Kathleen Deam MooreKathleen Dean Moore, an environmental philosopher and distinguished professor at Oregon State, poses the following question about the world we live in: Can you look another person in the eye and answer ‘yes’ to the question, ‘Is this really the best we can do?’
Because I answer that question with a “No!” that resounds through my heart, body, and soul, I am greatly motivated to work on increasing our practical choices for OneEarth living. Accordingly, “practices” are always in my mind when I write on this website and that of Jubilee Economics; also, when co-host Jerry Iversen and I create episodes of The Common Good Podcast. None of these tools reflects that the world we have is the best we can do. The Divine Spirit, who both rampantly races and peacefully rests throughout the evolutionary, creational process, has, I believe, brought forth Homo sapiens with the capacities for greater conscious choices than we are exercising. It’s quite empowering for me when I hold in mind that we have such capacities.
Not that the “practical” gets into every entry of our website and podcasts. Often what I write re-examines our worldview and the stories we tell and ask: are they MultiEarth or OneEarth versions? Such re-examination is also practical in a certain important way of thinking, because if our worldview is askew, our practices will be too.
Think of it this way: the world we have today has not come about simply or only by mystery or inevitability. Much of it has been shaped by choices we humans have been making out of our lesser capacities. Let’s call it our ego-sized consciousness. Though that consciousness helped secure us in childhood when we feared an overwhelmingly large and dangerous world, when we use the same ego-consciousness as grown-ups to shape our households, businesses, communities, banks, schools, or country, we get what we have. The expectation of our souls is that we will move beyond ego-consciousness to the greater topographies of consciousness we are capable of. Religious traditions urge us toward such greater consciousness whether they call it enlightenment, Messiah-consciousness, Christ-consciousness, or some other phrase to affirm our capacities to embody holistic, Divine Spirit among us.
I appreciated how Paul Hawken, entrepreneur and author, made the point that another world is possible when he commented on my book, Blinded by Progress. He said, “There were many paths that we might have taken in the past that would have led to a better world than the one we inhabit. Lee Van Ham’s writing delineates a path going forward that does not repeat the illusions of progress. I hope it opens many eyes.” It’s always affirming, isn’t it, to know that another has heard one of the heart-felt beliefs you’ve tried to communicate.
Be sure to ADD THE PRACTICAL CHOICES FOR ONEEARTH LIVING THAT YOU ARE DISCOVERING BY COMMENTING ON THIS BLOG OR SENDING THEM BY EMAIL TO lee@jubilee-economics.org. Thank you.