“It’s not about carbon. It’s about consciousness.”
I wrote that in my journal, right after seeing Al Gore’s movie, “An Inconvenient Truth”. Allow me to explain.
To his credit, I believe that Gore pretty much nailed our ecological crisis. This movie is a true wake-up call.
The polar ice caps are melting. That much we know. However: they are NOT melting because of carbon or other greenhouse gases. The ice caps are melting because of human arrogance.
Even that’s not quite true. The ice caps are melting not because of the actions of “humans”. The ecological crisis is caused by a very specific brand of human consciousness — one that has arrogance lying right at its core. I call this “Breaker” consciousness.
Al Gore said that the ecological crisis was caused by the actions of humans. Again, that’s sort of true, but misses the mark. The indigenous people of the Earth, the ones that I call “Keepers”, did not cause this crisis. No matter how much wood they burn in cooking, they could not burn enough to cause a permanent change in the Earth’s atmosphere. It takes some real heavy-duty arrogance to do that.
Those of us who revere Mother Earth did not create this crisis, either. Those of us who are “Menders” are committed to fixing the problems, not causing more of them. The Menders know that the problem is consciousness…
ARROGANCE HAS CONSEQUENCES.
What is this about? All the studies about the amount of carbon in the atmosphere, all of the new technologies for carbon sequestration miss the point. It’s not about carbon, it’s about consciousness.
It’s like we’ve witnessed a guy run over by a bus. A group of people rushes over to him and can see that his arm is broken. Some people start devising strategies for repairing his arm. But, a few of us are saying, “Wait a minute! This guy JUST GOT RUN OVER BY A BUS! His broken arm may be the LEAST of his problems!”
The overfocus on carbon is just another manifestation of Breaker thinking. We’re thinking about carbon because carbon is something that we can see, count and measure. Instead of seeing carbon, we must learn how to see THE WHOLE.
All the people talking about trading carbon credits are NOT talking about the consciousness factor. They don’t talk about it because they can’t see it, count it or measure it (which means, to them, it doesn’t exist).
We all know the Einstein quote, (“No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it”) but it’s like we don’t know how to apply the quote.
Carbon sequestration as a solution to Breaker arrogance is just another aspect of Breaker thinking. There’s a formula to this:
1. Blindly set in motion circumstances that will cause massive harm. Don’t listen to the Keepers, the Menders, or anyone who disagrees with you. Only listen to the experts who tell you that it’s OK to do what you want to do. (Global warming, Iraq, the economy…)
2. Completely deny that any harm is being caused (or, say that the harm is minimal, is being “studied” or that the harm is “the price of our success”.) Continue to ignore the Keepers, Menders and those who disagree. (Global warming, Iraq, the economy…)
3. When the harm becomes massive and irrefutable, blame someone else. Insist that the people who warned you about the harm have a responsibility to fix it. Apply a short term, quick-fix solution that is as bad as the original solution. Continue ignoring…
There aren’t any “quick fixes”. There aren’t any solutions to Industrial Age problems that leave the Industrial Age intact. Breaker consciousness is a pathology on the Earth that is more devastating than the bubonic plague. It’s planet-wrecking.
And, unfortunately each of us are carriers. (What you do when you know you are carrying a disease? You try your very best to minimize its input in your life, and become very, very conscious not to spread your disease to others…)
Al Gore articulated “an Inconvenient Truth”. I am articulating an “Inconvenient Solution”:
1. Instead of focusing on removing carbon from our air, we must remove from power those who cause the problems in favor of those of us who will devise the real solutions. (At least, we must radically reeducate our leaders, to move from separation, fear and arrogance to service and compassion.)
2. We must close those colleges and universities that teach the destructive Breaker form of thinking. Yes, that’s just about all of them. (At least, we should favor those university programs that favor multidisciplinary, “consilient” approaches to learning, programs that incorporate imaginative, spiritual and transcendent knowing into a new form of Mender science.)
3. Recognize that our most important activity is not further expanding our already bloated economy, but saving our planet from destruction from our own hands. Instead of spending billions of dollars for ways to kill other human beings, let’s re-direct human activity to mending our planet. To do this, fortunes will be lost, corporations will suffer… but the Earth as a whole will benefit.
4. The single most important thing that I can do for my planet is to recognize and minimize my own arrogance.
Jesus of Nazareth said that meek will inherit the Earth. It’s high time we convened Probate Court.