Spaceship Earth
We are entering the age of integrity. A healthy future of Spaceship Earth and all of its inhabitants demands nothing less than integrity. It is no longer possible for us to put our heads in the sand and refuse to look at the all-in-consequences of our actions. It is no longer acceptable that my superannuation fund increases because of the ‘rape and pillage’ of communities on the other side of the world, like the people of East New Britain, in Papua New Guinea.
It is no longer acceptable that the clothes on my back, the shoes on my feet, and my latest and greatest technological gizmos cause suffering and pain to people, communities, and the environment in their creation. There is no ‘away’ to throw things on spaceship earth. There is no effect ‘over there’ that does not have me as part of the cause.
I, too, must take my part of the responsibility for the BP oil spill, as must everyone else. I have condoned the behaviour of our elected leaders and the leaders of industry, even in my silence, by allowing regulations to become lax in our insatiable hunger for oil and all of its byproducts. I want oil and plenty of it, and I want it to be cheap so I can maintain my lifestyle. But at what price? At what price to Spaceship Earth?
I can no longer consider my actions to be separate from the rest of the world. My incredible lifestyle comes at the cost of someone else’s. The people in the Maldives have done little to cause the seas to rise, yet their homes and livelihoods are being lost because of me and multiples of me. We all inhabit the one Spaceship Earth.
As we grow more and more in our consciousness, every one of us is beholden to more and more responsibility. This is the pathway of the fully integrated adult human. We have a choice – become more aware and accept the responsibility of awareness, or stay in our teenage years, with little regard to the consequences of our actions. Let’s keep partying all night long, binging on oil, buying more and more stuff and spending all of our money, as if there is no tomorrow. And indeed, there may not be, for all inhabitants on spaceship earth.
The wisdom of all of the mystical traditions, taught for eons, that ‘we are all one’, is being demonstrated now in a way that defies argument. The air I breathe today is the air someone else on the other side of Spaceship Earth will breathe later on. The ocean currents mean that the Gulf oil spill will affect the global oceans. We are all to pay the price.
It is the dawning of the age of integrity. We simply must start with considering Universe first. We must challenge every model, every assumption, every system that we have taken for granted for so long. This is a critical component of every personal practice towards personal mastery.
Most of us have no comprehensive awareness of our economic system. Yet we engage in this system every day. Even the policymakers do not really understand it. Yet policy they make. Scary stuff…like operating on a living human with a blindfold, hoping for the best. We are playing the supreme gamble with Spaceship Earth, and the stakes are very high.
Our education system has been designed to work in conjunction with our economic system, teaching us to be good little students, learn the game, be compliant, and fill the workforce with factory drones, often making ‘stuff’ that has no real value. “Obnoxico”, as Bucky Fuller called it. Plastic toys in the McDonald’s kids’ meal pack. A marketing ploy, but at what cost to Spaceship Earth?
If we choose integrity, if we really do choose to go along with integrity in all areas of our life and work, then we are choosing the road less travelled. We are putting a stake in the ground that declares that we will, from this point on, be fully responsible for all of our actions in our local world, and intent on being fully aware of the field effects, the all-in-consequence, of our actions in the Universe.
This choice, by its nature, asks us to examine everything. Where we work, what we do, what we buy, how we live, what we read, how we speak, and to whom.
This is not to say that we must not drive a car, or buy an iPhone, or travel overseas, or become a saint. However, when we drive our car, we must be aware of the all-in-consequence of driving. And when an oil company has a spill of epic and catastrophic proportions, we need to acknowledge that, on some level, we played a part in that. Even further, if we are really committed to integrity, we continue to support, explore, create, build, and collaborate with others to find more viable solutions to the oil-consuming, hard-to-recycle car. The impulse to do so is not one of ‘doing the right thing/righteousness’; rather, it comes from a deep awareness that there is a better, wiser, more compassionate way, and we are invested in that.
Choosing integrity does not mean a faultless life. Mistakes are part of the human experience. Mistakes are our greatest learning device. Not learning from our mistakes, or denying we made a mistake, or covering up mistakes, or continuing to make the same mistakes, erodes our integrity.
Just as this occurs on the personal level, so it occurs on the greater systemic level. Have we learned from our mistakes about the global economic crisis? As Bernard Lietaer has said, it would be like continuing to drive a car with faulty brakes down the mountain, thinking it was a steering problem. At some point, we must agree that the car has faulty brakes, instead of trying to fix the steering. So far, we have only been tinkering with the steering on Spaceship Earth.
Instead of seeing this time as one of fear, scarcity and heartbreak, we can choose to see the opportunities we have now. It starts with the opportunity to invite a greater wisdom into all of our choices. And to celebrate the sheer ingenuity of humankind available when we put our hearts and souls into real, sustainable problem-solving.
There is no lack of energy; we have more than enough for everyone. More sunshine, wind, water, steam, and wave power than anyone would ever need. We have built an economic model on lies and illusion. We need to wake up, for we are all, with rare exception, puppets in this game. There is an opportunity to rediscover the vitality that comes from doing real work that adds long-term value to all. There is opportunity to invent and create systems that support a whole new earth.
We are all inhabitants of Spaceship Earth. Let’s start behaving like it.
