[These responses to "A Call for Vision" (See previous post), were e- mailed to the list on 06 June 2001]
Hello Again! Here are the responses from “A Call for Vision”. I was pleased with the responses. The fact that these people took the time to write, and have a vision at all, is a sign of the potential that exists to transform the world and our communities.
If anyone has delayed writing a vision until now, it’s not too late! Your ideas can be included in the next newsletter.
Thanks to those kind people who sent responses. And for those who were too busy to write something, I hope you continue to cultivate visions of your own.
CONTENTS
1. Anonymous- Early Christian, vegetarian diet, systemic change
2. Tom Kat- (Cincinnati, Ohio) Cool poetry about resistance, failures of the system
3. Mark Burwinkel- (Cincinnati, Ohio) the value of Love
4. Jamal Moussaten- (Fes, Morocco) International relations
5. Bill Joiner- (Cincinnati , Ohio) Cincinnati riots, Cincinnati activists, skepticism
6. Charles Mosolf- (West Palm Beach, Florida) Respect others, greed
7. Nicole Schaefer- (Germany) feelings transmitted through social relationships
8. Martijn Boeker- (The Netherlands) we all contribute to the world’s situation
9. Kevin Pease- (Cincinnati, Ohio) Socially responsible design company press release
10 Ken Knabb- extensive vision of a post liberation society, (Chapter 4 of his book)
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Anonymous
Great question. I found the following lesson in the teaching of early Christians, who borrowed it from Plato: If one wishes to better the world around, one starts by bettering the world within.
The world can be viewed as a single multi-part organism of which we are part. Different parts of the world represent different parts of ourselves to us. One cannot function in reality as a whole if different aspects of one’s personal life are not of good function to each other.
Applications of this are often very straightforward. If one truly cares for his physical health, one will eliminate or greatly limit the animal products in one’s diet to make room for the superior nutrients of other foods and to avoid the plethora of health problems caused or worsened by comsumption of animal products. This, in turn, brings similar benefit to the world as whole. Animal farms in the U.S. consume the majority of grain grown there, and they also are far more polluting than all of the industries in the U.S. combined. Every pound of meat yielded requires twelve pounds of grain and one big pig farm in Nevada creates more waste per day than the whole city of Los Angeles. The adoption of a largely vegetarian diet by the American people would free more than enough grain for all the world’s hungry, and greatly reduce environmental pollution– the same benefits one reaps as an individual! More nutrients, less toxins.
Other applications of this are more abstract and difficult, such as in government, foreign policy, and equality. How does one govern himself but by paying attention to each part of his being at certain times, and ignoring parts at other times? How is this applied to a society where everyone wants their “right” to have it their way, in all ways and at all times?
Clearly, the concepts being ‘created equal’ and having ‘rights’ in this world are not concepts based on reality as it is, but are a parts of system devised to maintain an order similar to reality as it ought to be. Perhaps this system needs some rewriting?
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Tom Kat
TODAY:2001/TOMORROW:2015
Finding a direction out of here
2015: the never ending fear and astray
Sending this message far and near
A message for a new way – A revolutionary brighter day!
Not just of the working class but also for a higher consciousness
For generations suppressed revolutionary thought with beauracracy and policy
What would happen if we decentralized and disempowered authority?
Maybe a true sound of liberty?
Change won’t shine on us from above.
In the light of independence – Our free thought shall run!
Institutions based on Mutual Aid, a shelter and food for every individual and family, clean air to breathe, forests that are not cleared away,
organized labor of the workplace,
No political decisions based on hypocrisy,
empowerment of gender, race, youth, and family, clean water to drink, a world where it is safe to walk the streets
Where it is not illegal to smoke weed, or sit in the park after dark under your favorite tree,
envision a future society, what fundamental characteristics determine parasitism,
its time to acknowledge the real enemy, and fight to control our own destiny!
Look toward tomorrow will nothing be left to spare
A revolution must, no doubt, be shared
A banner of hope is all that is left
Under a state run world that’s given us fear
Self destruction and hate has prized itself best
We stand defiant these lines of divisions must be steered
Till the leaders of this world lay down to rest!
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Mark Burwinkel
A VISION FOR A BETTTER WORLD
For a better world/life we need to Love. We must be Love. We must realize that we are Love. We must relearn Love. A Gandhi Love. Not the wanting or lust we often see mistaken for Love. An unconditional Love that requires nothing in return. Imagine, if we Loved the Earth, each other and every being. If we Love each other and in return are Loved, we will truly be alive and vital and know our real connection to the Earth\Universe\Source. If we Love and are Loved; hate, fear and racism will diminish and may disappear; because these feelings will no longer be needed for our evolution. They will become concepts we no longer know of or are capable of showing to our Loved ones.
Once we Love we will know we are one. As Love beings we will evolve and raise our energy from being centered in survival\sexuality and move it up to spiritual\Love. This is not saying we will abandon sex, rather it will become wholesome, sacred and rooted in the place of creation. All we know is of Love, it is our birthright.
Government may cease to exist, as we know it, since government is filled with those of us who are susceptible to the greed for power. Government seems to be a structure to dominate and control. Once we Love we will know true power, which comes to us from the source.
International Relations just as all relationships will be mature and wholesome. With a true realization of Love we will know that all relations are divine and sacred.
I think as Love beings we will not be able to wage war. Look at what Gandhi did with Love\non-violence. The resources we have been wasting on militarism will move to needed areas. In Love we will no longer be able to harm another.
Much technology, which is based on control and domination, may fall away. When we know we have no need to control the Earth, harmful aspects of technology will be abandoned. In Love we will find only the most wholesome technologies, those that the Earth-We can live with, cherish and thrive on. Personal autos will disappear as we remember we are one, indivisible, complete, whole and disdain aloneness. We will see the automobile as a test we have passed. As Love beings we will know that we need not go anywhere to find ourselves, only that we need to look inside and know who we are.
Business/ Production- Community, The Environment: I suppose our population would decline, to move towards a more sustainable level and big cities would be abandoned/transformed into a relationship community of extended family, as we all are. Our connection to the Earth and to each and every being would show our sacred blessedness through Love. We would know once again that a grain of sand is just as related as our spouse and just as sacred. Love and relatedness would guide our values. As Love we will know helping others will be helping ourselves, there will be no more homelessness since our homes will be everyone’s home. Much sickness will disappear since it is caused by a lack of Love. Greed will end as we learn the most important value is Love and unity.
Let me say that this is not done, there is more about Love to know/feel, there will always be more just like everything, there is no end that we know or maybe can comprehend.
Love ~ Mark
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Jamal Moussaten
Dear tree,
My thanks to you for this bright idea hoping to have a better, more perfect world. Also my thanks go to those who participate by his/her vision. Even if it is not a panacea for all that the world suffers, it can contribute greatly in solving some of problems.
Difficult efforts have to be made by all the countries of the world regardless of their geographical, economic, political, and social differences.
Also, non-governmental organisations have a vital role in improving some of the bad situations. And the relations existing between countries of the world should be cooperative to promote the civil and peaceful needs of the nations.
I will very glad to read how other people see matters for a better world. My e-mail address is jamal. moussaten AT caramail.com . If someone on this mailing list would like to correspond with me, I would be very happy to have friends from all over the world to learn about each other’s culture.
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Bill Joiner
Hi Tree,
I suppose you have heard about the fact that there has been another police shooting of an unarmed young black man in Cincinnati, and several days of rioting in its aftermath. Many people have been hurt by police clubs and stun guns, but of course that has been downplayed. At the funeral of the young man a number of people attended, and suddenly several police cars roared up, the police jumped out and used stun guns on some of the people, all of whom were peaceful. The police involved then jumped back into their cars and rode off. That incident was covered on national TV (the Lehrer News Hour) but I have yet to see it on local TV. It is unbelievable.
With respect to your question, I have no grand visions. I am just too cynical I guess. People who have had such grand visions in the past have usually had them distorted, manipulated, or just put down. When I think of people I have personally known and admired like Mac, buddy, Marian Spencer, and Jim Paradise, I think they also did not have grand visions. [Mac is short for Maurice McCrackin, a well known Cincinnati activist for peace and integration, among other causes. buddy gray was a well known activist for the homeless in the Over the Rhine neighborhood of Cincinnati. Marian Spencer is an African American activist in Cincinnati. Jim Paradise was a labor lawyer and who worked in the southern US and in Cincinnati. -Ed.]
Mac was probably the most serendipitous of all. He just ran into injustices and put himself on the line to oppose them, often without any kind of plan. buddy worked in OTR one summer, saw the poverty and homelessness, and tried to do what he could do to address those and related problems. Marian Spencer, prior to the civil rights movement, ran into racial discrimination, and met it head on, and changed some specific practices that were discriminatory. Jim Paradise, who got his law degree during Roosevelt’s presidency was one of the first examiners appointed to the NLRB and secured labor rights in a number of specific instances, and along with that, often the rights of black workers who were especially exploited in the South. He later became a strong defender of civil liberties, especially in the McCarthy years.
I think to have a better world, we all simply have to take responsibilities in our small portion of it, and do what we can. But even that is unrealistic, because there are strong elements with much power who will not only not do that themselves, but will fight our trying to do it. Why are there such differences in motivation and values? I have never been able to understand that. But I have become very interested lately in brain research. Although we know very little about the mind, we now do know that there are subtle, and sometimes not so subtle, brain chemicals that influence our perceptions and our reactions, and probably our overall personalities, which probably also includes our values. It is frightening that science might give us the means to influence minds in a harmful way (to make, for instance, aggressive soldiers), but I always have believed that the more we know about ourselves and about each other, the better chance we have of making this a better world. Much of right wing politics today is based on blaming people who need help. Perhaps if we understand from a scientific point of view that we do not have complete free will, as they assume, but we are ruled by a chemistry that largely originates in our genes, we will be forced to be more tolerant.
Perhaps that sounds a little nutty, but I do believe it is only a matter of a decade or two before we have a better framework for understanding the mind, and hopefully that will have a positive influence.
Bill Joiner
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Charles Mosolf (my father)
I’ve thought about your e-mail question and don’t have any magic answers. What I try to do is imagine myself in the place of the people I meet daily and try to treat them with the respect due anyone. Diana & I find lots of opportunity to do this while travelling and it feels good. We appreciate the warm vibes we get in return. Unfortunately, we (some of us) get so wrapped up in our own survival, that we don’t leave enough “giving” time and energy for others.
I think one of the greatest evils of our time is greed. There are so many people with such a concentration of wealth & power that want even more. Then there are a million times more people, for each of the abscenely wealthy, that are living in poverty or at bare subsistence levels. There needs to be some method to even out the classes in society. Being a realist, I don’t see that happening; it’s been that way since greed was invented.
Even in my business dealings, I was always being pressured to sell “stuff” that I did not feel was good for the customer. Had I given in to my bosses wishes, they would have been happier, I would have made more money and climbed the ladder of “success”. But I had to live with myself and chose only to promote those things that I felt were in the best interests of my customer. My customers respected me for it and I always felt good about my reputation.
I have no easy answers on how to level the field for the downtrodden and under-priviliged. And I’m not real optimistic that it will happen anytime soon.
I’m sure you wanted some more concrete ideas. I would be interested in your ideas and the responses of others.
Love, Dad
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Nicole Schaefer
Ok, maybe just a small idea that many might have, but I think the best way to make the world a bit better is to try to treat everybody respectfully, even if you are stressed. This is important because often the bad mood jumps from one to the other and that might cause a rolling stone of bad vibrations. Each of us knows the situation when we feel like we have been treated badly, even though we didn’t do anything to that person who reacted strangely.
Also, to understand that everybody has bad days might help. Even if that doesn’t sound like it would change the world, it might do it slowly because there would be more positive energy.
But this thought might be a bit too idealistic and far away from facts like poverty.
But if we try to do things so that we are satisfied with our reactions, then it is at least a start in a small, private way.
Nicole
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Martijn Boeker
Thank you for your invitation to write down my vision for a better world. On one hand I find this difficult, because I am quite passive in my actions to make this world better. I don’t support peace organizations, don’t join demonstrations, I eat meat, etc. Still I must have a vision of creating a better world, because it is something that I want. I’ll try to write it down.
Maybe this is my first step to come into action.
Who should take responsibility? We are used to handing our responsibility to others, e.g. the government. It is the responsibility of companies to produce in a way that is in harmony with nature, or at least not affecting it too much. Most companies won’t do this until they are forced by laws. The government doesn’t make these laws until there is an atmosphere in the society that stimulates this. This atmosphere can be influenced by a lot of things, such as what is written in papers. I think everyone influences the atmosphere in the end. This makes everyone responsible for the atmosphere, which is responsible for what’s happening.
Ultimately, the atmosphere will stimulate everyone to take their own responsibility. I believe that everyone knows deep inside what’s best, what brings the most luck and the least suffering to everyone. By nature, people are loving. The best thing is to see everybody and everything healthy and happy, including yourself, the people around you and everything that lives. If you take your responsibility based on this, you will know what to do.
So what do I do to accomplish this, or what should one do? Whatever you do, it should be natural. A friend of mine believes in some kind of energetic field that surrounds all of us and through which we communicate our thoughts and feelings. In that way, any good thought is of direct good influence.
Martijn
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Kevin Pease
Hey Tree,
Hope you are doing well my friend. Starting a Socially Responsible Graphic Design company is the best vision for a better world that I can do. I have attached my company’s launch press release that pretty much covers what you are asking for.
Until next time, I bid you peace,
Kevin
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F O R I M M E D I A T E R E L E A S E
CINCINNATI, OH. Serendipity Design is pleased to announce it’s official opening on April 21st, 2001 – Earth Day. The budding studio specializes in high-end, graphic design, web design, printing, and marketing related services – all having the serendipitous reward of being produced in an ethical and socially responsible manner.
“At Serendipity Design, we have a strong commitment to doing business with and promoting companies whose business practices do not willfully harm the environment, life or human rights. “We take pride knowing that our work is used to promote companies that do not condone these practices either” states the companies ethical policy. With such a strong commitment to the environment, is appropriate that the company has selected Earth Day to officially launch its venture.
The brainchild vision of award winning Graphic Designer Kevin Pease, the unique offerings of Serendipity intend to show Cincinnati that, at least in design circles, it’s easy being green. A fairly progressive undertaking to kick off in what is commonly viewed as a pretty conservative town, Pease has no apprehension that the studio won’t succeed. “Cincinnati might be a conservative town, but there are a lot of progressive individuals, organizations and small companies here that are in need of the professional services we offer. Our present clients are with us because they expect outstanding service that help them accomplish their goals, and they appreciate that we go one step further to deliver those offerings with socially responsible considerations in mind. It used to be you could only find this kind of progressive company in cities like Portland, Boston or San Francisco. It’s great to be starting one in Cincinnati.” said Pease.
To guide him in his role as Serendipity’s President and visionary, Kevin will draw upon over 6 years of experiences gained while working with some of Cincinnati and Dayton, Ohio’s most prestigious design studios, as well as from his longtime relationships with a number of Cincinnati’s progressive institutions. “Serendipity Design is a great way for me and our employees to combine our concerns for issues of social responsibility with our passions for creating great design, yet still be able to eat and pay the bills. It’s a pretty wholesome feeling.” said Pease.
No stranger to doing great work, one of Kevin’s designs recently picked up a Silver Addy Award at this years Art Directors Club of Cincinnati design competition. On the progressive end, he was one of 100 local nominees for a 2000 National Golden Rule Award for his commitments to progressive organizations. That same year he was recognized by Xavier University for outstanding contributions to their Service Learning program, and was also awarded ReSTOC’s Volunteer of the Year award for his longtime contributions. “Being recognized with awards is pretty cool.” Pease states humbly. “It allows others to let you know in a big way that you have done a great job. While we don’t shoot for awards, it’s pretty affirming that were doing the right things when they do come along” he said.
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Ken Knabb
The following section is an excerpt from Chapter 4 of a book written by Ken called “The Joy of Revolution”.
[Edited due to length.]
Please see the link:
http://www.bopsecrets.org/PS/joyrev4.htm
