This is the time of year for making 'resolutions' for the new year. The word resolve originally meant to dissolve or untie, to free from chains (the word solve originally meant to loosen -- apparently to the inventors of our civilized languages, lack of freedom was the only real 'problem'). While we do need to free ourselves, what we need more today, I think, is something stronger: We need commitments.
The word commitment means 'to send oneself over', a permanent, one-way
trip to Let-Self-Change. By this definition, a commitment unkept is an
oxymoron, a mere failed resolution.
For me, this has been a year
of momentous personal change: I got sick, and cured myself, changed
careers and lifestyle and got myself into the best condition since my
20s; I learned some important lessons about indigenous cultures and the
Great Depression; and I concluded that what we need to do to save the
world is more about Let-Self-Change and about creating 'working models'
of better ways to live, than about bringing about radical political or
economic revolution (which is, I now believe, an impossible dream).
These
changes came about because I had no other choice: We do what we must.
Had I not made the commitment to personal health, I would probably be
either dead or useless today. Had I not learned and changed my ideas
about saving the world I would probably have given up blogging and
either sunk into a terminal depression or been arrested for some
fruitless extreme act. Now it is time for me to make some commitments,
not resolutions, to act on my evolving social, political and economic
understanding and beliefs. I have learned to free up time for what is
urgent, and now I must apply that learning to free up time, and energy,
for what is important.
So here are my commitments for 2007:
- I
will find the necessary sponsors and partners to successfully launch
the Canadian Centre for Entrepreneurship, an organization to promote
the establishment of Natural Enterprises, and make this my 'full time'
job.
- I will find the necessary sponsors and partners to bring
together and host an Open Space event on Preparing for Civilization's
End, that will ultimately spawn 'working models' for post-civilization
society (Intentional Communities, Natural Enterprises, a Generosity Economy, a curriculum on Understanding Gaia & How the World Works, Finding Partners & Real Social Networking, Let-Self-Change and Radical Simplicity). These models will be fun to work on.
- I
will find at least ten more people with whom I would like to live in
community, and will spend at least four hours per week in genuine
conversation with such people, opening, paying attention, listening,
learning, and Letting-Myself-Change.
- I will spend at least four hours per week in silent undistracted contemplation, as much of it as possible in natural places. PucPuc has taught me how much you can learn without uttering or hearing a word.
To
make time for these commitments, I will spend less time trying to
convince others, in writing and in debate, of anything they are not yet
ready to believe. This blog already contains lots of material
for those who are ready to partner with me and with others
in activities like those noted above, and I will endeavour to make the
blog's future content less evangelical and more useful (and it will
likely be less analytical and more narrative).
And I will be
spending less time reading, especially reading newspapers. Looking at
the 'news' of the past year, I'm hard put to find anything (even the
trouncing of the Republicans in the recent US election) that will
really matter to any of us in five years. The 'news' is mostly useless
information, entertainment designed to distract us from what is really
important.
We do what we must, then we do what's easy, and then
we do what's fun. We live in a terrible world where there are many
things that must be done, but few that must necessarily be done by any
designated individual or group, so these imperatives mostly don't get
done by anyone. I'm accepting a responsibility to make some of these
collective 'musts' my own. To do the same, all you have to do is free up the time
from other personal 'musts'. This is easier, I've learned, than you
might think. Just make a commitment, an intention, and begin. Even
better, find and get together with others of like mind and take it on
as a shared responsibility.
Yesterday morning, as I was outside
running, I heard two chickadees uttering their plaintive three-note
song, alternately, and then, astonishingly and improbably, in lovely
and perfect unison. Even they sounded surprised, and went back hastily
to alternate songs. And then they sang again, precisely together. After
the second stanza, they were silent for a long time. In fact,
everything suddenly became silent. It was almost as if every creature
was taking note of this discovery, this synchronicity, this perfect and
unexpected harmony.
Silence the noise of the machine in your head, and pay attention, and discover and learn wondrous things. And when you're ready, 'send yourself over'.
Happy New Year, everyone.
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MADE IN CANADA
trust your
instincts 
