Dreaming the World

A lovely June morning, filled with dazzling light. The irises and peoples are abloom!

As I have watched events unfurl around the country I have been think about how the failures of several administrations have created the current emergencies. I think sometimes that the last truly caring president was Jimmy Carter. That seems like a long time ago. I imagine historians will be trying to parse the arc from Carter to now for some time to come. Anyway, its all too familiar.

I imagine the conflicting narratives we are now witnessing from FOX and the White House on one side and minority communities, some state governments, and reporters on the other will fuel the rage on both sides and confusion for all. That is this administration’s mode of working. We can expect both an absent president and fierce efforts to restore the present order. It will be a long five months; the tactics used by every administration since Carter will be in clear view, only in a greatly amplified form.

The conflict is increasingly between a system and governance that sees everyone and everything as a resource to be exploited and an increasingly angry populace which experiences the burden of the policies and actions that sustain the current formation of state. We have reached a tipping point (there are more ahead) where changing a party platform will not suffice. David’s anger, our collective fear, and my personal historical rage and cynicism are all valid.  How demoralizing that it seems so unlikely either party can find a moral ground from which to give up its access to the wealth created by an extractive economy.

The entire world, from Australia to Siberia, is burning. My question now is: How can we create the immense shifts that are required to return some semblance of balance? I like Janet’s idea of imagining the ideal outcome we wish.

Perhaps one goal is enough: A government committed to taking immediate, substantive, and ongoing steps to correct the historical injustices wrought on America’s marginalized people and the world environment. We recognize that such a shift in governance requires a swift shift from an extractive economy that benefits a few while harming the many, to a nurturing economy that address the dire environmental and human needs that have for so long been largely ignored.

I guess that is also a form of prayer. The task of the community is to care for, and nurture, the circle of life. Prayer is the acknowledgement that we are always at intersections of interdependence. It is good to be moved by that knowledge and the beauty of moments of connectedness, and to wish, and act so, that all beings will be well.