Hope - Sunday thoughts

We are entering a time of change, a time in which many turning points will pass, which will have unexpected consequences for our way of life. Nevertheless, it is a time of great opportunities, a time when it possible to open up a thriving and if needed, a different future.  

I am writing in response to all the people I can not answer, humans I feel deeply connected with, but never met. Nature I have never touched, but always feel her closeness. 

It is also a hopeful response to the sense of doom that pervades the sustainability discourse so much, and to the sense of hopelessness and powerlessness that comes with overcoming seemingly insurmountable challenges.  

As individuals, we have always followed a journey familiar to many proponents and practitioners of sustainability - alternating between optimism, cynicism, and utter discouragement, but always in search of a message of hope, a vision of a prosperous world. Our daily dealings with the increasingly gloomy predictions of science about climate change, the deterioration of services in our ecosystems, and the possible consequences for human society are depressing and emotionally challenging to watch. Not only that, we miss it. We miss something and often don't know what. As humans, it is our task to create an awareness of the negative effects on our civilization. To communicate the urgency and necessity of change and at the same time to counter this shocking message with a positive view. Hope. 

The responsibility that comes with conveying this message is made clear by the numerous mental crises. When the inner is constantly crying out, there is always a conflict, because overwhelming visions of the future become too much. Too much to deal with. Often we see no way out, we despair and flee. We had to find hope, not only for the sake of the next generation but also as a redemption for our part in creating this mess.

For years we have been talking about a positive vision of the future and how to develop it. Already once in Babylon, we wanted to create a future that is positive for all. But somehow we failed and got older and older, but not wiser. Today we talk about the oceans, better soils, regenerative agriculture or regenerative businesses and if we solve this we will create a world without scarcity and filled with love and abundance. Then on my long journey, I met people who have the same goal, but see a completely different path leading there. It is about renouncing consumption, but at the same time, there is a certain irrationality in the thought because at the same time a part of the world population receives more goods and services and strives for more prosperity. This is a tribute to all these pioneers of positivity.  

I want to inspire with my words and not just giving hope. There are so many great people out there. They design beautiful places to live, they write remarkable books or inviting people to meet up with. I could not be happier to have the chance to contribute to this and work on soul projects like this. Those are new ways of being in the world and are building blocks for future living situations. If you go through some of my articles you will find things to think about and maybe other people to connect with. You can use all this to upgrade your personal operating system and you will plant your own seed for the future. I think the power of thinking and coming together is the most important part of this mind revolution, we will come to root problems with a different mindset, a different vision and a different worldview. Which will always be a part of being a human. The ultimate goal is to find ways to explore all this as a collective and love each other. 

I firmly believe that there is hope; that we as individuals and as a collective can chose to contribute to the creation of a thriving and abundant world. And you are not alone, there are so many conversations out there, a huge shift from negative to positive, from despair to hope, from fear to love, from seeking to being. Going beyond the language of mere sustainability, words such as abundant, thriving, and flourishing are being bandied about. We are striving not just for modest resilience, but for the superpower of anti-fragility.

This is not positivity bias optimism, but a sober understanding that change is necessary when it is uncomfortable; that out of adversity comes to strength; and that we have a role to play in what can only be called global healing.

We are called to do more, we can serve Gaia in two different capacities. Either as a dying helper for a civilization that is falling apart or as a midwife for a flourishing civilization. We are called to go through the world with an open heart - to be present in the grief and decay of a declining civilization and at the same time to be inspired by hearts as we focus our energies on visionary inspiration and the building of unprecedented new forms of human community that will serve the future development of mankind. 

We have everything we need to contribute to such an emerging civilization, we just have to open our hearts. Because the key is love. Not passionate Eros or virtuous Agape, but Philia (close friendship or brotherly love) - love expressed through affinity. We need to rediscover and embrace the connection we have with all the communities to which we belong. In my articles, I argue that active, participatory engagement with the world is essential for this.

Happy Sunday

M