If you are following the climate news, well, let me be succinct. We are in big troubles, and I hate to say, I wish I could just live my life, surf in the beach, eat and sleep, and sometimes engage in intimate activities. But you know, this does not concern you, because you, you have AC; you live in a first-world country with access to the internet and so on. You are sheltered with the wealth you have amassed, and you feel powerful with all the gadgets and technology that surround you.
Apparently, the COVID crisis has not taught us anything about crises. When it hits, 1. Everybody is concerned suddenly, 2. Technology will not save us; it actually becomes a burden.
So, where are we heading as humanity? You and I are scared to lose our petty, job-related concerns that feed us for now by importing food from different countries. But what happens when multiple crop failures hit multiple regions, and the logistics are disturbed because people can’t feed themselves properly? Chaos. You heard that chaos.
And let me tell you, you and I are not prepared for it at all. Chaos means violence, pain, and suffering. Oh no, but this can’t happen; we are civilized now, with laws, police, and the rule of law. “Civilization is three meals away from chaos” - Stalin. So, what are the solutions, you tell me?
The solution is spiritual; it is not material. The spirit, the code running in the brain and the heart of people need to change; it needs to change drastically. The code in the heart is what makes possible what happens in the outside material world. Some hints:
- Success is not having a big car, flying around the world to visit far-fetched countries for two weeks, having all sorts of material possessions, but being the most life-saving and flourishing helping being.
- Success is not having more than your neighbor but being the most helpful and loving to your neighbor.
- Success is not “I am better than you,” but you and I are at peace.
- Success is not developing new technology, whatever the consequences on life; it is developing only the technologies that help life flourish and using them wisely.
- Success is seeing through eternity, and not life as an end in itself (difficult for most).
- Success is sacrificing your needs for the needs of life to flourish (this will not diminish you but will bring into your heart gratitude, connection, and fulfillment that so many of us lack in our world).
- Success is witnessing that our ancestors and religions had something important to say to us, and not believing that we had surpassed them in wisdom and intelligence because we have better tech (difficult for most technologists to see this). These will help us align ourselves toward the new world; the crises we face are calls to change. I know you don’t want to hear this, neither do I. I wish I could just go eat, sleep, and engage in intimate activities like an animal until death comes upon me, and I am replaced by other human animals. But I do believe that we have higher purposes on earth, and if you believe the same, then you and I should change, we should do better, we should.