The three major tools of awareness that come to mind for me are birdwatching, hiking, and sailing. Each involves the individual’s independent and personal response to Nature, the mind reacting to what Nature presents during the activity. The participant has to have chosen the activity in the first place, and therefore it is humanly impossible to see Nature without thinking about it.
The next three tools, in order of importance, are education, study, and established religion, the first two involving available information and the third involving unbending indoctrination.
Those of us who were born early in the 20th century were and are probably aware that the19th century, the birth of the Industrial Revolution, made a huge difference in what was available to make life choices easier and more available. Those of us who are around now are increasingly aware how fast the choices are changing, and not all for the good. People born after World War II feel less connected to Nature, and therefore independent of Nature. Many do not even know where the food they eat comes from or how it is raised and harvested, or by whom.
Life for many Americans involves reclining on a moral and eithical chaise longue, dangling the grapes of availability and greed upon their lips. But, increasingly, even for them there is change in the air. Nowhere is that change more apparent than in the oil crisis and the part it MUST play in our changing way of life. Like the birds and the mountains and the sea, our choices for the future are becoming less and less free, and Awareness is staring us in the face, giving us a last chance.
Each of us has a responsibility to respond to Nature in our own way and with our own capacities, and each of us has capacities, however small. (As I said in an earlier post, even picking up cigarette butts and paper clips is a gesture of caring for Nature.) Those of us who can afford more must accept that we are also the people who can give up more. For us, the three major tools and the second group of tools are all available. For those who have not had the advantage of the three major tools, the next three, education, study, and religion must become available, hopefully by teachers who have accepted Awareness as a religion.
5/19/07
3 weeks ago
3 comments:
little bill
Short comment! Religion may be an important tool to some but it shows many of us that it should be ignored and closer attention paid to nature. Not enough people realizing how closely we are tied into this planet and the universe as a whole is what dooms us to destroy the very thing that nurtures us.
All systems created by man, no matter their orientation or ideology, are flawed at the outset and destined to fail. To think otherwise is at best foolish or at worst dangerous stupidity. Ours my have the interesting fate to fail by its successes in that just a few generations ago the abundance we see today would have been a fantasy land of dreams to many a poor dirty farmer and his family. But this success has breed a casual indifference in which we have sacrificed many aspects of our principles on the alter of safety and plenty. Many times at the expense of others and the environment. In this country and all around the world we look to divide ourselves into small subsets looking to defend what we have against those who might take it away. The one that scares me the most is that we no longer seem to accept that we all have deeper characteristics and traits that define us more than just the simplistic labels we apply to ourselves, and more importantly to others. The coming years will require that we all pull together to assure that the most important assets we have, our children, will have a chance to live a decent life. Answers will not come exclusively from any political party, religion, or group. Anyone who believe they hold all the answers with their own brand of system or beliefs are, once again, foolish or dangerously stupid. We all hold a piece of the puzzle that must be used to chart a new course away from our destructive path. The biggest challenge we may face is to recognize that those we either just distrust or even hate have to be a part of the answer. But like 'Bill wrote its all a part of awareness. That was a great post Bill
Thanks for a great comment, Beach. Glad you're back, both here and at your own site.