I can't change people's minds. Only they can.
For millennia individuals, indigenous people, and spiritual prophets have known what to do, preached it, wrote about it, and occasionally did it.
Others have understood it and created religions, philosophies, pamphlets, and political treatise exposing the same self-evident Truths. Unfortunately, the freedom of the human mind enabled it to create new concepts. Linked to the human mind's capacity to believe anything - the problems started. And most human minds were easily enticed to believe these concepts deeply enough billions of people have been convinced to kill and die protecting the concepts, instead of humankind. Minds and bodies capable committing mass murder. Perhaps even our species extinction.
Since the 1950s the concept of the Nuclear Family was easily adopted by hundreds of millions, perhaps even a billion now believe nature is for our consumption, profits, and enjoyment. Few accept the concept of being nature's keepers, protectors, and nurturers. Buckminster Fuller attempted to transform our mind set from being passengers on Spaceship Earth to being its crew.
Thus, our illusion of our independence is basically a catastrophic mental illness of prioritizing comfort and intelligence over competence and wisdom. This illness will likely end civilization as we know it -- unless we wake up to the Truth. Because “Everything is connected, everything is interdependent, so everything is vulnerable.... And that’s why this has to be a more than whole of government, a more than whole of nation [effort]. It really has to be a global effort....” Jen Easterly. CISA director. Oct. 29, 2021. [the Cyber and Infrastructure Security Agency is our nation’s newest federal agency established in 2018]. https://www.c-span.org/video/?515706-1/protecting-critical-infrastructure
“The structure of world peace cannot be the work of one man, or one party, or one Nation. It must be a peace which rests on the cooperative effort of the whole world.” Franklin D. Roosevelt
“In the 21st century, the security and prosperity of every nation is inextricably linked to the security and prosperity of all people. This is the essence of interdependence.” Barack Obama
“Interdependence is a fundamental law of nature. Even tiny insects survive by mutual cooperation, based on interdependence.” Dalai Lama
“We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. This is the interrelated structure of reality.” Martin Luther King Jr.
“All this is simply to say that all life is interrelated. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality; tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. As long as there is poverty in this world, no man can be totally rich even if he has a billion dollars. As long as diseases are rampant and millions of people cannot expect to live more than twenty or thirty years, no man can be totally healthy, even if he just got a clean bill of health from the finest clinic in America. Strangely enough, I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. You can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be.” ― Martin Luther King Jr. . (hear his full speech! OMG. https://youtu.be/QN8ej4k2ilc )
“Our lives are not our own. We are bound to others, past and present, and by each crime and every kindness, we birth our future.” — David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas
“Before you finish eating breakfast in the morning, you've depended on more than half of the world. This is the way our universe is structured, this is its interrelated quality. We aren't going to have peace on earth until we recognize this basic fact of the interrelated structure of all reality.” Martin Luther King, Jr.
"A human being is part of the whole, called by us 'Universe'; a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest - a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole nature in its beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but striving for such achievement is, in itself, a part of the liberation, and a foundation for inner security." -Albert Einstein. As quoted in Quantum Reality, Beyond the New Physics, p. 250.
"The action of even the tiniest creature leads to changes in the entire Universe." - Nikola Tesla
"For peace to reign on Earth, humans must evolve into new beings who have learned to see the whole first." - Immanuel Kant
Laozi (Lao Tzu) – c. 6th century BCE, China. Author of the Tao Te Ching “All things under heaven are born of the corporeal: the corporeal is born of the Incorporeal.”(Tao Te Ching, Chapter 40). This reflects a deep sense of unity in nature—the physical and non-physical being part of one whole, connected reality.
"If liberty is worth keeping and free representative government worth saving, we must stand for all American fundamentals—not some, but all. All are woven into the great fabric of our national well-being. We cannot hold fast to some only, and abandon others that, for the moment, we find inconvenient. If one American fundamental is prostrated, others in the end will surely fall."
-- Albert J. Beveridge (1862-1927) American historian, US Senator (R-IN) 1920
Hippocrates – c. 460–370 BCE, Greece. Father of Western Medicine “The natural healing force within each of us is the greatest force in getting well.” Though a medical statement, it presupposes that human health depends on harmony with natural forces—a systems-level, interdependent view of life.
“You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. Whatever you do makes a difference. You have to decide what kind of difference you want to make” Jane Goodall.
Chief Seattle – c. 1786–1866, Duwamish & Suquamish leader (slightly later, but echoing ancient indigenous thought) “Whatever befalls the Earth befalls the sons of the Earth. Man did not weave the web of life—he is merely a strand in it.” This deeply ecological and spiritual perspective reflects indigenous knowledge that predates and parallels Enlightenment thought
"Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect." - Chief Seattle, Duwamish (1780-1866)
Baruch Spinoza – 1632–1677, Dutch philosopher “All things are in God, and nothing can be apart from God.” Spinoza’s concept of Deus sive Natura (God or Nature) emphasized that everything is one substance, expressing interconnectedness in philosophical terms.”
Leonardo da Vinci – 1452–1519, Italian polymath “Learn how to see. Realize that everything connects to everything else.” Leonardo’s observations from art, science, and nature gave him a systems-level understanding centuries before systems theory existed.
The Bible – New Testament (c. 1st century CE) Corinthians 12:26 (Paul of Tarsus) “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.” This metaphor of the human body as symbolic of human society expresses deep interdependence between individuals.
The Bhagavad Gita – c. 2nd century BCE, India “He who sees the Self in all beings and all beings in the Self, never turns away from it.” (Chapter 6, Verse 29) This speaks to the oneness and mutual presence of the divine and the individual in all things—a core Vedic and yogic insight.
The Qur’an – 7th century CE, Arabia Surah Al-An’am 6:141 “Indeed, He likes not the transgressors. And give its due [zakah] on the day of harvest, and do not waste [resources].” Islamic teachings emphasize stewardship (khalifah) and interconnectedness of people and environment in maintaining balance (mīzān).
Indigenous African Proverb (Ubuntu Philosophy) “I am because we are, and because we are, therefore I am.” Ubuntu captures a relational view of being—personhood exists through connection with others and the community.
The Dhammapada – Teachings of the Buddha (c. 3rd century BCE) “All things arise in dependence upon other things. If this exists, that exists; if this ceases to exist, that also ceases to exist.” *(This is the teaching of dependent origination – pratītyasamutpāda) Buddhism’s foundational insight sees no thing as truly independent; everything arises in a web of causality.
“A great part of that order which reigns among mankind is not the effect of government. It had its origin in the principles of society and the natural constitution of man. It existed prior to government, and would exist if the formality of government was abolished. The mutual dependence and reciprocal interest which man has upon man, and all parts of a civilized community upon each other, create that great chain of connection which holds it together. The landholder, the farmer, the manufacturer, the merchant, the tradesman, and every occupation, prospers by the aid which each receives from the other, and from the whole. Common interest regulates their concerns, and forms their laws; and the laws which common usage ordains, have a greater influence than the laws of government. In fine, society performs for itself almost everything which is ascribed to government. – Thomas Paine, Rights of Man [1791]
“All is connected. That’s the truth of the world’s wisdom traditions ... No single thing, no species or ecosystem, community or culture is safe when so much hangs in the balance. We unravel as one or we regenerate as one.” - Ayana Elizabeth Johnson & Katharine K. Wilkinson, All We Can Save
Underlying unity isn't a dream; it's reality. The appearance of separation is, though, a dream, and it's turning into a nightmare. Jude Currivan
"One touch of nature makes the whole world kin" William Shakespeare.
“It is in the shelter of each other that people live” Irish proverb.
“In the tapestry of existence, every thread counts, revealing the profound connection among all things. This interconnected web is as complex as it is straightforward, transcending the need for explanation. The pursuit of knowledge, often driven by our egos, can cloud our acceptance of life's mysteries. Recognizing our place in something grander, we understand our impact, our significance. Each action we take sends out ripples, continuously shaping our lives. Childhood experiences continue to shape us, and today's events will influence our future. Consider the impact you wish to have on your world. What ripples are you creating?” Bill Kaczor, Ancestral Knowledge
Bill Clinton’s 2015 assessment long after Sept,11-2001: “The real dilemma for all of us over the next twenty years is going to be that the future is going to have way more positive possibilities because of our interdependence, but also continued opportunities for hacking, for cybersecurity problems, and for the spread of deadly technologies, with a lot of confused, undereducated, and unemployed young people in the world, and with a global shortage of jobs for young people, opportunities to do destructive things. Young people are more vulnerable to the siren songs of fundamentalism and the social media. And if they get up thinking tomorrow is going to be like yesterday, that's a very bad thing. This is why I think it's so important that the nation-states that are functioning work harder on shared prosperity, shared opportunities, and shared security, because that's the great battle here.
You can't make all this stuff happen without technology, without relatively open borders and without other people being able to use the same technology for more selfish and more lethal ends. And that's basically where we are…The world is becoming more interdependent, and national borders look more like nets than walls. The nation-state will continue to be very important, but there will be more and more and more unique, previously unforeseeable partnerships required. Alliances by issues, hard choices. How can you make a deal with Iran on nuclear capacity if they're still gonna sponsor Hamas and Hezbollah? How can you break down barriers between government, business, and NGOs when you should and keep the barriers when you shouldn't? All these questions are going to present problems, and the nongovernmental movement is going to be filled with good actors that some nations are increasingly trying to control—China and Russia, for example—and also bad actors that can be very successful. You could argue that ISIS is the most successful NGO—it's like the Gates Foundation versus ISIS, you know? They're a nongovernmental organization… So in the modern world, the ideas that will shape our time will be the intersection of science and technology, medicine and health and technology; the ability to eradicate poverty—we've already exceeded the poverty goals in the first Millennium Development Goals; the ability to identify and lend dignity and importance to every life, because there will be fewer people that need to live and die anonymously in the world; and the ability to find ways to cooperate against the forces that are using the same exact technologies and mobility and porous borders to try to gain a very different future. Boko Haram, Al Shabab, Ansar Dine, ISIS, et al. And underneath it all, in the twenty-first century we will be called upon, I think and I hope, to resolve the oldest dilemma of human society, which is "What does it mean to be a human being?" Our identity crisis. Which is more important, our differences or our common humanity?” Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton on Missed 9/11 Signs, ISIS, and Ragging on George W. Bush By Mark Warren, Esquire 19 September 2015.
Earth seen from space “Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there-on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot.
Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.
The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.
It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.”
― Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space
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