"Our" Earth
Mystics and quantum scientists agree that there is no real separation between parts of the Universe. That is, that, though, for instance, we humans each see others as individuals, in fact we're all part of some harmoniously functioning whole. Though it feels like we're separate, that separateness is an illusion. Time and space are illusions in a sense, though useful to a point.
We are, in many ways, a fallen race. I'm in with those who believe humans have been on Earth for millions of years. And I'm also of the opinion that there have been times in our distant past in which we were even more technologically advanced than we are now.
This is not the first time human fear, greed, violence, competition, and hatred have resulted in catastrophic collapse.
I keep balance in this time of great change by remembering the first sentence in Charles Dickens' book A Tale of Two Cities - " “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..."
On the one hand, we have absolutely terrifying catastrophes (species loss, parts of the planet going under water, starvation on a scale unprecedented in modern times, wars over resources, forests burning, greenhouse gases exploding in quantity, increasing number and severity of earthquakes). And, though the Earth is dramatically increasing in average temperature, there are times and places which experience unusual cold and e.g. extreme amounts of snowfall, such as Snowmageddon that happened in the Eastern United States a few years ago.
On the other hand, new technologies are coming into use at such a rate that, to older people who think about it, seem absolutely miraculous. I remember as a child in the 1950's that clothes driers were mechanical wringers that you turned the handle of; then they became electric wringers that you didn't have to do the muscle work of turning the handle - you just fed the clothes into the wringer (and made sure you didn't get your fingers caught in it). I remember our family's first electric refrigerator (we lived on Mirror Street in Greenfield). The previous fridges used either running water in an ice house built over a creek or an ice box in the kitchen which had ice brought from e.g. Lake Erie which kept things cold. I remember clothes drying meant you cranked a handle to wring clothes out after they were in the washer, then you hung them up to dry. What's going on now would have stunned Dick Tracy and the Jetsons both. We have instantaneous communication all over the Earth.
It keeps me interested and enjoying life to know that we can handle the massive problems coming over us. One reason I am convinced it's not hopeless is the fact I myself and many others are coming to realize that huge technological advances in our society have been held up by the status quo. Nikola Tesla had an electric car a hundred years ago. What he called "radiant energy" and what he and others called "etheric energy" were referring to what scientists now are calling "zero point energy". Sun, wind, tide, geothermal, and hydro are by no means the only sources of energy now recognized to be possible.
Pittsburgh, Steel City, via great suffering and pollution (purification by fire) from iron created steel, a molecularly more orderly and so stronger material. Western Pennsylvania was where the first oil was extracted and used on a mass scale. We were part of the beginning of the nuclear age, with all it's useful possibilities and violent uses and damaging pollution.
We, having become one of the most polluted cities on the planet, then developed an advanced pollution treatment industry able to help other parts of the Earth. While the first responders to the Chernobyl disaster were using duct-taped department store toy trucks to try to remote view what was going on at the center which had lethal amounts of radioactivity and so couldn't be approached...We had people at Carnegie Mellon walking robots in Schenley Park. We have something to give to the world.
I continue to believe we can establish a paradise on this planet. We are in the Great Purification. Our childish fighting amongst ourselves will stop, via transformation and/or death. My mother, raising seven boys, would respond to our fighting with "Fight nice, now." We need to get back to learning from our differences rather than letting them be occasions for conflict. If we don't get along, we will not survive. That means we have to transform the military-industrial complex. Sometimes we kids fighting would break a toy or get hurt, and my Mom would say, "Good for ya, serves ya right." It's or choice.
As contradictory as it may seem to all you fellow workaholics out there, key to solving problems is to enjoy, enjoy thinking about them, enjoy working on them, enjoy crying about them,...Whatever. Just don't become afraid.
Jim McCue
composter and biotech researcher
412-880-7237
http://bioeverything.blogspot.com
We are, in many ways, a fallen race. I'm in with those who believe humans have been on Earth for millions of years. And I'm also of the opinion that there have been times in our distant past in which we were even more technologically advanced than we are now.
This is not the first time human fear, greed, violence, competition, and hatred have resulted in catastrophic collapse.
I keep balance in this time of great change by remembering the first sentence in Charles Dickens' book A Tale of Two Cities - " “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..."
On the one hand, we have absolutely terrifying catastrophes (species loss, parts of the planet going under water, starvation on a scale unprecedented in modern times, wars over resources, forests burning, greenhouse gases exploding in quantity, increasing number and severity of earthquakes). And, though the Earth is dramatically increasing in average temperature, there are times and places which experience unusual cold and e.g. extreme amounts of snowfall, such as Snowmageddon that happened in the Eastern United States a few years ago.
On the other hand, new technologies are coming into use at such a rate that, to older people who think about it, seem absolutely miraculous. I remember as a child in the 1950's that clothes driers were mechanical wringers that you turned the handle of; then they became electric wringers that you didn't have to do the muscle work of turning the handle - you just fed the clothes into the wringer (and made sure you didn't get your fingers caught in it). I remember our family's first electric refrigerator (we lived on Mirror Street in Greenfield). The previous fridges used either running water in an ice house built over a creek or an ice box in the kitchen which had ice brought from e.g. Lake Erie which kept things cold. I remember clothes drying meant you cranked a handle to wring clothes out after they were in the washer, then you hung them up to dry. What's going on now would have stunned Dick Tracy and the Jetsons both. We have instantaneous communication all over the Earth.
It keeps me interested and enjoying life to know that we can handle the massive problems coming over us. One reason I am convinced it's not hopeless is the fact I myself and many others are coming to realize that huge technological advances in our society have been held up by the status quo. Nikola Tesla had an electric car a hundred years ago. What he called "radiant energy" and what he and others called "etheric energy" were referring to what scientists now are calling "zero point energy". Sun, wind, tide, geothermal, and hydro are by no means the only sources of energy now recognized to be possible.
Pittsburgh, Steel City, via great suffering and pollution (purification by fire) from iron created steel, a molecularly more orderly and so stronger material. Western Pennsylvania was where the first oil was extracted and used on a mass scale. We were part of the beginning of the nuclear age, with all it's useful possibilities and violent uses and damaging pollution.
We, having become one of the most polluted cities on the planet, then developed an advanced pollution treatment industry able to help other parts of the Earth. While the first responders to the Chernobyl disaster were using duct-taped department store toy trucks to try to remote view what was going on at the center which had lethal amounts of radioactivity and so couldn't be approached...We had people at Carnegie Mellon walking robots in Schenley Park. We have something to give to the world.
I continue to believe we can establish a paradise on this planet. We are in the Great Purification. Our childish fighting amongst ourselves will stop, via transformation and/or death. My mother, raising seven boys, would respond to our fighting with "Fight nice, now." We need to get back to learning from our differences rather than letting them be occasions for conflict. If we don't get along, we will not survive. That means we have to transform the military-industrial complex. Sometimes we kids fighting would break a toy or get hurt, and my Mom would say, "Good for ya, serves ya right." It's or choice.
As contradictory as it may seem to all you fellow workaholics out there, key to solving problems is to enjoy, enjoy thinking about them, enjoy working on them, enjoy crying about them,...Whatever. Just don't become afraid.
Jim McCue
composter and biotech researcher
412-880-7237
http://bioeverything.blogspot.com
posted by St. Jim the Composter at 4:37 PM
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