What do we really know?

“This is your life and it's ending one moment at a time.”
― Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club

You'd think this far in, we'd have it all worked out.

Money.

Love.

Health.

Faith.

Connection.

Work.

Less.

Even less.

But we're way off the mark.

Look around you, what do you see?

Poverty.

An individualistic world.

Greed.

Hate.

Violence.

Bigotry.

Repression.

The death of our planet.

It's no wonder some people decide enough is enough.

I always remember though something Jon Kabat-Zinn said (and I paraphrase):

"The way we look at you [the patient], we always take the view that so long as you're breathing, you've got more going for you than you have wrong with you."

I know, hardly startling but then again, whilst there's life there's hope.

If you've any desire left to make a difference, then now is the time to apply your energy to making your dent. You might volunteer at your local charity, you might change your life or you might start a blog to build your Tribe of new-world zealots.

It doesn't matter what you do as long as you do something.

For me, the worst thing you can do is carry on finger-wagging (mostly from your couch) and expect someone else to pick up the tab for our narcissistic ways.

Dream on my friend.

Dream on.

This coming year, I've already been moved by another startling revelation -- one that's struck me many times before: if I'm going to make a difference, I need to do much less; and the things I do do, will be suffused with as much of my life force as I can muster. Will I p*ss a few people off? Undoubtedly. But in the end, the more we maintain the status quo the more we're the problem...in so many ways.

Photo by Clemente Ruiz Abenza

Comments

Kindness et al.

Now, more than ever, we need to find a way through this collapsing world . Yes, there are lots of strategies, templates and exhortation we could employ but, truthfully, we know in our hearts that if only there was a little less hate and a lot more kindness the world would be a much better place - in so many ways. Then again, the trope has been done to death and look where it's got us. Not very far. Perhaps it is that we've an aversion to opening ourselves up in case we're taken advantage of or worse still. Perhaps it is that we don't feel it. It's more act than truth. Perhaps there's no quid pro quo. (Does there or should there be?) Truth is, I've no more an idea than you why the world is too often riven with a lust for hate when it should be in swoon to kindness. That doesn't (of course) stop me wondering. And wonder I will alongside all those other issues that continue to haunt me. Blessings, Julian

Where next?

At the moment, I'm deep into capitalism, having finished David Whyte's thought-provoking book, Ecocide: Kill The Company Before It Kills Us . If I'm honest, I'm not sure what I'm going to discover that I don't already know. That said, I'm not suggesting I know very much about (inter alia) Natural Capital, Green Swans or neoliberalism, but you don't need to be Einstein to work out that capitalism has been one of, if not the main enabler for the Anthropocene . Oh, that, and our insatiable, wanton desire for more stuff. Yes, that's right. Absent us, there wouldn't exist the corporate vehicle, less still greedy capitalists (I say that, of course, only mildly tongue-in-cheek.) As I've said so many times: we need the world; the world doesn't need us . And where does all this fit with the latest UK-wide CV19 restrictions and the catastrophic situation we find ourselves living in and through? Again, I'm not sure. Perhaps it is that we were n...

Back to nature

I'm just back from my daily walk with Alfie and Fidget. I managed to stay dry right until the end when the heavens opened; Alfie didn't mind; Fidget looked like she'd had enough. For me, the daily walk isn't just a way of raising my heart rate and enjoying the fresh air -- both very important -- it's a way to connect, deeply. In fact, I'd say it was in the same vein as meditation. There's always a temptation to get it over with, but these days I nearly always take a moment to stop, breathe in and out with a strong sense of purpose and listen to my environs. It grounds me. I don't take this for granted. I realise how fortunate I am to have Dartmoor on my doorstep and to have the time to walk this way. Actually, I'm pretty sure that even if I didn't live here, I'd find a way to connect with nature, even if I had to do it in some other way, e.g. gardening. Think about your own experience with nature. I'd be very surprised if...

Julian Summerhayes

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