The Bigger Picture, Part 2 – January 2016
By Susannah and Ya’Acov
As those of you who know us well will know, part of the roots of this practice is our willingness to engage with the bigger picture of life to which we all belong. We recognise that there are so many issues that demand our attention from the suffering of refugees to the troubles in the Amazon. We also recognise how overwhelming the world can be, especially with the tendency the mass media has to concentrate on bad news.
And we are very grateful to be part of a community that is willing to risk this overwhelm and both dance for and take action alongside the many millions of people from all walks of life who are waking up and standing up for life on earth. For both of us, the bottom line is that life is a mystery; a Great Mystery. We recognise that we do not know how things are supposed to turn out and that we cannot hope to begin to understand this mystery. However, alongside this, we also recognise that we have a duty to follow the strong calling in our hearts to do what we can to protect what is left of the wildness of this earth and the awe-inspiring beauty and power of nature itself.
In the light of all this, we want to tell you how happy we are about the level of engagement and participation there is about learning, creativity, inspirations of all kinds, sustainability, social justice and global citizenship on the MM Facebook page. This was especially strong around the time of COP-21. Susannah would especially like to thank all those who helped spread the word about the Mosaic and all the other petitions and her videos mandating and supporting a positive change.
From our perspective, COP-21 took a mighty step which, however imperfect, is worthy of celebration. Many of those involved dedicated super-human efforts to making sure that there was a movement in a sane direction. And they succeeded. At least in part, the public pressure from around the globe helped make this possible. It feels important to take a moment to honour this, and all the many, many actions, including many by those in this community. Halleuliah!
However, it also feels important to acknowledge that the Paris COP21 accord though necessary, is not sufficient by any means to ensure a future on earth for the generations to come and equally important, for all the species and for nature itself who we endanger. Now it is up to us to stay awake and active and keep supporting the direction of sanity in all ways possible and by holding our governments to their word.
Some positive actions you can take:
- Get involved with (and support) the Pachamama Alliance. Join the Pachamama Alliance’s Gamechanger intensive
- If you are in the UK, switch your energy supply to renewables with Good Energy
- Pay attention to your shopping habits. When we shop we are voting for the world we want to support. Please read where products come from, what they contain etc. and choose mindfully where you can.
- Stay in touch with Greenpeace and Avaaz’s campaigns, especially to keep your government aware that people care and hold them accountable to the Paris accord and to go further.
- Share your positive ideas and actions on the MM FB page
We wish all of us the deep fulfilment that comes from engaging with this mystery and daring to feel our love for life in its myriad forms. To end, we want to share these very powerful words from the book Sapiens – A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Hanari:
“…….despite the astonishing things that humans are capable of doing, we remain unsure of our goals and we seem to be as discontented as ever. We have advanced from canoes to galleys to steamships to space shuttles – but nobody knows where we are going. We are more powerful than ever before, but have very little idea what to do with all that power… Worse still, human beings seem to be more irresponsible than ever. Self-made gods with only the laws of physics to keep us company, we are accountable to no one. We are consequently wreaking havoc on our fellow animals and on the surrounding ecosystem, seeking little more than our own comfort and amusement, yet never finding satisfaction.
Is there anything more dangerous than dissatisfied and irresponsible gods who don’t know what they want?”
Capiche? Time for us to find out!
Our love and respect to one and all,
Susannah & Ya’Acov, January 2016