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Recent articles:
Over the past few
years I have used
this site
as
a
notebook to record my thoughts about our global civilization in the
face of crisis. I've focussed on the converging crises of
ecology, energy and economics – all of them driven by an expanding
human population with growing material wants. As my investigation
has progressed I've experienced a range of very intense feelings, from
amazement, disbelief and outrage through resignation, despair and
bone-deep cynicism to transformation, optimism and finally to hope. In the process
I've attempted at all times to respond to the world as it truly is,
both in terms of the physical circumstances that we have helped create
on our shared planet and the qualities of the human beings that share
it. As my responses have developed I've also tried to apply the
same honesty and realism to my personal reactions. Being human, I
have not always been successful at being honest about my own reactions,
as my long sojourn in existential darkness amply demonstrated.
Instead of recognizing my bleak feelings as a momentary, personal truth
that was driven purely by my inner states, I mistook them for some sort
of Absolute Truth. As I viewed world events through this barren filter,
I indulged in long chains of confirmation bias and bent the meaning of
the events I analyzed to fit and validate my own cynicism. Just to be clear
here, my perceptions about the physical world were not wrong. The
evidence for climate change, the degradation of virtually all the
ecological domains we have touched, the limits to growth implied by
Peak Oil and the risks posed by the excessive complexity of our
globalized civilization are all too real. How we as
individuals choose to respond to those physical facts, however, is an
entirely different matter. Here we enter the realm of
interpretations, values and meanings. Each of us will respond to
the same set of facts in a different way depending on our inner
state. Some of our responses may be helpful, others may not be.
What one person sees as a glorious challenge, another may see as
evidence of failure. I may perceive a situation as an invitation
to shake off old ways and build a very different future; someone else
may see the need to tighten up, refine or enforce existing ways; yet
another may simply say the problem is too large and give up. To some,
choosing to shake off old ways and build a very different future can
look a lot like giving up. We may even accuse those who are
looking for a complete change of direction of being
quitters if we are very attached to the old ways they are trying to
shake off. For instance, we may be attached to our economic
system, our desire for material growth, cars, air conditioning,
television, packaged food or our legal and educational systems.
For every person who suggests we might live perfectly happy lives
without one or another of these things there will be a host of others
with reasons why such a change is undesirable, unacceptable,
impractical
or even impossible. In the end,
though, change has always been inevitable. Our living
circumstances have changed dramatically over the years, centuries and
millennia. What humans have always done in the face of change is
adapt to whatever new situation we found ourselves in. Remarkably, we
have always managed to find great amounts of happiness no matter how
constrained our physical situation became. The root of this happiness
has always been in our sense of connection. In the core of
ourselves, only connections truly matter to us. My earlier
despair arose from my sense of separation, of disconnectedness, of
isolation. As I rediscovered my sense of connection – to my
community, my world, the universe and my own true self – my despair,
loneliness and cynicism washed away. In its place I rediscovered
wonder, boundless joy, deep love and a sense of optimism that was
simply inconceivable a couple of years ago. Each path I have
explored has revealed its kernel of truth and has given up a nugget of
value. Deep Ecology, pantheism, Taoism, Zen and other forms of
Buddhism, shamanism and Earth worship, the mystic experiential cores of
Christianity, Judaism, Islam and Hinduism, the free-form spiritual
experimentation of New Age thought, Tantra, Theosophy – the list goes
on and on. While I am still
at the very beginning of this extraordinary journey, one idea has taken
root in me. It's an idea that I see expressed in different forms
in virtually all of these streams, and it's very simple: The reality
we experience exists because
of its connections. Everything is connected, ultimately, to
everything else. This applies to physical things like quarks,
galaxies, plants and animals, as well as to non-physical things like
ideas, social structures, actions, intentions and our inner Self. Distilled
down as far as possible, this
idea becomes: "A
single connection is the quantum unit of the sacred."
As I travel though
this new land, I've come to realize that our consciousness and
awareness determine the nature of the world we build from all those
inward projections of the outer world. The old maxim "Know
Thyself" has never been more urgent. The spreading "Gaian
antibody" movement of environmental and social groups that I've
described in various articles, along with the
world-wide explosion of spiritual awakenings like mine are evidence
that this sense of urgency is being felt by millions upon millions of
people. In their own way each one is answering a call, and I have
joined this rising tide. I wish you joy, I
wish you love, I wish you success in your chosen path. But most
of all I wish you Grace – that boundless, soundless shout of joy
through
which the universe answers us back. Bodhisantra This
web site is dedicated to my
partner, lover, teacher, guide and soul-mate Estelle, who showed me
that awakening to
the true state of our world can only happen when we awaken to
the true state of our selves. We can heal the outer
world
only by healing our inner world.  |
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Abandon Hope, All Ye
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