Taking New Paths

Changing the World Starts by Changing Within

Photo by Geoffrey Deihl

Every one of us has moments in life where we have the opportunity or are forced by circumstances to take a new path. Those moments when we have to change or adjust our expectations are unnerving and require difficult work. We love when life seems stable and predictable, but in reality we and the world are changing continuously, subtlety and slowly at times and suddenly and jarringly at others.

From the day we are born we are trying to figure out the world and our place in it. Our ability to find that place is uneven, deeply affected by examples in our formative years, the world at large and our own unique powers and inadequacies.

So much that should be simple is bewilderingly hidden.

Some people in this world are born into circumstances of poverty and violence I can barely comprehend. Others are born into advantages they haven’t earned. There is no single reality, but rather a unique reality for every individual on this planet. What we have in common however, is the work we need to do to become more.

Some cultures emphasize spirituality and connection. Some cultures emphasize materialism and consumption. Some cultures are conquerors. Some cultures are victims.

We have reached the tipping point of our uneven behavior.

This has been an exciting, amazing journey. In just five or six thousand years we have gone from a tiny population of hunting and gathering tribes to the most dominant species on the planet. We’ve gone from being nothing to being able to leave the earth and unravel genetics. Our accomplishments are worth celebrating. However, socially we live in the same primitive way we did before we understood how to make fire. Although our intellectual capabilities have grown, we are prone to hatred and violence that has marked us from the beginning. The archeological evidence for this behavior is overwhelming and the news brings us mass shootings, rape, torture and genocides and every day.

This is evidence of a collective psychosis. Society is sick from economic disparity and increasing isolation created by technological “advances” we don’t ask for. Technology moves too fast and leaves us behind. A small, powerful few with insatiable greed drive our stress through division for profit. We must see through the fake world they have created and reduce our participation until we change it. It’s within our power, because average people are the vast majority.

We are killing the planet. We cannot look away. We cannot pretend this isn’t happening. We can’t completely reverse the destruction, but we can slow and save much of what’s left. We can heal the earth and heal ourselves by doing so. We can live more wisely and happily. We can leave an earth to future generations that will provide for hundreds of thousands, or perhaps tens of millions of years. Our common need for a healthy planet can define our goals. Working together can reduce our primitive competition mindset and forge a path of connection and cooperation. We have opportunities every day to affect change for the better particularly right now with the holiday season approaching.

There is much in the news lately about supply chain disruptions. This month at the Port of Los Angeles 80 cargo ships have been anchored at sea and 64 berthed at ports unable to unload their goods for weeks. The ships carry nearly 500,000 freight containers holding around 12 million metric tons. One of those ships dragged an anchor over an oil pipeline causing the most recent devastating California oil spill. The goods in those containers were produced as all goods are through gouging holes in the earth, leveling forests and creating water and air pollution. Most of these items were produced by exploited workers who are too poor to afford what they’re making. Most of what’s on those ships will end up in landfills in a matter of years. The economists however, are worried about the effect it will have on Christmas shopping, as if that’s all that matters in this world.

We know Christmas wasn’t originally about consumption. It’s been twisted by decades of marketing. Marketing trained us to believe it’s fun to spend money we don’t have on items we don’t need. It’s been turned into a guilt ridden status competition by people who hold money and power with a sociopathic need for more, to wit those slick ads for Mercedes Benz and Lexus cars at the holidays as if all of us have $100,000 lying about. It sends the wrong message to our children. This is indeed the most wonderful time of the year to send our own message to those who destroy the earth and our mental health. Thoughtful, sustainable gifts for those closest to you are great choices, for instance artwork or jewelry made by a real person (no mass manufactured blood diamond pendants please), antique items made long ago (they don’t contribute to manufacturing and pollution) and donations in the names of the ones we love to myriad worthy charitable and environmental organizations that reflect the true spirit of the holidays.

Our political leadership is wealthy, mostly out of touch and corrupted by corporate money. We absolutely need to vote, now more than ever, but it’s obvious our political system is broken. We can’t depend on it to do the right thing (too often it does the exact opposite) and must find other paths to affect change. The most powerful alternative path is our money.

Voting with our dollars is power. Boycotting is power. Organizing our friends and neighbors is power. Corporations will notice when we stop buying their soulless merchandise. We’ve had time during this pandemic (which was likely caused by the mass consumption of industrialized agriculture) to reconsider what it is to live our short, precious lives on this tiny, precious planet. Changing the world starts by changing within. Unabated consumption has to stop. It will save our planet and our souls. Believe that and live by it.