Opening the Window - October 5, 2014

... to a fresh perspective. Thank you Carol.

In my environmental despair, I had bought the line of thinking that everything needs to change, quickly, and in a particular way in order for ... for what, continuation of the species, other species, the planet? Although I've always questioned the notion of humans destroying the planet, since she's been pommeled by all sorts of indignities for 4.5 billion years, and we are but one more, I have been stuck on the possibility/probability of our demise along with numerous other species.

What shifted is twofold. The notion that we somehow have to be in agreement for things to change, such as at the UN climate summit level in order to move forward on climate change action. Is it true? That is one possibility, but only one, and an extremely unlikely one. If I open the lens of opportunity I realize that I can't begin to know the extent of possibilities and that things change enormously without conscious consent from all affected.

And secondly, I was in despair over seeing things that I hadn't fully acknowledged before, degrees of evil that I wouldn't previously believe and I felt crushed by that reality.  What has opened is the realization that the response to this knowing is what is important. I can see it as an impossible situation or the actual framework in which we live.  Because it is real doesn't mean that other things are  not. So, awareness of a new framework is just information. And indeed since the response to climate change is so varied in possibility and since I can't see into the future with these eyes acclimatized to the past I can't know or even predict where things will go, luckily, or we'd be going in circles.

What I am left with is the possibility of expressing who I am in the moments I have and in that I am inspired by those who carry on enlivening the planet with ideas, work, and beauty in spite of knowing the degree of evil and dire circumstances that exist. 

I attended a small community gathering of DIY permaculture types teaching about low tech ways to conserve water and am touched by their sensibilities, knowledge, and sharing. They are not undone by what is happening, they are enlivened by it. Thank you!

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