For the past few years I have labelled myself an Atheist. I still am, since I do not believe in a god - but the problem with identifying as an Atheist is that it defines me by what I DON'T believe.
Not much good, that.
So I thought I would try talking more about what I DO believe...
I believe we are here for a very short time - and regardless of what does or does not happen after we die, we are here once. That's it.
I believe the worst thing you can do to a person is rob them of their life - either all at once by killing them or in smaller chunks - via repression, abuse, gossip, exclusion, judgement.
I believe we could build a much better society than we have. We have made up all these rules and patterns of behaviour and are living with them as if they are universal, immovable axioms. They are not. If they are not working for us, we can change them because we created them in the first place.
We have the knowledge, skills, resources and tools to make our lives so much easier than they are.
We can live more simply, with less "things" but all of higher, lasting quality - without sacrificing anything of any importance.
We can live more socially, with less fences between neighbours and more sharing of time, resources, tools and buildings.
But we don't.
We don't because we listen to greed before we listen to generosity. We listen to fear before we listen to courage and compassion. We prefer to stuff ourselves absolutely full - until we in the West are dying from habitual over-consumption - then throw the rest into huge, stinking piles of polluting rubbish - rather than share any of it with the majority of the planet's population - who starve while watching us die of gluttonous obesity. Just in case we have to go without the tiniest, tiniest portion of What We Want.
We don't run this world very well.
But we could.
We can already feed everyone on this Earth. We can have the power, the tools, the past-times, the fun, the freedom and the food we have now but without sucking the planet dry and then burning it.
We can - but we need to look at things very differently. The world and our place in it. The things that can make us truly happy vs what simply satisfies us temporarily. We need different disciplines. A different attitude. A different outlook. A different framework. A different base to work from (and all them other "paradigm shifting" sorta statements...).
These are the things I would like to talk about now - not simply what I don't believe but what I do believe we CAN do. Outlooks on life that DO work. Attitudes and habits and behaviours that DO help. Ways to live a life that is still joyful, adventurous and full but may not have in it every silly little trinket ever to find its way out of a sweatshop.
I have lots of ideas and would love to hear from others. Let's start Something. Something happy and fun and sustainable that works.
If you would all please bow your heads, close your eyes and join me in some quiet contemplation.
Now, Let Us Play...
