Jul 3, 2012 | Options/ New Paradigm
The decision to embark on this rite of passage won’t be an easy one. Most people in the developed world have no interest in changing anything about their lives or their worldviews, and are often oblivious that anything’s amiss to begin with. They’re not remotely interested in asking the hard questions that might shed light on a path forward. Even those of us who are open to the rite struggle to take that first step. We’re scared. I’m scared. But we can’t allow this fear to rule our lives, to constrain our lives. A rite of passage isn’t supposed to be easy, it’s supposed to introduce us to our edges and the void that lies beyond. I can’t pretend to know precisely what each of these stages of our impending rite of passage will look like, how people in different regions will muddle through, but I trust it’ll be powerful, enlightening and, at the very least, interesting. Perhaps more interesting than we’d prefer. But then we live in interesting times, so go figure.
Jul 2, 2012 | Options/ New Paradigm
The human soul may tolerate a “consumer society” in order to survive current circumstances and make a living, but the soul has come to life not simply to consume, but to give its inner gifts. Each soul secretly desires to be part of something greater, something “larger than life,” for we each harbor within ourselves a larger life and greater sense of self. This otherness within is now mostly imagined as something outside oneself. Thus, all the campaigns that promise liberation, be they political or spiritual, be they base advertising or high-energy motivational programs.
Jul 2, 2012 | Climate Change/Environment
In aspiring toward sustainable growth, then, the Rio participants carried an irreconcilable contradiction with them into the conference. Its failure was assured — not because of the commonly cited reason that it is impossible to gather 50,000 bureaucrats for a week and get anything done. Well, OK, because of that, yes, but the contradictions run deeper. Given the way that growth is defined in our current system, sustainable growth is impossible.
Jul 1, 2012 | Climate Change/Environment
Climate change may not only unleash fiercer wildfires but also ultimately replace Western forestland with grasslands. Ultimately, global warming may eliminate the iconic ponderosa pine forests. Blazing fires could burn down existing stands, opening room for colonization by faster-growing prairie grasses or other plants. And a changing climate may prove more amenable to grassland than forest.
