The parable of Easter Island
When I was in South America, one place I missed was Easter Island. If you want to go here I believe flying LAN Chile is the way to go as they give you a free stop over if you’re flying from Australia. We flew Aerolinias Argentinas (one thing I hope to NEVER do again) and instead I got to see New Zealand Airport. You live and learn… Moving on… I want to tell you why Easter Island interested me so much.
Easter Island, or Rapa Nui (the native name), was discovered by a Dutch ship on Easter Sunday in 1722 inhabited by around 3,000 people in war over scarce food resources and surrounded by over 600 of the six-meter high stone statues (that occupy every photo and postcard that leaves the island).
How did it get like this? Well the first settlement on the island was by probably one boatload of 20-30 people 1,500 years ago, but as populations increased and became separate villages, competition arose in the form of ‘a recognizably modern form: competitive monument building.’[1]
Building and transporting the statues involved chopping down trees and more and more trees were cut down until they were all gone ‘quite suddenly, the society collapsed’ as without wood they ‘could no longer fish, make cloth, or build houses, so their diets became impoverished… [and] deforestation also led to erosion, reducing soil fertility and crop yields…’ so basically ‘population growth and increasing consumption of resources, driven by political and economic competition, led to sudden environmental and social collapse.’[1]
As David Christian notes, ‘the most horrifying aspect of this story is that the islanders and their leaders must have seen it coming. They must have known as they felled the last trees that they were destroying their own future and that of their children. And yet they cut the trees down.’[1]
What do you think: ‘Does Rapa Nui provide an appropriate parable for thinking about the larger trajectory of human history?’[1]
References:
[1] David Christian, Maps of Time. pp. 472-475. David sourced this story from Clive Pointing in Green History of the World (1992)
Top picture:
Moai at Rano Raraku |Source = from en:Image:Moai Rano raraku.jpg taken during January 2004
Second picture:
Photo made by de:Benutzer:Makemake and uploaded by him on 18. Dec 2004
Both pictures are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 License. In short: you are free to share and make derivative works of the file under the conditions that you appropriately attribute it, and that you distribute it only under a license identical to this one. Official license
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POTENTIALISM
“We got greedy in the 1980s, grungy in the ’90s and geeky in the noughties. This decade, we’re eager to explore our potential.” [1]
On my flight home from Melbourne I read an article that excited me. It was called “Meet the Potentialists”. A movement I suppose we could label “Potentialism” is very much in line with what the approach to life I labeled “Creativism” – a life based on discovering and fulfilling one’s creative potential. I think potentialist and potentialism is probably better terminology than creativist and creativism – it’s broader and less close to “creationism”, bit less confusing. What do you think?
(To see entry “Creativism: a Philosophy of Life”, click here)
According to social researcher Mark McCrindle, “The ’90s were about buying bigger, better and more, and then it all ended with a crash… as a result, one in five Australians have decided to use the downturn as a catalyst to reorient their lives.” ONE IN FIVE! That’s a pretty good start!!! “Working from home is one of the key drivers of what we call the ‘hobby-preneurs,” said Mark McCrindle. “Turning a hobby into a business is a way of having it all – of fulfilling your potential and turning something you really enjoy doing into an income earner.” Potentialists are men and women, of all ages and incomes (although I must note Sydney ranked fourth after Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane – come on guys, pick up your act!) still that’s pretty incredible! [2]
Australia isn’t alone in this trend. A quick google searched identified Canadians as movers and shakers too. A survey showed that more than a third of Canadians (38%) actively have a Potential List, and nearly everyone in this group (94%) predicts they will accomplish all or some of the goals they have set out for themselves.’ (A “Potential List” is like a dream board.) “Topping the items included in Canadians’ Potential Lists are travel (77%), philanthropy (41%), learn a new language (32%) and living in a different country (32%) – all activities that align with priorities previously identified by Potentialists to actively live an enriching life.” [3]
I couldn’t find a definition so I thought I’d make up my own:
A “potentialist” is an alchemist of potential – someone who strives to achieve their mental, physical and spiritual potential.
And I’m going start a little Potentialism Blog Series based on some writings I did a couple of years ago when I started the search of my own potential (a search which is obviously still under way). I don’t know, but maybe it will help all you potentialists or potential-potentialists out there as you look for ways to realize your own potential.
Picture:
My mum and my friend looking at my artworks that I am both inside and (sort-of) behind the lens of (I framed the shot but obviously I couldn’t hit the button) that are on display in the Manning Building at Sydney Uni. I still get quite a buzz out of the fact that at school I was the non-creative pimple-faced mathematical/business-minded nerd and now I am on the path to discovering my true potential.
References:
[1] Virgin Blue (April 2010) pp. 34-38.
[2] Deborah Robinson, Australians leading the way in a return to Global Financial Optimism (November 2009) URL: http://www.australianwomenonline.com/australians-leading-the-way-in-a-return-to-global-financial-optimism/
[3] ‘Potentialist’ Group On The Rise As Canadian Optimism Improves’ URL:
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/March2010/02/c5872.html
Based on online survey by Angus Reid Public Opinion on behalf of American Express January 21-25 2010.
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Buddha’s charter of free inquiry
From the Kalama Sutta:
Do not accept anything on mere hearsay (ie oral history/ just because many people believe it)
Do not accept anything by mere tradition (ie just because it has been handed down generation to generation)
Do not accept anything on account of rumours (ie new stories / what others say)
Do not accept anything just because it accords with your scriptures (ie holy books or official texts)
Do not accept anything by mere inference (ie suppositional reasoning / axiom)
Do not accept anything by merely considering the appearances (ie philosophical reasoning)
Do not accept anything merely because it agrees with your preconceived notions (ie common sense)
Do not accept anything merely because it seems acceptable (ie your own opinion)
Do not accept anything linking that the ascetic is respected; by us (ie authorities and teachers)
But only after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept and abide by it.
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Strange looking animals
So I’m still writing my book – the novel on South America – well, I’m editing it. It’s a tough. I like writing, but not a big fan of editing and filling in the gaps. Does anyone knows a good editor? Anyway, while searching for the name of a strange animal I came across while traveling along Ruta 40 – a 36 hour bus ride – down Argentina. Yes, you heard me right – THIRTY SIX HOURS ON A BUS. Along the way I met a what I now know is called a Pink Fairy Armadillo – which looks like a bit like an echidna, just without the spikes. (photo above).
While googling “echidna-like animals in Argentina” I also came across this Worlds Strangest Looking Animals website. These were a couple of them:
Elephant Shrew
http://www.sharenator.com/Worlds_strangest_looking_animals/
I wonder if an elephant began as an elephant shrew? Richard Dawkins’ The Ancestors Tale tells how humans evolved from shrew-like creatures. Did you know whales are related to pigs? I’ll tell you more about that later. What a weird and wonderful world this is…
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Redefining the “good life”
There is plenty of evidence that ‘the work-dominated and materially encumbered affluence of today is not giving us enjoyable lives, and that switching to a more sustainable society in which we work and produce less would actually make us happier’:
- the ‘stress, congestion, ill-health, noise and waste that come with our “high” standard of living.’
- the ‘rates of occupational ill-health and depression have been shown to be linked to the number of hours we work
All in all they have shown that ‘once a certain level of income is reached further wealth does not correlated with increased happiness.’
You can probably tell from the last few blog entries that my happiness (although still caught up in many societal-determined aspirations) it isn’t caught up in material wealth. I do not believe wealth equals happiness. And so you may ask: what is it that actually makes me happy? I feel at my happiest when I am dedicating my time to something I feel is worthwhile. It may be writing, reading, helping someone, traveling, exercising, cooking, spending time with family or friends – whatever it is, my happiness seems to be inseparable from (my perception of) the worthiness of those things to which I am spend my most valuable (and limited) asset.
One way we can increase the happiness in our own lives, and decreasing the damage we are causing to lives in developing countries and our environment, is to reflect on our conception of “the good life” and make sure it really is guiding us toward a life we desire. A redefinition of the “good life” would focus on the quality of life rather than quantity of “things”. It would begin by addressing the “time poverty” so often experienced in western society.
We would begin by decreasing our work hours, which would lower our incomes but would also mean less stress and less strain on relationships, less commuting, and would allow us to be rich in something else: time.
Photo:
Snapped in Bolivia on the Uyuni Salt Lakes. It was even more magic than it looks.
References:
Kate Soper, ‘The Good Life’, New Scientist (18 Oct 2008). p. 54. Soper is based at London Metropolitan University, specialising in the theory of needs and consumption, and environmental philosophy, author of What is Nature? Culture, politics and the non-human. Also see: Cultures of Consumption Project at www.consume.bbk.ac.uk)
‘How We Kicked out Addiction to Growth’, New Scientist (October 2008). p. 53.
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Happiness and relativity
Yesterday I had a bit of a rant about the money people earn and spend in the world I live in comparison to the money people earn and spend in the developing world. Here people work around 8-10 hours a day, 5-6 days a week behind a desk (by one’s own choice) and spend their income on clothes and chocolate and cars and properties and parties and holidays. There people spend 12-14 hours a day, 7 days a week behind a sewing machine or picking cocoa beans (no choice) just to put basic food on the table and hope their children can have some form of education so that they can enter our rat race too. We really have set up a horrible system that makes economic slaves of everyone… is it making anyone happy?
Sure nice cars, boats, holidays, parties etc are pretty awesome and fun. But are they making us happy? Why is the suicide rate so high in our “rich” world? Does the couple of weeks of skiing make up for the other 48 weeks spent doing a job we don’t really enjoy, that feeds the system’s ugly poverty/environmental consequences, and that leaves us too tired to do much else other than get pissed on the weekend and try to forget… is that happiness??? Does the result actually justify the means?
And when we get that car or have that holiday, does it actually bring us the happiness we expect it to? What about one month later when our friends tell us their buying an even better car than ours, or going on an even better holiday? Then are we jealous and resentful? How long does the happiness gained from materialistic pursuits actually last?
Psychologists and economists have found that the ‘correlation between absolute income and happiness extends only to a certain threshold’ – after that, it’s only our status relative to peers that determines how happy people see themselves.[1]
Buying an expensive car brings with it a message of status. It tells people whose opinions you care about, and it sends a message to yourself, that says “I am worthy”. But without that car we are obviously still worthy. I wonder where our lack of self-worth comes from? Why do we feel we need to compete and be seen by others as this or that?
I guess a perception of self-worth goes further than just material wealth. The relativity of self. We can only judge ourselves as relative to everyone else: How does our body shape compare to others? How about our eyes, our face structure, our skin? Our intelligence? Our creativity? We are constantly judging ourselves – where we sit compared to the people that surround us.
We are all beautiful, we are all special, we are all worthy. I believe this and yet I still find myself victim to the self imposed oppression that comes from societal superficiality’s. Why do I question myself?
Why do we feel a need to justify our worth, and have others confirm it? Where does this need for external (and sometimes the internalised need) for external justification come from? And how can we transcend it?
Photo credits:
Photographer: Gilbert Rossi
Styling: Erin Blick
References:
[1] ‘How We Kicked out Addiction to Growth’, New Scientist (October 2008). p. 53.
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Small talk. How will we be remembered?
‘What do you think our generation will be remembered for?’ a friend said at dinner.
‘The generation who ruined the planet for everyone.’ I replied without a thought.
‘I was thinking more about what architecture style or something… but….’
Oops. Yep – I’m great at small talk.
Did I really believe it, those words that came out of my mouth? I thought I was optimistic about our future. I thought I believed we were really going to change things. I think for the most part I do, it’s just the small cynic inside of me that doubts. And when I see the lifestyles people around me, and the lifestyle I myself live, I do start to wonder if this actually can change.
I spent $70 on a lunch yesterday. On ONE LUNCH FOR ONE PERSON. No one else on the table blinked. Do you know how many people that could feed for a week? Well if a third of the world are living on less than a dollar a day, that could finance not one meal, but A DAY’S WORTH OF FOOD, WATER, SHELTER, MEDICINE etc FOR SEVENTY PEOPLE. It was a nice lunch, but does that justify it?
All money is connected to poverty. We buy raw materials from the developing world for pittance, and process and trade it (or trade paper that represents it) to make millions. Whether we earn our money through accounting, banking, stock markets, blah blah blah – the money is dirty because the core elements of all our products are produced through the economic slavery of people in developing countries. In order to address this issue, the system needs to change, and the system will change with the people benefiting from the system (ie people like me) want the system to change, and are happy to forgo our luxurious lifestyles and earn money that has the same buying power as the money earned by cocoa bean pickers and cotton producers.
But in a world where people spend $20,000+ on ONE PARTY (my sister is getting married), $100,000+ on ONE CAR (believe it or not, my Dad), or $70 on ONE LUNCH (me) – and where such consumption habits are the cause of poverty and the destruction of our environment – I have to wonder: CAN WE REALLY CHANGE?
Photo:
I took this in Lima – those colourful houses in the distance are a slum where thousands of people live in extreme poverty.
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Free Documentaries: The Truth Is Free
Bored? Never! Check out this website: http://freedocumentaries.org/index.php
In particular I recommend:
Manufacturing Consent – Noam Chomsky … if you haven’t seen this one you better watch it NOW!
The War on Democracy – The US manipulates politics of South America
The Power of Nightmares – The rise of the Religious Right in America, and Islamic Fundamentalists.
Jesus Camp – SCARY!
The Story of God – explores the history of humanity’s search for our creator.
Zeitgeist – as I mentioned yesterday – a must see.
The Corporation – Damn corporations.
The 11th Hour – Leonardo Dicaprio carries on from “inconvenient” message Al Gore shared with us.
And I’m sure heaps more are great. Check it out!!!
Photo credit:
I sneakily snapped this photo in a museum in Peru or Ecuador (no cameras allowed) – they are little Inca statues in erotic positions… You can actually buy packs of cards that each have a picture of a different statue in a different tantric-sex-like pose. I bought some as a gift, now wish I had them to show hehehe funny stuff. How fun is exploring different cultures! I wonder what India has in store for me next month…. okay, I gotta stop yabbering. Enjoy your weekend!
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The Spirit of the Times (Zeitgeist)
In the hidden-away tranquility beneath the branches of large shadowy trees, in the Secret Garden hostel in a mysterious little town called Vilcabamba, in Ecuador December 2008, I met a man with white hair and a white beard. It was from this man that I first learned of the Zeitgeist…
The word “Zeitgeist” comes from the German word Zeit, which means time, and Geist, which means spirit.
So basically Zeitgeist means the “spirit of the times” and according to wikipedia this means the “general cultural, intellectual, ethical, spiritual, and/or political climate within a nation or even specific groups, along with the general ambience, morals, and sociocultural direction or mood of an era (similar to the English word mainstream or trend).”
The first part of the first movie (entitled The Greatest Story Ever Told) looks at religion, describes the worship of the Sun, the anthropomorphism of astrological constellations, of an ancient and ongoing battle between Horus and Set, or Light and Darkness, with each morning Horus winning and providing us warmth and vision, and Set conquering as our nights set in. The celebration of the birth of the Sun would occur on the Winter equinox (the 25th of December), where from then on the days would get longer.
The second part (entitled All The World’s a Stage) looks at the theory that September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center were an inside job.
Part 3 (entitled Don’t Mind the Men Behind the Curtain) looks at the waging of war for the economic gain of international bankers.
The sequel to the movie is called Zeitgeist: Addendum explains “fractional reserve banking”, shows how debt makes us economic slaves that must submit to employment in order to live. How’s this for a quote:
“Physical slavery requires people to be housed and fed. Economic slavery requires people to feed and house themselves.”
A confronting lens from which to interpret reality, isn’t it.
The second part of the sequel is mainly interviews with John Perkins, the ex-CIA economic hit man and the author of “Confessions of an Economic Hit Man”, a New York Times best seller that is now also a film). Perkins writes:
Economic hit men (EHMs) are highly-paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars. They funnel money from the World Bank, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and other foreign “aid” organizations into the coffers of huge corporations and the pockets of a few wealthy families who control the planet’s natural resources.
The final part of the Zeitgeist sequel leaves some points of hope, with futurist Jacque Fresco providing a vision of a “resource-based economy” based on abundance rather than the current monetary-based economy based on scarcity. The vision is known as The Venus Project, and it involves the use of magnetic and geotechnologies that have allegedly been suppressed for political and monetary gains that could help us adapt to environmentally friendly and sustainable lifestyles. These technologies sound fantastic, but they need more research and development and hence more funding, which the capitalist system prevents them getting as it gives preference to policies like carbon tax which bandaid a solution rather than looking to solve the actual cause. I don’t know if all that is said is possible, but it’s refreshing and powerful to visualise and imagine.
The last part of this movie turns to our society’s values, oppressive laws, and irrelevant superstitions, and points to a collective ignorance that leads it.
The films have been criticised for containing material that is partially true, and some that is complete bogus, used mainly to ‘maximize an emotional response at the expense of reasoned argument’ which as a result undermines ‘legitimate questions about what happened on 9/11, and about corruption in religious and financial organizations.’[1]
Still even if some details are added for emotional oomph, it seems to me that the core issues they discuss are real issues. They may not have referenced all of their sources but finding sources to support the gist of what they talk about is not hard to find. This documentary is available for free online and is absolutely worth watching, as long as all it’s details are not taken as gospel.
http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/
The core messages in the film are strong, I think it does a good job to capture the spirit of our times, and provide at least some direction and vision as to where we are going. It is for sure that humanity together must seek the emergent and the symbiotic. Throughout history people have desired to fit and uphold the norm, otherwise they are ostracized by their society. But the perpetuation of a closed worldview is not positive for society. It is destructive. Fundamentalist religions are psychologically distorting the idea of faith. The new is ignored in favor of outdated beliefs. We misinterpret myths as literal events. Consider the paradigm shifts of the last two millennia: heliocentric to geocentric and beyond. What we know today was unimaginable 2000 years ago. To be proven wrong should be celebrated. Fluid perpetual change must be embraced. There is no such thing as static knowledge. Nothing is ever static.
We have to stay open to new information at all times; even if challenges our present beliefs.
When the pupil is ready, a teacher will show up. Read a Zen proverb on a gift card in a little art shop in a small Vilcamamban street. It is overwhelming to consider the problems of our worldwide system and their deep historic roots. But what matters is not how we can change the world, but how we can change ourselves. It starts with being ready to learn. I am ready.
And on that note, guess what teacher is showing up in town (my town, ie Sydney)???… JACQUE FRESCO!!! Next Friday the 23rd April 2010, for the Venus Project World Lecture Tour. He’s speaking at my uni – Sydney University - and tickets are open, just under $30, and available here … I hope to see you there!
[1] ^ Chapman, Jane (2009). Documentary in Practice: Filmmakers and Production Choices. Polity Press. p. 171–173.
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An Aristocratic Future
‘If a single phrase could encapsulate society in 2015 it would be “more difference and starker differences”.
Those differences will be between individuals and households: those with high skill levels and those without; those with property-related inherited wealth and those without; those who are fit and healthy and those who are not; those in traditional households and those who are not.
There will be differences between communities: those that are ethnically mixed and those that aren’t; those with access to employment opportunities that match the new global economy and those without; those that are casualties of environmental pressures and those successfully responding to them.’
Phil Swann in The Guardian, Wednesday 10 May 2006
Full article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2006/may/10/guardiansocietysupplement.localgovernment1
It’s crazy to imagine the growth and speed of life continuing at this increasingly exponential pace. If Sydney prices keep rising as they are, which they probably will if the population continues to increase as it’s supposed to, then soon young people will NEVER be able to buy into the market. That means you either inherit property, or you rent for life. And I guess the more people who want to rent, the high the rents will be. And if income separation continues it we will simply see greater and greater division between the haves and the have-nots, even within our own society. Either your born wealthy, or you’re not. I’m not so up on the political lingo but isn’t that an aristocracy?
I guess one response to this would be to freak out, try to earn as much money as possible, and buy into the market while we still have a chance – “secure” a future for ourselves and our children. But then again, what happened to the aristocracies of the past? Doesn’t aristocracy lead to revolutions of proletarians and heads being chopped off? I need to read up on my history so don’t quote me on this one!
I do know that if we continue down the path we are going the planet won’t be habitable for that much longer. So I say screw it! I really don’t feel like becoming a stress pot with a mortgage – I’d rather live my life, enjoy the moments, and putting my efforts toward bigger futures than the securing of a couple of generations of property inheritance. I could spend my life aiming at owning a house and waste my life in the process. No one what’s going to happen in the future: currencies can be worthless overnight; countries can be invaded; heck, aliens or meteors may even be headed our way. Either way with population rates I doubt our lifeways are just going to potter along without much change. Change is our only certainty.
That being said when my book becomes a best-seller I might just buy a little apartment, or an island (with mango trees, a few wood-cabins, and not much else), and if ends up being the later then you’re all invited 
Picture Credits:
Melissa Smith
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Sex or chess? Peace, the world’s trump card
So yesterday I enjoyed a little rant about the game our governments, supported by the people’s consumer-driven values, are playing with military pawns, strategically placed towers, and other oil-powered weaponry. We established the difficulty in knowing what sources we can trust, but decided that either way whatever moral and immoral tactics the governments are using with their present day “war of wants”, it is the westerners that gain the lifestyle benefits of cheap clothes and food and transport and travel. I am absolutely a beneficiary of this, and I must say I’m glad to be on my side of the fence. But we also established that our state of being is temporary. One day, if we keep playing this zero-sum game, someone else will be the winner and we will be the losers. I left you with a hint of hope: is there another way?
I believe there is a trump card. And that trump card is PEACE.
Ok, ok, don’t close down your browser just yet. I know it’s cliché. And I’m getting to the sex bit.
I think that there’s a difference lifestyle and world system out there that is more satisfying for each of us both mentally, physically and spiritually. What I am talking about is a world system not based on consumption and capital acquisition and an excessive usage of our world’s resources. It’s NOT based on competition, win-lose, on war and violence. What I’m talking about is a PARADIGM SHIFT. A change of game.
A shift from win-lose to win-win; a shift from competition to cooperation; a shift from a world based on limited supply to a world based on infinite creativity. It is crazy that people in the developing world die from hunger while people in the developed world die from obesity. One party has too much, the other has too little. Over the last couple of hundred years or so we have quite ironically and erratically set ourselves up in a lose-lose situation.
It is ridiculous that people in the developed world suffer from self-imposed stress-related illness and depression, and the developing world suffer from lack of self-determination that comes as a consequence of our material and superficial values. They work 17-hour days behind a sewing machine to provide us with more clothes we do not need. They work 17-hour days producing wheat and sugar, to create more unhealthy “foods” to make us fat. WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON HERE?
There are hundreds of ways that this absurd system can be fixed. And everyone has a part to play.
Governments: shift the billions of dollars from defence budgets, stop filling up your troops with McDonalds style BBQ foods, and invest in addressing the roots of the conflicts – invest in sustainable cradle-to-cradle designs of products, houses and transport facilities. Be transparent. Create a true democracy.
Voters: vote for governments who put their money where there mouth is, that support the long-term future of humanity. Write letters to your representatives, tell them what you want.
Consumers: spend the extra on the products and services that are sustainable and buy less of the products that are not. Buy fair trade where you can. Write letters to companies and tell them what you want.
Shareholders: you are accountable for your investments. Your money has a consequence not only on the profit you receive in your profit, but also on the social and environment and political situation of your country, of the countries involved in the trade process – which will have an affect on you and your children. Tell the CEOs and MDs of the companies you are invested in what you want them to do with that money.
Bank account holders: your money you put in the bank is then invested in shares – so find out where your money is and make sure your bank knows your values.
Business decision makers: look at the outcome of your company’s actions and your decisions – not only in terms of profit for shareholders, but in terms of people and our planet. Where are your Inputs coming from? Where, after purchase and consumptions, are the remnants of your Outputs (including packaging) being disposed of? How could your product be designed better, so that it’s materials can be not only recycled but are “up-cycled” and used infinitely in the biological and industrial metabolisms? The aim is ZERO waste.[1]
Rich people: did you know that the 225 richest people in the world could provide the $40 billion needed to create a world where everyone has access to food, shelter, education, safe water, sanitation and healthcare [2]? So get off your ass and encourage mates to do so too. Invest in “social businesses” aimed purely at achieving a social or ecological objective. Your money alone can change the world!!!
Workers: look at the company you work for – what product are they creating? Is it good for the environment? Good for people? Where do they get their inputs? What toll does this have on people and the planet? Communicate your thoughts with your bosses. Think creatively – how can things be improved?
Media: try to report more than just the violence – tell people about the peace movements, give people the biggest picture you can get. I know it’s tough given your limited sources.
Basically we must THINK GLOBAL ACT LOCAL. We each can make a difference and together we can change the world.
Imagine if we can shift from looking at the world as game of chess, to seeing it more like, hmmm, more like SEX…
Imagine if the world was a place of making love – a game where there are only winners, and there are no losers. A game where each party feels more pleasure, the more pleasure they provide to the other. A game where energy is created, and not taken away. A game where the happiness and joy and creativity is infinite. A game of utter satisfaction and never-ending joy and happiness. And with no ecological footprint. Now that’s my kind of world.
Did my peace card trump your defense card? DOES SEX TRUMP CHESS? Is it time to change the game?
References:
[1] William McDonough & Michael Braungart (2002) Cradle To Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, North Point Press.
[2] L. Schirch (2002) “Human Rights and Peacebuilding: Towards Justpeace”. Paper presented to the 43rd Annual International Studies Association Convention, New Orleans, Louisiana, 24-27 March 2002.
Picture Credits:
Dormice® (click to see more of his incredible art) Sawan Yawnghwe - A very successful Canadian artist based in Panzano – Florence, Italy. My distant friend.
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The world is a game of chess
“War is like a chess game – operated by a few key people, everyone else doing what they are told.” “In war, who is the real enemy? The real enemy is war itself.” War is “preserving democracy, not practicing it.” Crimson Tide
I was talking with some army boys at a party on the weekend. You know, a casual debate about whether or not Saddam Hussain and Osama Bin Laden were once on the CIA payroll. Academic Scholarship vs Military Intelligence. Justice vs Defence. Peace vs Violence. It got just a little bit heated.
It’s crazy when you live in a world where you don’t know which source you can trust. My source was Jeffrey Sachs, a world-renowned professor from Columbia University in New York. Sachs says the US has:
‘thrown elections though secret CIA financing, put foreign leaders on CIA payrolls, and supported violent leaders who then came back to haunt the United States in a notorious boomerang or “blowback” effect (including Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden, both once on the CIA payroll).’[1]
Sach also summarises the historically ‘notorious acts of U.S. unilateralism’ including:
‘The CIA-led overthrows of several governments (Iran, Guyana, Guatemala, South Vietnam, Chile), the assassinations of countless foreign officials, and several disastrous unilateral acts of war (in Central America, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Iraq).‘[2]
But hey, I suppose even world-renowned scholars may not have access to the same kind of army intelligence… I guess there is no way to know… So much for democracy…
What I really got out of this conversation was a reminder of the widespread approach to world relations that is not unlike a massive game of chess. A couple of powerful humans move groups of humans and weapons in a zero-sum game where the winner gets the oil, power and the money, and the loser and loser’s pieces, become the winner’s slaves.
Thousands of American troops are placed on bases in all the pivotal positions around the world. Massive little American states with thousands of troops and their wives and children, complete with schools, churches and shopping malls. I visited a couple in Japan as my boyfriend at the time was playing gaijin rugby matches there. It was like a mini trip home besides the very disappointing discovery that an American BBQ is nothing like an Aussie one (think McDonald “beef” patties on white starchy buns)…
Oops I got side-tracked. Back to the chess game.
So what I realised (and somehow remembered through my hangover the next day), is that these military bases and weapons, are positioned and used to manipulate the world however those in power so desire. They can use weapons to block off a channel between two countries and prevent their trade. They can use weapons to overpower governments who do not cooperate with their requests. Weapons are power. Money is power. And at the moment the power is on our side.
When looking at the world through a defense-oriented lens it is hard to imagine a world not dominated by subjugation and violence. It’s America’s turn to win a few games, with their pieces (including people in other western countries) the beneficiaries. Does it matter if Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden were on the CIA payroll (which really truly the academic world believes to be so)? Does it matter if our governments initiate wars solely to secure oil (and hence weapons and power) and other resources (including human labour)? Would we westerners want it any other way? You see, if our governments do not support these conflicts, our luxurious western lifestyles (complete with stressful jobs, debts, and the perpetual dissatisfaction that materialism and capital acquisition brings) will be under threat. Believe it or not it in a capitalist world it is the consumers and capital acquisitionists who hold the power (if you have a bank account and own a computer, this includes you) – so we must ask ourselves: WHAT DO WE WANT???
Or forget it. Never mind. It’s only the hardest question in the world to answer… maybe it’s better not to think about it.
Playing by the rules of this game, I can imagine that before long China will have improved their chess-playing skills and take over as champion, with America becoming loser and westerners the world’s new slaves. In a world based on power and violence, this is a zero-sum game with winners and losers. So enjoy either we enjoy it while we are on top and await the tables to turn, or??? … Maybe, just maybe, is it possible to change the rules of the game?
I think so, and I’m going to my thoughts on that with you tomorrow.
References:
[1] Jeffrey Sachs, Common Wealth : Economics for a Crowded Planet (London: Allen Lane, 2008). p. 12.
[2] Jeffrey Sachs, Common Wealth : Economics for a Crowded Planet (London: Allen Lane, 2008). pp. 11-12.
Picture credits:
Again one I found on my computer – if anyone knows it’s source please let me know.
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Big History Blog Series: Ch2 – Star Formation and Another Big Explosion
To recap, in our first chapter of this Big History Blog Series, we learned that the Big Bang theory is based on the observation that our universe is expanding and hence that it must have once been smaller. Winding back time we imagined the infinitesimally small point of singularity. At the point in time we can call the beginning of time, we went from nothing or a something that lays beyond our understanding, to the existence of quarks and the laws of gravity and electromagnetism. This combination caused quarks to explode and become protons and electrons. Protons and electrons in turn combined to make hydrogen and helium atoms.
In chapter two of the Story of Us, we will look at how we transformed from hydrogen and helium atoms, to bunch more types of elements that make up all the atomic matter and energy in our universe.
First let’s put atomic matter and energy in perspective.
You can see in the diagram above, that only 0.4% of our universe is atomic matter and atomic energy that comprises stars, planets, and lifeforms such as ourselves. Most of our universe is dark energy and dark matter, two hypothetical forms of energy and matter that are largely undetectable but are inferred from their gravitational effects and from the increasing rate of the universe’s expansion. (Basically, I gather, dark energy and dark matter are names given to the who-knows-what and the who-knows-how that permeates and permutes the incomprehensibly huge universe.)
Okay, so now that we know what tiny slice of the universe the rest of Our Story is located in, let us continue. How did we get from a point of singularity to the complexities we observe around us today?
The first step (about 200 years after the Big Bang) was the formation of stars, a creation we owe to gravity.
After millions of years of floating around in clouds hydrogen and helium, gravity pulled some clouds together. The huge clouds contracted and heated causing atoms inside to move faster and collide. Hydrogen atoms fused to create pure energy – creating massive atomic bombs – which became the first stars.
Again thanks to gravity, these stars collected into galaxies (like our Milky Way), which collected into “clusters” of galaxies, and the universe kept expanding and creating new clusters further apart, as it still continues to do today.
The second step in this process of increasing complexity was the appearance of new elements, like carbon and iron, to which we can thank the death of large stars.
When hydrogen atoms ran out the center of stars collapsed, temperatures escalated and now it was the helium atoms turn to fuse together to create elements up to iron, number twenty-six (ie it has twenty-six protons in its nucleus.)
The third step (probably within a billion years of the Big Bang) was the explosion of stars who had new elements floating around inside – a “supernova”.
Out of this ‘colossal explosion’ (as David Christian calls it), the supernova gave us another new sixty-six elements, giving us the periodic table (remember it from science class?) with ninety-two elements for the universe to now play with.
In sum, the elements from hydrogen to uraniumall our elements are made from different combinations of protons and electrons, which are all made up of quarks pulled together by gravity. These different combinations were created by the explosion of dying stars that contained elements from the death other stars that came from clouds of hydrogen and helium pulled together by gravity.
Where did the law of gravity come from? Who knows! But we should “thank God” that it did, because without law of gravity no-thing would exist.
And so, children of the stars, I bid you goodnight and leave you with this time-line. One billion years down, just thirteen billion years to go. Have a nice weekend!!!
References:
David Christian, This Fleeting World: A short history of humanity, Berkshire Publishing Group (Massachusetts 2008), pp. xx-xxi.
Picture credits:
Dark matter pie – pulled from wikimedia commons and which originally came from NASA online.
Periodic table – electrical resources.com (http://www.electrical-res.com/families-of-the-periodic-table/)
Cosmic time-line – I’m not sure where I got this, I found it in my old computer files, so if anyone knows its source please let me know.
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Dirty Cat Returns…
Yesterday morning’s crazy events almost repeated themselves that night.
The girl who sang dirty cat, was back. In a hat. No not really in a hat. I just added that. Okay…. moving on. So she was back, and drunk again. No screaming or glass shattering this time – just a slurred whining voice.
At around 11pm when I put my garbage outside I noticed two cops walk into our building. Oooo ho hoooo…
I don’t know who called them. It wasn’t me. Actually I am guessing it was the boy himself, not up for another night of Dirty Cat. And I’m glad he did. Neither was I.
I just thought I’d share so you know the end to yesterday’s sorrow-filled tale. We can all can rest peacefully knowing that the girl who sang Dirty Cat isn’t lying in a ditch somewhere.
I must admit I’m happy that the Dirty Cat won’t be back. In a hat. Ahhh, don’t start that again!
Extra Little Funny Thing:
So when I googled “dirty cat” to find a picture to header this with, I came across this youtube video. It made me laugh so I thought I’d share.
It’s not as dirty as it looks – apparently the cat is just sniffing. Hmmm…. still pretty dirty.
Picture Credit:
No idea – it’s just a friend and I at a “Feline” theme house warming party. So I guess we are kind of dirty cats.
A Personal Note:
I’ll try to make my next post something a little more worthwhile than the last couple. I think it’s about time I do the Big History Series Blog Entry #2.
Although… they do say laughter is the best medicine, so maybe it’s good putting things like this in the mix?
Please let me know if you would like hear more or less of the funny little random stories like this…
And please become a “facebook fan” of this blog if you are not already – click here to go to the facebook page “Juliet Bennett’s Blog”
I really appreciate feedback – it keeps me motivated to keep on blogging and helps me blog on the topics that you most enjoy.
Thanks for reading!!!
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City living and neighbours screaming
I didn’t sleep last night. My sisters were visiting and I doubt they did either. I love city living, but sometimes it takes it’s toll.
“Dirty cat, dirty cat,” some chick sang at the top of her voice. CRASH! BANG!!! And a few minutes later it happened again. And again. And again. What was going on?
Half asleep I ignored it, but as it got louder and louder, and the voice sounded more frantic and the bangs got more violent, I ventured down the stairs to check it out through a set of squinty eyes. On my way I noticed what looked like McDonald’s buns thrown across the entrance. Weird.
As it turned out it wasn’t my neighbour who was screaming, it was a very frustrated British chick who was very very drunk, and very annoyed at the dude living a few stories below me.
“I don’t have my keys,” she said, scrambling through her bag. She was a mess. “My head is bleeding and he won’t let me in. I fell over. And then he grabbed me by my head and dragged me.”
“Ummm….” I was stunned. Do I invite her into my place? I really didn’t want to and my sisters were still trying to sleep. Should I call the cops? Her hair was wet, but it was also raining outside. It didn’t look like blood. And besides being drunk he girl looked fine. “Where are your keys?” I asked.
“Inside there,” she replied, pointing at my neighbour’s door. “Well I think they are. I left my makeup bag in there. I think. And it has my pay cheque in it. But the asshole won’t let me in to get it.”
“Ummm…” I really didn’t know what to say. “Are you sure it’s in there?”
“Yes.” Pause. “Actually no. But I need to look and see.”
“Do you know you have kept the whole building up for the last few hours?” I asked, I’m not sure what good I thought that would do. I knocked on the door. “Excuse me…” I said meekly. No answer. I shrugged at the girl. About to give up, the dude came out of his apartment. He looked normal and relaxed.
“Look you just gotta go home.” he told the girl. “I’m sorry, I’m really sorry.” he said to me, “she’s really very drunk.”
“Are her keys inside your place?” I asked, giving her the benefit of the doubt.
“No.” he said, turning to her, “If you had anything in there, I’d have given them to you already.” He shook his head. “Go home. You’re going to get me evicted.” Turning to me he appologised once again, and then vacated the premises. She called after him and I escaped back to my bed. Surely she would go home now. But no.
“Dirty cat, dirty cat,” the loud obnoxious singing started again.
All this commotion on a Tuesday night! My sisters will be turned off city living forever!!!
A while later there were a few more shouts and bangs, and then nothing.
What happened? I don’t know. Hopefully she’s not lying in a ditch somewhere. I guess she went home. I hope…
What’s even more discomforting about this situation is that I seemed to be the only one in the building to go see what the commotion was about. And it probably took a good hour or so of noise before I made a move.
How much screaming does it take for us to step out of our warm beds to see what is going on?
Living in apartment blocks we live so close to complete strangers and you have to wonder whether anyone would notice if someone was in serious trouble… that’s really not a nice thought.
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Oil, smoke and mirrors
Oil does more than run our cars. Oil runs our cities, oil produces our food, oil fuels our flights and hence industries of tourism, and oil powers the weapons of war.
Oil = Power.
And as demand increases, supply is peaking… hence the “war on terror” – efforts to secure oil distribution for ourselves.
What will happen after the peak? Oil supplies will slowly decrease. Demand for oil will continue to increase, prices for oil will rise, and prices for everything else will hence rise too. The economy will slow. The economy is base on confidence that the economy is going to keep growing. If the economy is not expected to keep growing, which it can’t if oil supplies decrease, people stop borrowing, and money starts to disappear from the economy. This means there is not enough money to pay back loans with interest. And… collapse.
Do politicians know? Of course – they have the best briefs from the best sources. They know. But what can they do? They’re not going to talk about it until they have a solution.
An interesting doco “Oil, Smoke and Mirrors”:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8677389869548020370
Photo credits:
Photographer: Romeo Devlin
I chose this shot as an interpretation of “smoke & mirrors” – that’s me touching my own neck (just thought I’d mention in case you weren’t quite sure)
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Happy Ishtar!
Easter is celebrated at Spring equinox, a time that for thousands of years was a celebration of the goddess Ishtar resurrecting the Babylonian/Sumerian god Tammuz/Dumuzid – the god of food and vegetation.
Ohhhh, it makes so much sense!
The burgeoning of spring: a time of fertility, when rabbits lay eggs, flowers come out, seeds sprout and our food grows. Easter is a wonderful celebration of the sun’s warmth returning to us, a celebration of new life, and best of all – CHOCOLATE EGGS!!!
Springtime means summer is on it’s way – the SUN has been resurrected!
I love the sun. I worship the sun. So do Brazilians – sitting on the beach clapping and cheering it as it retires for the day. Without the sun, there would be no life on earth, so it does deserve a little appreciation. And besides that, without the sun I would have to a solarium to get my tan. Heaven forbid!
DID I MENTION I LOVE THE SUN?
Now that’s a pretty important resurrection! But not a literal one. Just like Christmas, early Christians adopted and adapted this pagan tradition to be their own. NO WHERE in the bible does it talk about Easter. Just like NO WHERE in the bible does Jesus ask to be worshiped.
Interesting to mention is that the Bible, in Ezekiel 8:13-14, does refer to the Easter tradition. A woman weeping for Tammuz is seen as an “abomination”!
It’s funny how Easter has been adopted – in both dates and traditions (ie spring equinox and with exchange of Easter eggs) – by religious followers of the same holy book that describes the tradition as an abomination!
So rather than celebrating the resurrection of the sun, Easter is now a celebration of the resurrection of the Son, Jesus the Christ.
Tell me, what makes more sense:
a) that Jesus was sent by God to die on the cross and “save you from your sins” and then physically rise back to being human and 40-days later ascend into heaven;
or
b) that Jesus Christ heard the Buddhist philosophies of love and non-violence, and dedicated his life to a movement toward find peace on earth (the “kingdom of heaven”), and that after a few years of teaching Jesus was killed by the religious/political leaders of the day who saw the growing movement as a threat.
Is it possible that after the horrific death the early Christians felt Jesus energy come to them and tell them to continue with the peace movement? After my Opa died I felt his energy outside the hospital, I could see his energy around me, in the trees, in the air, everywhere – I suppose that is a form of resurrection.
Is it possible that the idea of Christ’s resurrection being physical, with a missing body, was added to the Christan gospels in order to synthesize Judaism with Paganism and gain momentum for this movement? Maybe even when it was added it was more mythical and mysterious than supposed to be something physical?
Scholars, both Christian and secular, agree that the part about the resurrection in the gospel of Mark was added a few hundred years after the writer of Mark finished documenting the story. Hmmm… I wonder where else has been added?
Enough enough enough – today is a celebration.
I do have one final question: now that we have re-established the real meaning of Easter, can someone please explain to me why here – in the Southern Hemisphere as the sun is retiring earlier and his intensity slowly dying – am I eating this chocolate Ishtar bunny??? I’m not complaining, I happen to love chocolate maybe even more than I love the sun. But still, shouldn’t it be spring?
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Tangled up in knots
Yesterday EVERYTHING seemed tangled up in knots. Even my washing. Ahhhhh! I screamed.
I had been trying to write journal articles and my mind seemed to mix up the concepts and ideas. I had been trying to edit my book but it seemed muddled up as well. I don’t even know what genre it fits. And let’s not mention my love life. All in all I felt as if my brain was tied in knots. And there it was, in my washing too. After five minutes of trying to untangle it I didn’t have the patience to continue.
But this morning things are clearer.
I don’t know how I managed it, but woke up at 10am. That’s almost eleven hours sleep! I can’t remember the last time I did that. I knew I was tired, but… wow.
Oh that’s it – my brain was in knots because I needed sleep. Well, it could be at least part of the problem.
I had been treating sleep as an overrated nuisance. Six hours would do the job. I guess eventually a lack of sleep will catch up.
Hopefully today I’ll do some untangling of my article and book, and I suppose of that darn washing.
In sum, the lesson of the day is that sleep is as necessary as food and water. From now on I’m going to try to catch a few more winks.