Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
So, that’s it: ten tenets of what essentially is a sort of religion grounded in what we already know, humbly admitting that we won’t know it all, accepting the wisdom of the gods of evolution, and tucking back into the community of life for the enduring benefit of all life. Maybe I’ll see you in church—the Church of Life.
The education of older generations, including my own, has not prepared most faculty to hold these harsh truths and process these heavy emotions in generative ways, and thus, the education we offer our students is not preparing them to do so either.
Diverse movements such as the environmental, racial justice, LGBTQ+ rights, and women’s empowerment movements require a unifying framework: a comprehensive partnership approach, recognizing our interconnection with one another and the natural world.
This is what the Great Unraveling will look like as it continues to emerge, unrelated phenomena synchronising to exacerbate each other.
As the Great Unraveling continues apace, the need for radical change will become more apparent, causing more and more people to seek out alternatives. At that point, the winds of change will be blowing at our backs.
But as each climate disaster brings our current system closer to collapse, we have an overriding obligation to future generations, and to life itself, to shine a directional beacon through the darkness of our times to a potentially brighter future—and to help lay down a trail toward it.
As we navigate the path ahead of us, there’s a long list of goals and tasks on our list to strengthen our community, support our friends and neighbors, and create a thriving space where our crops and the people around us can flourish and benefit from the resilience we are contributing.
There is an end to this culture of self-harm. It will not be comfortable, I’m sure. But it will not be an end of the world.
I celebrate the fact that I am no more than “stuff,” as I’m not just any pile of atoms, but a unique one capable of experiencing emotion, enjoyment, love, awe, and all the rest. I get to revel in a marvelous world of other unique creatures.
Paradigm shift means a deep change in the values, beliefs, goals and function of an existing system.
In this Frankly, Nate follows up the recent Reality Roundtable on poverty with a wider perspective on the different types of “wealth” in our society that go beyond the material.
I asked Cara what the group’s shift to a focus on young people had brought to the group. She said: “It helped us to view every aspect of the town from a young person’s perspective. Taking an approach focused on integrating their needs opened up many new doors and generated more interest in what we do.”
