Sheldrake landing by gifted UK nature photographer Kev Lewis
What's Going on Out There?:
I'm finding myself increasingly impatient with the so-called 'news'.
What appears in the headlines seems more and more disconnected from
what is really going on out there. So what is really going on?
- A slow, major mindshift:
A year ago, for me to talk about civilizational collapse by the end of
this century would merely have raised eyebrows. Now, suddenly, it is
gradually becoming a credible worldview to many, and for some, accepted
wisdom. There is enormous cynicism that we can do anything about it in
time, but across the political spectrum there seems to be a growing
sense that 'this can't go on'. This has happened despite the mainstream
media, despite the politicians, despite the scientific reports (none of
which most people pay any attention to). It is as if the bodies of the
public have suddenly woken up to what a synthesis of all the conscious
and especially the unconscious information they are absorbing is
telling them: "There's something happening here." I can still hardly
believe it. Strange. Important. Anyone else out there on the Edge
getting this vibe?
- Embracing complexity: Simple, efficient, homogeneous = fragile. Complex, effective, diverse = resilient.
In what we grow and what we eat. In what we buy and sell. In how we
determine what to do, in organizations and in letting-ourselves-change.
In everything.
- The end of coddling obsolete and dangerous religions: First it was Dawkins' book criticizing organized religion as anachronistic. Now there's even an acknowledgement that drastic reductions in human population are needed
if we're to have any hope of putting a dint in the major social
problems of our time. Organizations that claim we all have a right
and/or duty to overpopulate our planet to the point of extinction must
be confronted and made as socially loathsome as those that advocate
genocide.
- The end of trust of leaders and the demand for transparency:
FEMA, Enron, the Bush Administration's rogues' gallery, have all
started to bring about a growing distrust of leaders, their
infallibility, and the need for the ability to oversee and second
guess, and even replace egomaniacal decisions with the Wisdom of
Crowds. Bush's 'signing statements', which allow him to put himself above the law, are now being recognized as the outrageous abuse of power that they are.
- Thinking a little further ahead: A new CDC study on emergency preparedness acknowledges, at last, that it's the actions of the people,
not the political and emergency organizations, that will make all the
difference in an emergency like a flu pandemic. That means closing
schools, workplaces and shopping malls, and teaching children to be the
vanguard by coughing into sleeves and washing their hands faithfully.
And it means thinking past the next newsday, election and quarterly
financial statement. Aha!
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4:54:53 PM 
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MADE IN CANADA
trust your
instincts 
