Dear Michael, Harrison and all other friends,
There is an important difference between the titles of the two publications. This difference touches on the essence of the new order. The Club of Rome writes about “the Predicament of Mankind.” Kohei Saito writes about “Save the Earth.” Why does the Club of Rome not write about “the Predicament of the Earth?” Because there is none. The Earth does not have a predicament and she does not need saving. Mankind does! We are changing our habitat in such a way that it is quickly becoming uninhabitable for ourselves. So we are the ones who have the problem. Not Earth. Why is this important? Isn’t this just a nitty-gritty detail that only a language nerd would fuss about? What does this have to do with the New Order? The whole idea that we would have the power to either destroy or save the Earth is at the heart of the problem. Many religions (not in the least Christianity) put humans at the center of the universe, explaining that everything around us was created to serve us and that we are at the top of the pyramid. Sorry folks! We are not the owners of the entire system here. We are just a small particle in something that is so complex that we have not even begun to understand all of it. To find our own humble place in this hugely complex system is a prerequisite to our survival, and thus to the New Order that we need. That WE need, not the Earth. She will keep spinning and spiraling through the universe in all her splendor like she did before we came and like she will keep doing long after we are gone, whatever we do. We still have to go through a few Copernican traumas before we understand our place on Earth and before we will start doing what is needed to survive. One of our great Open Space friends, who passed away in 2011 (and who is still dearly missed), Ralph Copleman, used to lay a very long piece of rope on the ground and he would ask the people in the room to imagine this rope as the history of Earth. Then he would ask the folks to indicate where they think humans came along. Almost everybody would be flabbergasted to learn that we have only been here for the last inch of the rope. I imagine that there will also be a very long piece of rope after we have been gone. A Copernican trauma is what Copernicus inflicted on us, when he discovered that our planet is not the center of the universe. And like Darwin, who discovered that we humans are not the intentional outcome of a planned creation, but just the product of a long series of genetic accidents. We need to find our true place in this New Order and it is a much humbler place than the pedestal where we thought we were. The good news is that it is much more connected. It is lonely at the top – fortunately we are not at the top. Just my 0,02 Koos Van: Michael M Pannwitz via OSList <[email protected]> Verzonden: zondag 18 februari 2024 10:20 Aan: [email protected]; Owen, Harrison <[email protected]> Onderwerp: [OSList] Re: Birthing a New Order Thanks, Harrison! About three weeks ago, some tough investigative journalists (Correctiv) released an article on something atrocious that happened in Berlin. They reported on a meeting of right wing extremists forging plans for getting rid of folks with a migratory background. Immediately, a huge number of people took to the streets in thousands of cities of all sizes and are doing it to this day fighting for upholding democracy in Germany. It selforganized and then groups connected, probably thousands from all areas of civil society... labor unions, churches, climate activists, citizens movements of all kinds, such as Grandmothers for Future, anti faschists, NGOs, city governments... Nobody would have expected this kind of uprising. This is a poignant example of how the force of selforganization unfolds in critical situations. For me it was a wonderful experience yesterday when folks got together in our neighborhood in the afternoon. One hundred people were expected, 1300 came carrying hand made posters to the issue "Unser Kiez ist bunt - kein Platz für Rassismus!". All ages, many families, all walks of life, I met dozens of people I had not seen for years. The whole crowd had tiny gatherings (similar to breakout sessions) discussing stuff and moving about. Regarding your statement "... the discomforture of the departure of the old way of doing business and whatever is coming next.": I have run into a book by Kohei Saito, a japanese scientist, a german version was available last fall, the english one was published early this year. He weighs into the old way... the english title is "Slow Down - How Degrowth Communism Can Save The Earth"... First time I ran into this topic was in 1972 when the Club of Rome published "The Limits to Growth. A Report for the Club of Rome’s Project on the Predicament of Mankind)", produced at MIT. Since then nothing has taken place to actually reduce growth which appears to be a holy grail of our way of doing things. It will be extremely discomfortable, especially in the global north... Wish we all could study his book. It is full of surprises and new insights for me... Love and Peace and see to it that you never work harder than you have to ciao m Am 17.02.2024 um 17:32 schrieb hhowen--- via OSList: As a world, we are obviously in a critical moment. Lots of Chaos, confusion and conflict. And … there are also signs of renewal — colonized peoples are finding the dignity and voice, forgotten peoples left out of the contemporary world are discovering their place. A great deal of moving and shaking, painful for everybody, but hopeful for all. I believe we can actually make it, but somewhere along the line we will have to deal with the Rage that has manifest itself, coming from the discomforture of the departure of the old way of doing business and whatever is coming next. I certainly don’t have the answers, but I think I know where to start. The attached, “After the Rage” is my best effort to the the moment. I believe it is a moment of birth. Tell your own story! Harrison OSList mailing list -- [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> See the archives here: https://oslist.org/empathy/list/everyone.oslist.org Michael M Pannwitz Draisweg 1, 12209 Berlin, Germany +49 30 7728000 [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
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