Hope for the Earth…The “Untouchables” Start to Crumble
The past three mornings, while paddling my SUP board, I’ve had thoughts of hope for the Earth. A shift is occurring. Can you feel it? Excitement and joy filled me each morning as I thought of the old paradigm breaking apart to birth the new. Read on to find out why I’m feeling especially hopeful.
Mega-corporate entities seem to run our nation….maybe even the world. They dictate environmental policies, avoid paying taxes on things such as corporate jets, donate unlimited amounts of money to political candidates who will vote in their favor, tap private phones of unsuspecting citizens to get scoops, tell the USA government how many barrels of oil flowed into the Gulf of Mexico (not the other way around), determine which mountain top to remove for coal, ignore safety of communities…I could be here a while listing the ‘sins’ of some corporations. The point is this–corporations, with their profit-at-any-cost mind-set, are destroying the planet and anyone or anything that happens to get in their way. I’ve wondered how we move from this model of destruction and exploitation (Earth as commodity–Joanna Macy) to one of creative synergy.
I recognize the truth that what we hold in our minds, we bring into being. I was puzzled over how we could hold a collective vision of creating a better world when some of these mega corporations seem to have us all in a strangle-hold.
Enter the Rupert Murdoch empire’s struggle to stay afloat amid allegations of corruption that could destroy Mr. Murdoch’s castle, one newspaper at a time. Estimated to be worth over $7.6 BILLION, he was listed as the 13th most powerful person in the world in 2010. Owner of FOX News, the conservative television news channel that routinely (and outright) stretches the truth to undermine their liberal brothers and sisters, Mr. Murdoch is watching as CEO’s under him resign, get arrested, or worse. Illegal activities do not always go unnoticed and even corporations like Mr. Murdoch’s must abide by a moral, legal and ethical code…at some point. The breaking point seems to be when enough people say NO MORE!!
Both sides of the media report stories with their own bias. We tune in and swallow the hook. We collectively create our world based on what we see and hear and then….what we believe. Maybe this is a signal, a sign….a blazing star hovering over the planet…saying, “THINK FOR YOURSELVES!! Don’t believe everything you see just because it is on the news!”
Joanna Macy calls this time the Great Unraveling or the Great Turning. We are undergoing a shift from seeing the Earth as a commodity to understanding the Earth as a dynamic, living system–of which we are a part.
I’m not celebrating the crumbling of a mega-corporation; however, I am celebrating the absolute fact that even the wealthiest among us are not exempt from moral, ethical and legal codes (if enough of us say, no more!). For all the other reckless corporations…I’m sure we can think of many oil and gas companies, financial institutions and more…it’s a message: Shape up! And for those of us trying to envision a better world, we can use what Joanna Macy calls our moral imagination to see what isn’t here yet–the harmonious world we wish to create– as well as what is here–oil spills, violence, nuclear melt-downs, poisoned humans, wildlife, lands.
We CAN create a better world and it begins with our ability to use our imaginations to see this world of love, light, environmental balance, harmony, peace. We simply have to be able to envision this and recognize that the old choke-hold on our planet by mega-corporations is starting to crumble. It’s okay for the old, destructive ways to unravel. They have to go: greed, power, wealth at any cost. We can create something better. “Allow yourself to be surprised by what you can actually build within the shell of the old,” says Joanna.
This is a time of empowerment for the collective, a time of awakening and realizing that we really can develop our capacity to love life. This is not a time to remain quiet or sit in the background but rather a time to allow our voices to rattle the heavens with love for the planet, each other and all life on Mother Earth. As we build a unified vision of the positive, we will experience first-hand the shifting of paradigms. This is a wondrous time to be alive.