Life is one big road with lots of signs…
So when you’re riding through the ruts, don’t you complicate your mind.
Flee from hate, mischief, and jealousy,
Don’t bury your thoughts, put your visions to reality…
— Bob Marley
So here we are, entering the vortex: the final, irreversible collapse of our own democratic republic into oligarchic tyranny; our tenuous world order and balance of power into invasions, civil strife, genocide, and the growing threat of nuclear war; our (fossil fuel-based) global market economy into irreversible decline and a rapidly rising cost of living; and our (climate-dependent and overstressed) biological support systems worldwide into chaos and collapse — on the only life-sustaining planet we will ever know. So what can we do?
To me, the above quote from Bob Marley’s song “Wake Up and Live” sums up our best options quite concisely: no matter what challenges arise in our lives, we can pay close attention to the “signs” all around us that tell us what’s happening in our communities, our society, and our planet, and what we can (or cannot) do about them. Secondly, we can establish our own clear priorities for ourselves, our families, our communities, and our planet, so that when challenges arise, we do not “complicate our minds” by wallowing in “hate, mischief, and jealousy.” And finally, we “don’t bury our thoughts” but rather, act upon our best ideas by taking steps to implement them in the real world.
So here are three of my own best ideas, all of which can be implemented by each of us, in our own way:
(1) Foster and create a small, close-knit core group, or Sangha as the Buddhists call it — a group of friends you can trust completely, who share your values, with whom you meet periodically for meditation or prayer, for coffee and conversation, and/or for mutual support in times of inner or outer crisis. In my own case, I am working on establishing among my closest friends a “Dharma Gaia Circle” — a group of friends who share my determination (1) to cultivate benevolence, compassion, selfless joy, and equanimity (Dharma), and (2) to nurture and heal our living planet (Gaia) through the study and practice of permaculture and through community activism to prevent further damage to our land, air, water, and biological diversity.
(2) Take a firm stand against encroaching oligarchic tyranny by creating “Satyagraha Study Groups” within our faith communities, schools or colleges, or other social and political organizations with which we are affiliated. Satyagraha refers to Gandhi’s principles and strategies for nonviolent noncooperation with evil, speaking truth to power, and building resilience and self-reliance — that is, emancipating ordinary people, as best we can, from dependence on the corporate oligarchy and other structures of oppression.
(3) Apply all of the above principles in creating neighborhood Garden Guilds where folks who live nearby can overcome suburban alienation by meeting periodically to socialize over potluck dinners and learn skills and techniques for growing food organically in their own backyards, and thereby reducing their dependence on corporate agriculture and toxic pesticides. The slogan for Garden Guilds is “Grow Gardens, Grow Community, and Grow Awareness — by Learning, Teaching, Healing, and Creating. This slogan is a master key, in my view, for healing and regenerating our communities and our planet from the ground up, starting in our own backyards.
While these are my own “visions” that I wish to bring to reality, they all depend on what I have learned from many great teachers and visionaries, from Gandhi to MLK to Bill Mollison. So I have no wish to “own” these ideas, copyright them, or otherwise claim credit for them. They all depend on making friends with kindred spirits, and then reaching out to the larger communities — neighborhood, city, state, nation, planet — from there. So please feel free to borrow these ideas, putting your own spin on them as you will, and “put your vision to reality” wherever you are. Together, let us plant the seeds of a symbiotic Gaian future for our children and grandchildren amidst the crumbling ruins of our present voracious and parasitic global market economy. As Norman Myers once said, “We have two choices: a Gaian future, or no future.”