You are Part of It

Like many others Barack Obama’s historic speech, A More Perfect Union, touched me deeply. Why? Shirley Jackson’s story “The Lottery” helps me answer that question.

In my mid to late 20’s I experimented with a relatively strict vegetarian diet and I felt great. Later I abandoned my vegetarian experiment and started to eat more like I had when I was living at home with my parents except that I continued to eat more rice and beans and much less meat than I had before my vegetarian days, big mistake. Dr Fhurman, in his book “Eat to Live” recommends a diet consisting plant foods in the following percentages of total calorie intake,

Individually and collectively we are facing more than a technical or human systems crisis in the knowledge that we have, and still are, creating a global climate meltdown through the continued expansion of a fossil fueled, industrial revolution driven, global capitalist consumption economy. Finding a new way to live in our world as a conscious super powerful species is going to have a huge impact on our identity. This isn’t trivial.

Couldn’t we have a foreign policy that was based on biology instead of social rank competition. A foreign policy based on biological principals and functions would not abandon self defense, biological entities and processes engage in self defense all the time. A biologically based foreign policy also would not have to avoid resource acquisition and exchange across national boundaries.

If we were to use this idea to construct a new approach we could first define each country as a Cell/Entity within the larger context of other nations within a living earth.

My original idea of how to define Love as an organizing principal for human systems was formed like this; Love = consciousness of mutually beneficial exchange across semi-permeable boundaries. I thought that would be a good systems oriented working definition.

Now I want to change the systems definition of Love to; Love = Consciousness of existing and potential mutually beneficial exchange across semi-permeable boundaries.

When I watch the world around me, particularly the activity of commerce, employment, consumption, marketing, and communications media, it appears as if human life is almost exclusively the life of social relationship and position within our many social systems. Where do you rank in sexual attractiveness, in earning power, in political influence, in popularity, in celebrity?

I want to
Eat like I’m part of the Planet
Drink like I’m part of the Planet
Feel like I’m part of the Planet
Touch like I’m part of the Planet
Think like I’m part of the Planet
See like I’m part of the Planet
Breathe like I’m part of the Planet
Work like I’m part of the Planet
Raise my kids like I’m part of the Planet
Live with people like I’m part of the Planet
Be aware like I’m part of the Planet
Be social like I’m part of the Planet
Move like I’m part of the Planet

The Messiah, the Great One, the One Beyond Compare
Is here, was there, will come, is truth, at last they dare
Some say Marx, or Adam Smith, Jesus or Mohamed
Sale of Single Saviors, an ongoing human drama

The world goes on and on, the marketing machine
Selling single saviors exploiting every dream

I have not done a good job on the personal sustainability front for a few months but have been getting back on track lately. I decided that even if I don’t have time to do each thing the way I want to, putting in a little time to as I can would help me get moving.

I am powerless over sugar. I crave sugar, but only when I don’t have it, or immediately after I have eaten it. I don’t crave sugar when I sleep, but I have a job and kids and have to stay awake for a large part of every day and it’s during that period of time that I am powerless over sugar. Candy, cakes, and cookies, particularly chocolate chip cookies are irresistible. My history with this substance goes way back to when I was a kid, I loved sugar and my mom supplied plenty of it in the form of cookies and cakes. When I had my first money I spent it on candy and comic books.