|
|
|
|
Through the Tunnel:
The Plight of Good People in Bad Systems Life today is like heading toward the entrance of a tunnel. The options we have are increasingly narrowed by the decline of all major ecosystems. The entrance to the tunnel is constricted. The options for movement are bounded by the sides. The tunnel leads through the depths of a mountain. Natural light gradually decreases the further we go yet a distant light indicates an opening at the other end. As we proceed toward the far end, the light becomes brighter until we exit. A completely new vista awaits us upon reemergence. Today many good people are trapped in a matrix of bad systems, systems based on a radical separation of humans from the rest of creation, compartmentalization of knowledge and the overriding value of money as a driver. Such systems continually confront their limits while giving the illusion of unlimited possibilities. People in these systems become addicted to the thinking that created the systems and constantly increase their activity, always hoping for an escape but never having the time to think in new ways. The patterns of activity reinforce the incapability of these good people to liberate themselves from the constructed world without a vision that moves toward a new reality of a life-sustaining society. Patterned thinking from the same models generates the same results, always less than satisfying and often destructive and dysfunctional. Discouragement, disappointment and despair become the inevitable outcome. The context is complex and entraps the mega-institutions of society – business, government, education, religion, science and technology, healthcare, communication, and arts and culture. The frenetic patterns combine to affect all life on earth. Their intense sound drowns out the groans of the earth itself-rapidly declining ecosystems and dying species. Each mega-institution becomes another way to reinforce old patterns of thinking, giving the illusion of salvation but never escaping the bounds of a self-created prison. Understanding the patterns by which these institutions operate and the effects of their activities are necessary prerequisites to moving toward the light at the end of the tunnel. As a preface to action and as part of the ongoing action, we need to immerse ourselves in systemic analysis, an understanding of the various dimensions of the exercise of power and the issues—social, political, economic—that affect the system. Any action without such analysis can lead to unintended consequences with devastating effects. At the same time we cannot await full knowledge which is never possible before setting forth. What can we do to move forward? I suggest activity in four different areas: Personally we need to renew and recharge our own life-giving energy, to recover our inherent goodness, intelligence and creativity and reconnect with others and the earth. On another level we need to restore and revive persons and natural systems suffering from the effects of present destructive patterns and return them to a state prior to damage. On a third level we need to reform and revise the life of institutions or at times resist their practices. On the future level we need to re-envision, recreate and remake all the mega-institutions, transforming them to resonate with the rhythms of the universe. 1 Renew, Recharge and Recover Most of us reach some degree of burn out as we increase our activity with less satisfaction from the results. We perpetuate a sense of powerlessness within ourselves as we see the increasing ineffectiveness of solutions coming from a failing model. We experience personal pain from the immediate circumstances and a growing intensity of pain as we gain insight into the suffering of the earth. To numb our feelings we succumb to withdrawal and denial, depression, increased consumption of unnecessary items or treat our symptoms with drugs and alcohol. We drag others into our world in codependent patterns with destructive effects. Our response increases our pain and heightens our sense of separateness. Our very reaction alienates us from the interconnectedness that is life itself. Joanna Macy in the wonderful book, Coming Back to Life: Practices to Reconnect Our Lives, Our World (New Society 1998, coauthored with Molly Young Brown) states: When we are distracted and fearful, and the odds are running against us, it is easy to let the heart and mind go numb. The dangers now facing us are so pervasive and yet often so hard to see—and painful to see, when we manage to look at them—that the numbing touches us all. No one is unaffected by it. No one is immune to doubt, denial or disbelief about the severity of our situation—and about our power to change it. Yet of all the dangers we face from climatic change to nuclear wars, none is so great as the deadening of our response.(page 24) Our situation is a profound spiritual condition expressing loss of a sense of interconnectedness and alienation from the web of life. Our first response must be to feel and express the pain. Without this expression we remain blocked in our ability to think clearly about ways to reconnect with the life-giving community of the earth that surrounds us. Whatever our own spiritual heritage and its captivity to old ways of thinking, we can find roots there of healing and wholeness through the experience of suffering. We can also find the joy and celebration of the unity of life. In music, art and dance we find ways of self-expression and connection with the rhythms of the universe that give voice to our own inherent creativity. Whatever the method we must take time to recharge our energy and renew our strength “to mount up as eagles.” As we take the time we recognize the multiplication factor, the increasing effectiveness of our own work that comes from regular renewal and recharge. In this process we can recover the innate intelligence, creativity and joy of life that was ours at birth. 2. Restore, Revive and Return The destruction wrought by the present system of human activity affects everyone. From the racism and sexism that destroy the sense of acceptance of everyone as equals to the impacts of a society based on growth, greed and getting more to the decline in every major ecosystem to the unprecedented rate of species extinction, hurts are inflicted that need to be healed. These hurts are internalized so that people begin to act out of the feelings and perceptions imposed in that internalized oppression rather than out of a true sense of identity. Restoration of people and forests, of communities and wetlands, of relationships and rivers must be part of any work to revive life. We must return people and ecosystems to a state that existed before present destruction began. 3. Reform, Revise and Resist Work with existing institutions is crucial. They will not disappear overnight. Many practices can be mitigated so that life has a chance. Reform and revision of operating guidelines, customs and cultures within institutions are crucial parts of making a system that functions well and provides a transition to new institutions. Some institutional practices are so destructive that they need to be resisted. Much crucial social change work occurs on the level of reform, revision and resistance. 4. Re-envision,
Re-create and Remake For a new society based on human continuity with the natural world we need to re-envision the possibilities, recreate a dream for the future and remake the institutions. Alternatives to present institutions must embody a new vision powerful enough to replace the old. Transformation to a society recognizing its interconnectedness with the universe, expressing its diversity and affirming new possibilities for all its subjects is a slow but necessary process. As Thomas Berry expresses in The Great Work (Bell Tower 1999) we need to draw on the wisdom of the past found in the great classical traditions, the wisdom of science, the wisdom found in the life experience of indigenous peoples, and the inherent wisdom of women. Each way provides a different window that allows glimpses of new possibilities, alternatives that become mainstream in the new society. Making our way through the tunnel we have created is the work of everyone. While we may choose to concentrate our energies on one of the four levels, each level is a necessary part of moving toward a life sustaining future. Work on each level gives energy to the other levels. Andy Smith Return to Reflections Developing Sustainability |
