I wanted to share this…because I have been ranting in various conversations and classes recently about how our capitalist and small-tribe paradigm, which has served us for literally thousands upon thousands of years is going to kill us all pretty soon. Seems I am not alone:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sustainable-business/zen-thich-naht-hanh-buddhidm-business-values
Weeks ago I watched an “Out of Egypt” episode (Discovery Channel, Dr Kara Cooney) that discussed the origin of city living in ancient history, and described theory that related gathering together, and storing food to the origins of war, socioeconomic class structure and racism. Essentially, when human beings started to store food, we started to create “haves” and “have-nots” which ultimately led us to want what each other have.
What really bothered me was how far back the mindset of possession, materialism, jealousy and prejudice against other groups goes. All the way back to when we first started living in community together. Now, as I look around our world, we live in small circles, our family, friends, neighborhoods, church communities, businesses, corporations and we share resources with one-another in those circles. We look down on each other, across at each other, up at each other and we forget that we are all one people. We forget to look at the amazing beauty and diversity of life on this planet. We forget that each and every life is a story full of love, appreciation, fear, anxiety and wonder. There are literally billions and billions of stories on this planet, each one as profound and deep as the next…
And here we are, in our bubbles, not even looking at them…our resources dwindling as we try to figure out how have more stuff in our own circle…every now and then, someone looks outside their circle at the whole incredible thing and falls deeply in love…
And we call that person “Bodhisatva” or great teacher. And we share what they say with people in our circles.
Wow, I hope we wake up.