you are too beautiful a person for a world that has become so unbearably and unrecognizably ugly. I imagine you to be an INFP. It’s not easy! But it is better to be beautiful in thought, intention, and action and to dream of a more loving, humane, peaceful, and beautiful world than to simply lament the brutality and fecklessness that devalues human life - and all life - and threatens earth itself.
I've been told by a couple of experts that I'm an INTJ. In any case, I believe that all of the beautiful people who are gathered on earth at this time would not be here if our task were impossible.
All we can do to face the agony of the human condition and still know peace is possible, is remember the Love we are. Now. And now. And now. You are a soulful wonder. Salve for me and many others. Thank you Charles. 💛
This essay exquisitely expresses how so many of us feel about the times that we are witnessing.
As always you have articulated that which bewilders us all: how is it that so many cannot see/feel the connectedness of everything, as within so without, poison the earth and we poison ourselves. Kill others and we kill ourselves. I practice qi gong daily to feel connected to all energy and I wish everyone could find a way back inside to a spirit connection. Living with the mystery is especially challenging these days and maybe that is the point. From great pain and turmoil can come an equally great enlightenment. Yours is a welcome voice and your heart resonates with many who you may never meet . Thank you.
A quote from the science fiction book Dune, written 60 years ago -“Once, men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them.”
Thank you, Charles. Unwittingly I feel you are modelling what is essential at this time. Sitting in the grief and the not knowing of even the questions, and simply being present is actually the first seeds of emergent possibility. Together with you many of us can be in this space together, simply holding one another in these times.
thank you Linda for gifting me with hope and trust and to you Charles I feel you and send my love and gratitude.
The technocratic world is a symptom of the generations of separation from the earth. The urge to control all living things without regard to the intimate connection that all living beings share. Blinded by left brain solutions without regards to the repercussions that are sure to come. How do we move forward? This will not be accomplished by remaining in the system. It will only be accomplished by grass roots individuals with mountains of courage and creativity that move outside of the system and start building the new, one step at a time. Governments and corporations will not listen to the cries of the people. So, we must remove our energy from the machine that keeps on running without regards to damages that are left in its path.
I hope you are right. Personally I don't feel able to entirely remove my energy from the machine though. For example, to stop using electronics made with rare earth minerals obtained by deforesting the Congo.
I understand your frustrations. However, we cannot eat the entire dinosaur in one bite. Each of us can use our innate talents and focus on what we can do, connecting with like minded individuals. Humans are extremely creative and there will be solutions. I am 68 years young and I did not choose this incarnation to see humanity fail and through my many experiences I have faith that we will move forward and not backwards.
Hi Charles - yikes, I feel it too, the futility and the hope. Thank you for calling us together to share the grief and possibility of our time.
Did you see that Robin Wall Kimmerer saluted your work in her new book The Serviceberry? And The Spectator Magazine gave it a glowing review whilst also mentioning you by name. Congrats, I am happy with and for you. The seeds you sew continue to spread and take root - Hoooray!
I didn't know that. I am honored that Robin mentioned me. Her voice is so beautiful and deep.
In response to your last paragraph - for decades I have desired collaboration and co-creation and just as I was about to give up my life-long work of developing up the Sun Villages financial model (a new way for investors and eco-homes to come together) when Regen Place network and their Bioregional Institute, https://www.regenplaces.network entered my life and swept us off our feet. We have found our piece in the puzzle to co-create and grow a network of place-based alliances focused on building the social infrastructure and capacity for places to initiate community-led projects for the regeneration of cities, towns and bioregions. Unless bottom-up action networks form, which puts people, the planet, and future generations first, we will not only lose control of our housing, our food, and our energy to banks and big corporations, but could also lose control of our life. Bill Mollison, one of the founders of Permaculture, motivated and inspired many during his later life and now 30 years later, these two offshoots of his work have found each other. In 1977 we joined with Bill Mollison, and the Sun Villages model began its evolving journey with his blessing. We invite others into this collaboration to establish a new way of being in the world.
Thank you for your thoughtful brilliant sharing!
What occurs to me, in response:
"You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” - R. Buckminster Fuller
For the last 2000 years, we were to learn the Golden Rule; to love thy neighbor as oneself. For the next 2000 years, we are to learn: We Are Thy Neighbor. All is One.
“When a complex system is far from equilibrium, small islands of coherence in a sea of chaos have the capacity to shift the system to a higher order.” - Nobel Laureate Ilya Prigogine
The following link addresses ideas for a "new model" and "islands of coherence" by our Unity team: http://www.consciousevolutionboston.org/The-World-We-Know-In-Our-Hearts-Is-Possible.html
🙏
Margaret, I was (still am?) a huge fan of Fuller and Prigogine, old school cybernetician and a child of the 80s myself. Now I am considered old... Plus I lost any and all hope, as I see no place for reason in the world anymore, madness and more madness is the name of the game these days, the majority can't see two steps ahead... I'll look into your site, and if I could muster enough courage, I might contact you...
Please write the article. You are a voice for hundreds of thousands that share your belief but don’t have the knowledge or eloquent writing skills to write the article.
Well done, Charles and welcome back. This is the Charles I had respected and admired for years but had nearly given up on in the last few months of ugly politics. I too, had a really visceral response reading that NYTimes opinion piece trumpeting even more intense industrial agriculture efforts - i wanted to scream and started writing a response but gave up in frustration. Yours would have been - and i hope still will be - much more persuasive.
Thanks (I think). I never abandoned my values or my wits. I've been trying to apply them to the situations that come into my life. Not always successfully.
Hi Charles. I'm not sure exactly where John is coming from, but maybe I can be provide some insight as someone who relates somewhat to what he says. By and large, I've found your work extremely inspirational. It has provided me with hope and motivation in moments of perceived futility - leading me to do things like start a small ecology club that did small things like beach cleanups and sustainable food festivals at a local community centre. Especially your passages in "More Beautiful World" about morphic resonance and creating fields of causality through small uncalculated acts, such as Kalle Lasn taking time away from Adbusters to care for his 95-year-old mother in law, and Patsy giving egg drop soup and personal care to her elderly real estate client, have been much needed water for a thirsty soul. Maybe you are able to write so elegantly and inspiringly on these topics because you know the territory of despair so well. I often do feel for you in this area, and I too have worried about where it has taken you recently in some of your political thinking (I say that with love and respect, and not condemnation). With Trump's election and some of the terribly anti-ecological stuff he's planning to do, returning to your "More Beautiful World" book, especially these passages, have helped inspire me to start such a small group again in my new area, after a couple of years of complacency. Just know that the world needs and appreciates sensitive people like you. Despair is important to feel, for a time, but as a habit of mind, despair is not an option. Like Buddha said about anger, it is like drinking poison. Maybe a glass or two of wine once in a while (technically drinking poison) is okay - it might even be helpful for your mental health or for creating a sense of conviviality. But it can kill you if you drink too much of it too often. And like Nietzsche said "If one stares into the abyss for too long, the abyss starts to stare back into him." Since Covid, Charles, I must say with love and concern that this quote makes me think of you. I have always sensed a certain wound of all-or-nothingism or perfectionism in your writing, and perhaps that's why you're so good at helping others to overcome those tendencies of mind. I hope you will find ways to do this for yourself. I will always respect you and appreciate your work, even when I disagree with you. I hope you will consider whether returning to some of your roots of hope and inspiration may be warranted in this season of your life. Peace, blessings, and every good.
It is baffling how the slaughter in Gaza continues without little regard for the suffering and morality of killing and maiming innocent people. If a different country were doing this (say Russia), what would be the politician's view of it all? I don't understand some of the workings of the world.
The problem for you, I probably should not say it, is that you are too beautiful a person for a world that has become so unbearably and unrecognizably ugly. I imagine you to be an INFP. It’s not easy! But it is better to be beautiful in thought, intention, and action and to dream of a more loving, humane, peaceful, and beautiful world than to simply lament the brutality and fecklessness that devalues human life - and all life - and threatens earth itself.
I've been told by a couple of experts that I'm an INTJ. In any case, I believe that all of the beautiful people who are gathered on earth at this time would not be here if our task were impossible.
tears of gratitude even though at times it seems impossible.
We live in a perpetually burning building. What we must rescue at all times is LOVE.
( Tennessee Williams).
All we can do to face the agony of the human condition and still know peace is possible, is remember the Love we are. Now. And now. And now. You are a soulful wonder. Salve for me and many others. Thank you Charles. 💛
If we demonstrate peace when opportunities arise in our own daily lives then we show (not just know) that it’s possible.
Nature never leaves anything out... AI on the other hand leaves out everything that matters.
My favorite lines: "Paradoxically, I find hope in the exhaustion of hope that comes at the end of our wits."
&
"I trust what calls the healers"...