As it is, our civilization has no future. The exponential growth of human population and human exploitation of planetary resources can not continue. And what cannot continue will end. The physical limits of a finite planet guarantee this. Indeed, almost everywhere we look we find increasing evidence that we are now exceeding these limits.
This situation has been created by the framing story of a culture that leads us to fundamentally disconnect from our own inner knowing, from other people, and from the ecosystem – to fundamental imbalances in our relationship with ourselves, others and life.
As a result, we face an evolutionary period of epic proportions. Humanity is on the verge of unprecedented crisis and change. Those of us who are called (from within) to be evolutionary agents in this transformation recognize the unprecedented opportunity that is rising within us, among us, and around us, as Tom Paine said, “to begin the world again”. There is no hope for continuing business as usual on our planet, for fixing or reforming the domination system – for that means planetary extinction. This crisis calls for evolution – the evolution of human culture from domination to partnership. In these writings, I devote myself to exploring that.
My intent here is to inspire the creation of partnership culture between us. To liberate myself and find mutual support with others to liberate ourselves from systems of domination and violence prevalent in the culture of empire. To cultivate an alternative culture rooted in awareness, transparency, responsibility, compassion, and love, in recognition of the fundamental wholeness, playfulness, creativity and sacredness of all life. To catalyze local community and human scale approaches characterized by sustainability and resilience, on current solar energy income. To work together in partnership to enter new territory and discover hidden fields of human possibility.
We can either change our habits and ways proactively, or in reaction to circumstances. We face a future that will be shaped either by reaction to “disaster” or by responding positively and by design to evolving circumstances. If we don’t create our own future – someone or something else will create it for us.
We recognize that neither liberation nor the creation of partnership culture is possible without concurrent transformation within ourselves as we replace the disconnecting habits, values and mythology of the domination culture with partnership culture. As this happens, I believe that we will become more fully alive, more transparent and will align ourselves and our work in the service of life; and that this then has the potential to catalyze aliveness and transformation in others.
The decline and fall of the civilization of empire presents us with an historic opportunity. A transition from domination to partnership; from conquest and exploitation to respect, cooperation, and care; from expansion and exponential growth to steady-state sustainability; from fragility to resilience; from hyper consumption and waste to intelligent use, sharing and reuse; from corporate and individual profligacy to a responsible community-centered life respecting ecological limits; from empty religious dogma to spiritual renewal, consciousness, and communion; from submission, hiding and lying to responsibility and transparency; from isolation, alienation and disconnection to empathy, wholeness, communion and love. The result being a peaceful and relatively harmonious world that blossoms out of a massive awakening – an awakening to our interdependence; to the sacred trust with which our awareness and intelligence has endowed us, to steward and care for life and our beautiful planet; and to our connection to life and the intimate equation between our fulfillment and our responsibility to care for life.
In making this transition, we are challenged to transcend the culture of separation and domination, to transcend the places that hold us – to heal the inner disconnect between our heads, our hearts, and our guts; and to reconnect with the natural world and the sacredness of life. These writings are for those who seek to integrate their personal spiritual journey to wholeness with a passionate desire to use the global crisis facing us as a great opportunity for meaningful transformation in our culture and our way of life. These writings are for those who are on for consciously creating the next human culture.
In making this transition, wishful thinking will not be helpful. Denial of our truly desperate situation will not be helpful. And prayer alone is quite insufficient. Action is necessary. Let us speak truth to power. Let us steadily withdraw our cooperation, acquiescence and participation in a corrupt and bankrupt system, as we steadily build a culture based in partnership and respect for life. Let us build a better world: by first having understanding and compassion for ourselves and others, by deeply listening to ourselves and others, and by asking powerful questions. And then, through increasingly authentic and transparent connection, by re-inventing all our institutions to care for people and the planet. Let us build a community, a temple, where everything we see expresses and affirms our essential interconnection and interdependence, and the gift that each of us is to life. I sense the most profound discoveries await us, woven into the threads that bind us, all of us, to each other.
I’m feeling excited and hopeful to collaborate in creating such a culture with you – where there’s space for each of us to be ourselves, to be held with care, to support each other in our life journeys, to pay more attention to our inner world, to realize our divinity from the inside out, to blossom and develop the unique and beautiful gifts with which each of us is endowed, to release attachment to strategies and ego, and to have fun along the way.
Yes!
Partnership Culture Commentaries 