I applaud the President for choosing in his State of the
Union speech to focus above and beyond not only the day-to-day political
sniping but also above and beyond the usual laundry list of incremental tweaks
to parameters of this or that policy or this or that program. Quite right that
it's time (past time) we focused not just on the next generation but the next
seven. The world is changing so fast that we can't rely on past experience for
lessons about how to face the future. Rather, we must really think creatively,
outside the box.
To do that, without a past that we can reliably anchor to, we
must instead anchor our decisions and actions in any and all of the President's
four question areas to basic values and guidelines drawn therefrom. That is,
does whatever we do stand the test of being put up against these values and
guidelines?
The Earth Charter
articulates such values and guidelines, including a definition of peace as
"the wholeness created by right relationships with oneself, other persons,
other cultures, other life, Earth, and the larger whole of which all are a
part." And the National Peace Academy
extends these values and guidelines through its programs centered around the
Five Spheres of right relationship - the Personal Sphere, the Social Sphere,
the Political Sphere, the Institutional Sphere, and the Ecological Sphere.
Actually, many of the President's specific proposals in
answer to these four questions fall neatly into one or more of these spheres of
right relationship. Rather than offering answers of my own here, I envision
national conversations addressing these four questions (below). And rather than,
or in addition to, these conversations taking place via internet forums and
social media, in-person, face-to-face dialogues in communities all across the
country can be much more effective in bringing the country together and
reaching at least some common understanding of one another and the issues and
possibilities involved if not total agreement on solutions.
With respect to the first question's focus on social and
economic justice, let's have a national conversation about what personal and
collective actions and systems could we manifest that would be expressive of
right relationships in the personal, social, and institutional spheres in
life-affirming recognition that we are all connected and dependent on one
another, that the world can be a win-win proposition where, if anyone loses, we
all lose.
With respect to the second question's focus on technology,
energy, climate change, and the planet, let's have a national conversation
about what personal and collective actions and systems could we manifest that
would be expressive of right relationships in the ecological sphere of human
stewardship of and kinship with Earth.
With respect to the third question's focus on the role of
the military and international relations, let's have a national conversation
about what right relationships might mean in that context. What personal and
collective actions and systems could we manifest that would be expressive of
right relationships in the context of this global village that we inevitably,
inescapably, and properly find ourselves in?
good job bro!
ReplyDelete