We shape the world and the world shapes us.
In Nature, the good and wholesome plants outnumber
the poisonous ones 100 to one; Walking down a city
street, the good people outnumber the bad by at least
a thousand to one; And yet, we’re all prisoners of this
wrong side of the devil’s percentage, defeated before
we even begin, held captive by our own self-created
fear, unwilling to trust, to taste but once, the pure waters
of the abundant good that surrounds us.
We shape the world and the world shapes us.
If we think of problems as circles, primary problems
are the widest circles we can think about. They are
important because they shape and condition to
varying degrees all the smaller, secondary problems
which lie within them.
The two most important primary problems are the
circles we draw naturally around the whole of the Earth,
and the whole of humanity.
We shape the world and the world shapes us.
Just as we can say that sympathetic resonance
is the beginning of Love and Compassion in the
physical world, we might also say that there are
physical principles which are the beginnings of
a kind of natural justice, as a way of just and
equitable distribution, not merely of resources,
but more importantly, of living space and
life potential.
Three key features of natural justice we already
see present in the environment generally are
freedom of movement, place to be, and equitable,
non-centralized, distribution. These three taken
together might be seen as a species’—any species—
basic rights, for without them, it would be
impossible for the natural intelligence of
adaptation to flourish.
We shape the world and the world shapes us.
The five outer senses recognized by Western
culture—sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell—
are greatly strengthened and complemented by
three equally innate and essential inner senses:
the senses of harmony, rhythm, and sympathetic
resonance (or empathy).
These inner senses of harmony, rhythm, and
sympathetic resonance are essential because,
in the view sketched here, it is not possible to
characterize the uniqueness of the human species
without them. Name one other species that can
hear when an octave is perfectly in tune; Name
one other species that naturally dances to any
music it hears; Name one other species that
naturally senses the pain and grief of another
as if it were its own.
Tragically, all eight senses, both inner and outer,
are now being systematically and grossly corrupted
by the current corporate amplification of the
metaphysics of a radical materialism.
For a vibrantly healthy science, art and religion,
both skepticism and mysticism must be kept
on something like a cultural leash.
Too much skepticism, and we’ll lose all contact with,
and our theories will no longer be informed by,
the spark of the wild, the unknown, and perhaps,
the divine;
Too much mysticism, and we will no longer be
able to deal with the hardnose, rugged, yet
neutral reality, of what is.