We're overdue for a
collective shift toward a more just, cooperative and ecologically
sustainable culture.
If not now, when?
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Step 2:
Look Around
* ASSESS THE SITUATION RIGHT WHERE YOU LIVE *
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Break it down: What does your life look like - day to day - on the most basic, fundamental levels?
* Is your food delicious and nourishing, or mostly empty calories?
* How far away does your food come from?
* How is it grown and processed?
* Is it grown with an abundance of pesticides and chemical fertilizers that leach into the watersheds? * * Do you enjoy your meals or rush through them distractedly?
* Are you glad to be alive?
* Do you feel loved and supported?
* Is your work meaningful and satisfying ?
* Are your children and grandchildren growing up with a sense of integrity and wonder ?
* How's your overall health?* How energy efficient is your lifestyle?
* How much gas do you use in a week, to drive to work and do your errands, etc ?
* How much energy does it take to heat/cool your house? * What's your footprint on the planet?
* How much garbage do you generate in a week ?
* Where does your sewage and trash go once it leaves your house?
* How about the air you breathe - is it safe?
* How's the quality of the water you're drinking?
* Where does it come from?
* Can you describe its path from precipitation to your tap?
* What's the biggest source of pollution where you live?Want to find out who the major polluters are in your state or county? I highly recommend checking out The Right-To-Know Network.
or try: http://scorecard.goodguide.com/
* Do you know your bioregion?
* Can you name the primary native species in your area? ... the indigenous trees and plants, birds and bugs and other critters that live all around you?* How are these local plants and animals fairing?
* Are their numbers in decline, stable or on the increase?
These are the basic sort of things we should be looking at, and attending to, responding to - here and now, with the necessary and appropriate changes.
If we're not getting the basics right, then literally everything else is messed up to one degree or another. It's all intertwined.
Yes, our most basic day-to-day lifestyle choices are our real world politics.
Unfortunately we're making choices that pollute the world,
and require the use of vast natural resources from other countries that aren't ours to exploit.
But please, let me acknowledge here...
HOW VERY DIFFICULT IT IS TO SORT THIS OUT
AND MAKE GOOD INFORMED CHOICES !
* Because we're born into a culture based on profit and ruthless competition.
* Because our enormous and complex infrastructure requires massive inputs of energy. (Our homes, offices, stores, cars, roadways ... everything 's been super-sized.)
* Because we've become divorced from nature.
* Because, our nation is in the grips of an unholy alliance of power mongers....
Corporate / Political / Media / Religious honchos,
who consciously work together to tweak and alter our personal and societal values.
War is Peace.
Black is White.
Shopping is Patriotic.An unprecedented amount of time, money and energy is pumped into turning us into unquestioning, complacent cogs in the wheel. We are indoctrinated from birth onward with the idea that we are here to buy the latest, greatest toys, cars and doodads.... shop til you drop.
...it's woven into every fiber of our culture.
We are all, to one degree or another, enthralled and intertwined with this
mega-super-high energy-entertainment-capitalist-consumer lifestyle.So much of the media and advertising we're exposed to is a form of propaganda, designed to make us good little consumers / good little citizens.
And today, more than ever, it's delivered with a wink and a nod that appeals to our desire....
....to be COOL, to be HIP, to be on the CUTTING EDGE.
__________________________________________________________________________________I recommend checking out the award winning 2002 BBC documentary - "The Century of the Self"
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/the-century-of-the-self/
Learn about Edward Bernays.
He was an early proponent of propaganda, the "engineering of consent".
He crafted the "necessary illusions" to help keep the "dangerous and irrational" masses under control.
Bernays was a literal mastermind, who worked with politicians and corporate heads to craft modern cultural beliefs. He used his uncle Sigmund Freud's understanding of the unconscious, to shape public opinion in support of World War I, and to create brand loyalty.According to Brenays, the choices available in the polling booth are akin to those at the department store; both should consist of a limited set of offerings that are carefully determined by what he called an "invisible government" of public-relations experts and advertisers working on behalf of business leaders. (Jeffrey Kaplan in May/June 2008 issue of Orion)
Fortunately, our awareness of the way media constantly shapes us, helps us to throw off its shackles.
Unplug
Divest Yourself from this Out of Control Juggernaut.
Because really, what does it matter if you have the latest high definition TV, if your energy is drained by the toxic formaldehyde that's off-gassing from the carpets and furniture in your home and office ?
So what if we're free to choose from a hundred different sugary breakfast cereals, if their daily consumption leads to tooth decay and type 2 diabetes?
It's what our hearts want.
It's what nature needs from us, if we're going to continue living here on Earth,
.... and I know of no better Planet out there in the Universe . Do you?
Let's take care of this one.
Let's live our day to day lives as if it all matters, because it does.
On a macro scale....on a micro scale......just how are we fairing on this beautiful planet?
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"The most fundamental aggression to ourselves, the most fundamental harm we can do to ourselves, is to remain ignorant by not having the courage and the respect to look at ourselves honestly and gently."
Pema Chodron - N. American Buddhist nun
"No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it." - Albert Einstein -
Naturally Peaceful by Janine Offutt is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.