Creating a World Worth Inheriting

Resilient Life Public Resilient Life
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First, great, constructive idea, Pioneer:

[quote=Pioneer]I had an idea to reach more people with accurate information and right understanding to “Create a World Worth Inheriting”: create a PBS weekly television serial, perhaps called "This New Life".

This New Life would be a weekly program which explores and demonstrates all the aspects of the New Human Ecology and New Human Values that will be the New Paradigm of Sustainable Living, Stewardship of the Earth and Earth Community, and how to ride the bewildering landscape of the Paradigm Shift to this bright New World gracefully, intelligently, together. [/quote]

As you said at the end, there are challenges (like $) in making something like this work.  But brainstorming of ideas comes before the critical evaluation of those ideas, the identification of issues that would need to be addressed, and planning on how to overcome those challenges.  I think you spoke directly to the spirit of what Chris wants to accomplish, which is what is needed now.

 

Moving on.  

This morning an idea from Kahlil Gibran's book, the Prophet, came to mind.  Paraphrasing his lesson on teaching, he says that a teacher needs to "lead people to the threshold of their own understanding".  Here's the quote (edited to minimize religious content per site guidance): 

No man can reveal to you aught but that which already lies half asleep in the dawning of your knowledge...

If he is indeed wise,he does not bid you enter the house of his wisdom, but rather leads you to the threshold of your own mind. 

The astronomer can speak to you of understanding of space, but he cannot give you his understanding, 

The musician may sing to you of the rhythm which is in all space, but he cannot give you the ear which arrests the rhythm not the voice that echoes it.

And he who is versed in the science of numbers can tell of the regions of weight and measure, but he cannot conduct you hither.

For the vision of one man lends not its wings to another man.

I love the Crash Course and the ideas discussed here and in related sites, books, and articles.  But I think many of us who already "get" the message are ones for whom the message already reached the threshold of our own understanding (and inherent proactiveness to learn the truth).  

So where am I going with this?  If the goal is to reach a broader audience, I think we need to put ourselves in the shoes of the people we are trying to reach, and ask "how can we guide them to the threshold of their understanding"?

 

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The "cool factor".  Chris needs to reach out to other sites with diverse audiences (and no, this site is not a diverse audience…) and get the Tyler Durdens, Jim Quinns, and so forth to recommend their viewers check out and look into this site.  That street credit allows non traditional viewers to lower thier guard and take it in on thier own terms.  To cull the herd and collect the percent or two of thse sites who will fit this sites…"requirements" of thoughtful, reasoned, intellectual, famous quote name dropping/source citing posting accumen is, in my opionion, the best near term solution.  Because this site is so far to one side of the discussion(s) out there, its a viewership limiting factor.  But, its a tough row to hoe, and a beer always tastes better after hard work.
But too much of that diversity which is so often talked about and credited won't be welcome here for long.  This is a niche site that not unlike a growing oak tree will just take time - alot of time to get bigger and stronger.  Like cheap debt, a quick rise in viewership will likely lead to a viewership hangover when dreams and hopes are not delivered as popularity promised.  The MSM is a jungle that I'm certain Chris can navigate somewhat - reach out to those journalists for a plug.  Personally, I've thought of leaving the site - its pretty clear I'm a fringe element.  But, there are things to learn. 

But Adam/Chris,

One thing would allow a truly diversified group of posters - like the kind you love as well as mostly don't care for - would be a way for different opinions to be represented in different places on the site.  Same topic, say…unions - which will elicit pure hate from me, could have different "camps" to reside in.  Maybe you have to assign yourself or be assigned to a category to post - but you can post WHATEVER YOU WANT.  Anyone can roam and check out other views to the same topic, but can only view when not in their respective home camp.  Chris could write pieces - thoughtful pieces - with a target audience.  A trojan horse if you will to gain admission to other sites diverse readers.  Its not poaching, growing PP doesn't detract from anothers site.  Chris maintains control, viewership could explode by truly accomodating different views and opionions, and no longer could diversity be embraced in name only.  But now, you're in focused selling mode building an audience, any audience - doesn't matter who anymore, theres room for everyone.  Currently you're stuck looking for square pegs that fit square holes.  My .02

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I support your ideas… but just want to say that in my view, the Tylers of ZH already do their part in leading their readship over to CM.com via their regular posting of many of the "freebie" portions of the pieces Chris and his contributors write.  Example:  http://www.zerohedge.com/news/guest-post-when-quantitative-easing-finally-fails
What more would you have them, or Chris, or Adam, do? 
Personally, I think the most important outreach needs to target new awakenings… vs. taking the awake from ZH or Jim Quinn and helping them to become 3E awake… I think that progression will happen naturally.  I think we still lack the necessary quick hook to bring about the, "aha" moment in folks who still have little or no idea that something is deeply wrong.     
 

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thanks for your observation PineCarr.  If we get the opportunity to create a television series on the Paradigm Shift this will be a key guiding prindiciple in the program design:   "I think we need to put ourselves in the shoes of the people we are trying to reach, and ask "how can we guide them to the threshold of their understanding"?Having been so long focused on the Shift, when I discovered Chris's Crash Course, some of the pieces of the puzzle fell together, so actually his vision boosted mine.  But how to enlighten people who have no information, no awareness of their own need, no care?   I am reminded everytime I discuss Peak Oil or climate change or the degradation of Nature how little understanding or care people have of our dependencies on the wealth of Nature and the critical role of energy to tap this wealth, and how to do this sustainably and with care.  Architects of the information portion of a television series would have to make a list of the key facts and concepts of Paradigm Shift and all its integral asects  - the converging Crises (including economic, energy and environmental shift), the remedies to these and the bright New Paradigm which will result.  Then the broadcasts would have to cycle through these facts and concepts incorporating them into the life experience at the New Paradigm Home stage, into the dialogue of the actors.  Thinking out loud here.  Anyway thanks for this key idea.

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The readers of other sites are already "in the market" for info.  You do your best business on main street giving the people what they want.  I'll bet most on this site at some point had to come to the conclusion that something is seriously wrong and the msm isn't getting it done.  A site that addresses the "prepper lifecycle" would be akin to what GM offered for years with the chevy/pontiac/buick/olds/cadillac progression.  People don't suddenly crave a debate about LIBOR, they start with food, guns, gold, shelter, etc.  What do buy/do, when/how to do it.  The crash course is excellent - I've bought it and sent it out on rounds to people I care about, but it doesn't dial into specifics so as to not become dated/etc. (my guess).   So give 'em what they want.  Eventually they'll want to learn about silver manipulation and have ideas for the weekly "world peace" themed articles/posts responses.    I still believe an increased focus on specific recommendations for preparations as well as the current pp debates on nuclear energy and global this or peak that can be had.  More readers posting about what they know, from specifics (products and practices with a CM/PP endorsement) to macro themed debates is what I would like to see more of.  Anything other is just searching for a few needles in a haystack.  And again, there is no poaching suggested here - not that I care - it would just be a site that offers more to more people on the mental transition we've all found ourselves on .  Three years ago, I would've laughed at what I now believe.  And for what its worth, Tyler Durden or whoever he is has set the bar high for riveting posts that cut through the crap, call it like folks see it, and has demonstrated an ability to keep you coming back better than most…different objectives for sure but have you notice how he is able to keep both new and old readers returning?  His audience suggests he knows something about the progression of thought on the part of his readers.  I don't want the fight club atmosphere in general, but can't the boys brawnl in the basement?  Can't a passionate topic allow the gloves to come off?  Then if the boys want to grow up and join the adults in the parlor for intelligent discussion - why can't they rejoin?  Durdens got some, but CM is so loaded up with "Thank you Chris, thank God for you and what you've done for me…" posts I get ill at times.   In the end, I guess these are my thoughts for what PP should do to grow.  You can't just keep kicking Treemagnet around forever.  Thats just my thought on the matter, I hope many disagree and post on this and others to get a better result.  Thanks.

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[quote=treemagnet]But too much of that diversity which is so often talked about and credited won't be welcome here for long. 
Personally, I've thought of leaving the site - its pretty clear I'm a fringe element.  But, there are things to learn. 
Currently you're stuck looking for square pegs that fit square holes.
[/quote] 
Treemagnet
Can you be more specific about the snips I quoted above?  I like your posts.  I think you make good contributions to the conversation.
You are pragmatic and direct, which is good, because some people tend to be pretty dreamy.  But I don’t remember anyone saying you don’t belong here.  There is a wide spectrum of viewpoints discussed here, and some ideas are hotly debated.  We are free to say anything we want, but we need to be prepared to answer challenges if we want to convince others.
I don’t see you as a man who is easily intimidated.  So why do you feel out of place?  And why let that stop you?
Seriously man,
Travlin

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I second what Travlin' said - Treemagnet, you make good contributions. I look forward to your posts. Many viewpoints are represented here. It's one of our strengths: too often people outside of this site get their news and conversations from like-minded folks and never learn anything.

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Thanks for the kind response.  Same to Safewrite.  In order, this site to me has a very narrow spectrum of participants.  Some, like me - must tailor their words to fit, not always fitting.  This is an site largely for intellectuals and thinkers that are in stages of planning or prepping.  Have you noticed how diversity is championed in public, then on Sundays the blacks and white worship seperately?  Bad analogy, but diversity would mean changing this site for new members with different attitudes and ways of expressing them.  But, thats cool - there are sites for those.  Second, don't know, just a vibe I get - but I'm learning so I'm staying.  Remember the sitcom Frasier?  This site is loaded with Frasiers and Niles…I'm Marty Crane.  Third, like the first - narrow audience is sought at least to me.  I'm always mystified how so many posts are cluttered with sources, references, quotes, and proof that isn't necessary.  I get hammered for "do you talk like that to people?" (yes, because posts/e-mails, etc steal the meaning and delivery of the spoken word) when I want to say to some post citing a 10th century dead guy backed up with a study from Wharton and printed in the Times…do you talk to people like that?   I don't get it - only academia talk/write that way.  I love the Frasier and Niles type of posting back-and-forths over minutia escalating higher and higher until inevitably things degrade into first doubts, then vague and obscure challenges and finally a testy retort that in PP parlance is akin to something between school kids saying uh-huh … nuh-uh and an inner city beat down.  No, not going anywhere just yet.  Since Chris/Adam posted the question, I just began thinking how to make the site more to my liking.  Its his site, great site - but when asked I'll likely respond.  Thanks.

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treemagnet, for a long time I had the dictionary and thesaurus opened and ready (still do as Chris has some serious verbiage at his disposal and uses his words comfortably), used often too just to get an understanding of what the hell was being said. So, it is true that on this site it is not for the faint at heart if you wish to read and move on. With all the $10 dollar handles I felt like I was reading and stuttering as I did. The speak is NOT for all audiences, frankly you have to be motivated for a different learning to stay here.
For me, it has always been the character of Chris that I remain, and I have come to feel the same for Adam as I have understood him. To trust someone is a rare compliment these days. A compliment that I stay.

Dogs in a pile, Jim H., safewrite, Travlin, Arthur and you are others I have come to appreciate and I personally connect to your styles. All of you are fair minded and stand your ground, and are appropriate when you do.

I am Black and White but live in the gray area only when necessary. I needed more balance, and recognized that, so I seek you and others out because I can relate. I want to relate. 

I say all of this because I know I needed to have you as part of my balance along with the others so it makes your choice to be here valid and valuable to me. I think that is what Chris with Adam are trying to achieve. So thank you for all of your perspectives, who you are is why I am here.

Overall, I do not fit here but I am not intimidated in the least. I come for education, and a greater sense so I am cool with that. Whether I add perspective to others is for the others to determine. My guess is if TSHTF moment arrives, and the good folks here witness something that I have said they should prepare for, and how they may have to deal with it then this would be valuable even if today they just can't see it. I know this, while growing up I hadn't a clue what my parents were saying to me about what to expect and how to handle certain situations. When faced with what I then (at present) recognized was their point it was invaluable. It is why I read everything. You for instance and appreciate every word.  

Regards

BOB

 

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[quote=treemagnet]Remember the sitcom Frasier?  This site is loaded with Frasiers and Niles…I'm Marty Crane. 
[/quote]
treemagnet -
Did you ever notice how whenever Niles and Frasier had some "significant emotional event" and after they spewed their purple prose and displayed their 52 pound brains they ALWAYS went to Dad to talk it through and get things straightened out?
Besides, how can you not favor a scotch drinker over a wine snob?
A while back, there was a poster here who went by the name of Lakhota.  By his telling he was an Oglala Sioux living in Omaha.  He came across as very soft spoken and was extremely respectful in all of his posts.  Every now and then he would insert himself into one of the ongoing "Niles and Frasier" back and forths, and with just a few words would say more than the entire thread.
What am I trying to tell you?  There are a lot more Marty Cranes here on PP than you think.  Stick around and we'll find you.

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Chris, Our most deeply rooted values have been for many centuries, and still are, largely abjout how to increase our control of nature… which… naturally leaves out how nature works uncontrolled.  
I'm totally shocked that hasn't occurred to you yet, as evident in the above.    We need to study how natural systems work unattended to learn how to design an economic system to be self-managing (like some of nature's unattended systems we admire and might immitate).  

That you're still omitting the need for us to change fundamental investment strategies is embarassing.  A mature self-managing economy naturally has a radically different self-investment strategy from that of a start-up system (i.e. which needs compound growth).  A mature self-managing system doesn't!!!    

When are you going to get on board??  When are you going to start asking me questions??

Jessie

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Jessie,I approve of what you're saying.
A less ambiguous message that is less by-partisan. A strong political message. Some sort of risk that rides above the crowd.
The present formula appears amorphous - it only weathers political storm in its present state because there's a vacuum of air within it waiting for a meaning behind its myths to fill it - exceptional possibilities on the one hand, along with inordinate time-wasting, with a plethora of choir singing nodders and shakers bickering or glad-handing its circular battles, waiting for an ending in sight to have meaning.
You could walk away from here for a whole year, and nothing much would change but the deepening of extended content to further bemuse and titillate. Further, there is certainly a choice that standing on an orange box at Hyde Park corner could offer a similar challenge to the status quo - is far cheaper - certainly more purposeful and cost effective, and won't waste so much precious time without a political will to formulate change.
This wouldn't even require a grass roots consensus, since there are already models at play that work in other countries that could be supported and used if they could be embraced here.
To formulate change it requires the support in the will of the little people who have been dealt some seriously substandard policies. They should be given back the knowledge and tools in forcing back their hold on the reign of power in the U.S, as France has been so apt to do for decades - government should fear its people, not the other way around.
As a flow of thoughts that appeal to positive change in support of confronting problems and embracing solutions, either you have the rule of law or you don't.
Either you have enormous multi-national comparative entities who are literally above laws for which we nurture with ignorance- who manage to not pay tax in any country - who somehow float above contributing to any country - some of them - at least one of whom sponsored the Olympic games recently - some of them are defacto governments unto themselves. Backing such entities as these have been a length of rope fit to hang ourselves over time, never mind short-term benefit. Of this, a site such as this making people aware of the actions and outcome of organisations is a blessing, as long as its over-all bias doesn't cause it to flounder under its own weight.
This site - such as it is at present - its consensus appears to neg against any or all political gaming within it, preferring to do battle with anything that holds a differing hue and cry from what is considered the norm.
What is normal when normal is skewed for a profit over a quality of life?
In London there's a thing called "The London Disease", because the city is now almost completely feral, and even companies like J P Morgan - they're very nervous about going into London - as soon as their traders hit the floor they start behaving in a way that is literally crazy.
Plus, we're being told that behaving in that way is perfectly normal, and the only solution to our economic problems is to swallow the medicine that's been forced-fed to Africa and crippled it - it was forced-fed to South America and crucified it. And it's being sold to former soviet states.
It's not that it isn't working - it's not that Cameron's policies aren't doing what they're intended to do. It's just that what they're intended to do isn't what's written on the tin.
What they've intended to do is - to make the incredibly rich incredibly richer, so they have more money than they can ever spend in their lives, and make the 1% who are incredibly rich much richer, and the other 99% who are the bottom - defined as the bottom - it's wonderful.
We get poorer - that ultimately is always going to threaten democracy and always going to bring about unrest.
The interesting thing that we don't talk about much is that South America has made lots of different decisions. If you go and look at Ecuador where the premier is an economist - and doesn't swallow this horse shit - and invests in people.
The people spend money on goods and services who then have real money. The real money that the people have and the people who produce the goods and services have, goes into banks - and it's real money. They have a proper economy.
At the moment what we have is the equivalent of me saying:
"I will sell you my shoes - which I need just now because I'm currently homeless and these are my only shoes" - Already crazy.
"I'll sell them so you can asset strip me" - Not even that.
"I'll sell you the option to buy my shoes later - and the subsidiary options - so that the amount of money you can make is unlimited" - But also entirely fabricated.
It's unsustainable.
Jessie, what do you have in mind to offer?
 

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C.S. Lewis was an author from the last century . He was a contemporary and friend of J.R.R. Tolkien (Lord of the Rings). Many of you have heard of Lewis because he wrote The Chronicles of Narnia, books that were made into movies, but he wrote much more. One of the more interesting things he wrote was a science fiction trilogy: Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength.
In the third and final book of the trilogy, there is a cabal attempting to change the world (and run it, of course). The main character, Mark, is a journalist who has been roped into working for them by flattery, bribes, lies, and eventually threats. He is asked to write post-riot editorials in advance of a comming riot they are engineering. And Mark is told to write one opinion-shaping editorial for the Left, and another for the Right. Why? He is given a startling insight: "It's absolutley essential to have a strong right and a strong left, hating each other. But the real powers is not (either one of them). It never is."

The real power is financial. Thinking people on the right and left can see that if government regulators are bought, they will not regulate. If politicians are bought, they will not govern in the people's interest - regardless of their political affiliation of supposed party platforms. And the heart of financial institutions' ability to buy whatever influnce they want is fiat currency coupled with debt-based fractional reserve banking. It has caused the exponential growth of economies that we've become used to, growth that is crashing down about our ears.

Dr. Martenson has found the actual chink in this dragon's armor, as it were. In his mission statement above he says,

Because of hard constraints, our exponential money and debt systems are on a collision course with reality.  We will first and most immediately -- and personally -- experience the deleterious effects of this in what we call 'the economy' in the form of stagnant growth, rising unemployment, and various ills and maladies within the financial markets.
He goes on to say, "Here at Peak Prosperity, we are solidly behind the idea of positive change made on our own terms and that we are each responsible for whatever future is created." Yes, some of that change may be political, but hard experience has taught us not to be part of the "strong right and strong left, hating each other" and play into the hands of The Powers That Be. So go ahead and start a thread about political things, but keep it civil and remember that the other side is not the enemy; they just see different solutions. One of the great values of this site is that as we continue to study the root causes of our crisis, we agree more and more on what the next steps are.

Anyhow, welcome.

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I am convinced that “Christopher M” is actually Vanity Fox, who was banned from this site.  Compare his posts with some of Vanity’s and I think you will see it too.  Don’t publicly explain why though.  He’ll just try to disguise himself further.  He has been busted for sneaking back onto this site repeatedly.  I do not make this charge lightly, but I do it with confidence.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sockpuppet_%28Internet%29
Travlin

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Safewrite,

I very much appreciate the welcome.

You drove me back to my formative years as an eight year old being read to by my Grandmother at bed-time. To quote:

“There is no safe investment. To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness.

But in that casket - safe, dark, motionless, airless - it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell.” C. S Lewis

Though I can still hear my Grandmothers voice, Sir Anthony Hopkins somehow supersedes hers more clearly these days.

 

To continue then, there is a move in chess called zugswang - meaning a compulsion to move.

It is a situation where one player is put in disadvantage because he must make a move where he would prefer to pass and make no move. The fact that the player must move means that his position will be significantly weaker than the hypothetical one in which it was his opponent's turn to move.

In other words, if Dr Martenson does not make his move in the political game soon, the move itself will not only be forfeit, it will be made on his behalf, no matter if the choice were of the black piece, or white.

To appear current on the subject of belief systems at play, it is not so much one mans philosophy of himself as much as the opinion of others upon him.

I don't write here in praise of politics whose entities are left over right. I must also stress from reading here for a time that there appears to be some serious contradiction in terms, but that is a matter for another time.
Politics are usually valued by their contradiction.

Stepping the breached gulf in both camps in the U.S is ordinarily, only but mere suicide. With wheelers and dealers in the arena plying their political wares to the unenlightened, tis' quite the tightrope walk.

I can only commend him thus far.

 
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Hi Friends,

You state you want convert the mavens, connectors, and salespeople to your point-of-view which will effect the tipping point. I would suggest, very kindly, that that is just another story we tell ourselves. If we could just convince the people "in power" then everything would be okay. Maybe this belief makes us feel more powerful then we really are. People can do nothing about how much carbon is in the air, or if the glacers are melting, or some act of oppression half a world away, but people can do something about the way they live their lives and the choices they make on a day-to-day basis. The real power might actually be found in the household - the most basic economic unit - and controlled by the women that do most of the purchasing for the family. If you got women to stop and think about what they feed their children, we would make great progress.

I would ask you to consider the idea of having a great life which others would want to emulate. I see such joy in my life, I just want to share it with others. They can make their own decision if it is "right" for them. I really do trust my neighbours to do the "right" thing. Yes, I have been told I am an idealist, and that I am a "stupid-head" for believing in the rightousness of my neighours.

Here are some questions using Socratic method that helped this Mom change her household into something wonderful:

http://eatkamloops.org/what-if/

 

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For the past three years I have been following articals written by Paul Chefurka on his website called Approaching the Limits to Growth. He is an Ecologist from Ottawa Ontario Cananda.
I believe that he sums up our current predicament very wisely here:

"The crises of civilization is not simply a convergence of technical, environmental and orginizational problems. These are symtoms that are themselves being driven by philosophical and perceptual disconnection so deep that it is best understood as a spiritual breakdown. The disconnection goes by the name Separation.

Our sense of separartion is what allows us to see ourselves as different from and superior to the rest of the apparently non-rational universe we live in. In this worldview the complex mutual interdepenence of the elements of the universe is replaced by a simple dualistic categorization: there are human beings, and everything else in the universe-without exception-is a resource for us to use.

The only way to keep this planet, our one and only home in the universe from being ultimately ravaged and devestated is to change our worldview and heal our sense of separateness. Unless we can manage that breathtaking feat all careful application of technology, all well intentioned regulations, all the unbridled cleverness of which we are so proud will do little to delay the final outcome, and nothing whatever to prevent it. We need to find ways to heal that sense of separation, with the goal of helping us prepare for ecological adulthood."

 

 

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You are so very right John. There is another form of life that exploits its host with no regard for what it takes for that host to properly function; it's called a "VIRUS". We do need to finally reach "adulthood" as a species; and it must start with a change in our beliefs about the world. In early adolescence, and all the way to about age 25, the brain is still forming its primary connections. We are at our most egocentric during that transition phase from a child to an adult. Our "civilization" (and I use the term loosely) is also still in those early stages of transitioning from adolescence to adulthood. If you step back and look at the way we collectively act toward each other, how disconnected from our host that we are, and recognize that we are as destructive as a child left unattended then the need for maturity becomes clear.Very nice John!

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[quote=eatkamloops.org] 
I would ask you to consider the idea of having a great life which others would want to emulate. I see such joy in my life, I just want to share it with others. They can make their own decision if it is "right" for them. 
[/quote]
What a great model. I also believe in starting relationships with trust, until people or institutions demonstrate that they can not be trusted any longer.

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ALIHAYMEG,I'm glad that Paul Chefurka's messge resonated positively with you. And I would encourage anyone who has viewed the Crash Course and and who cares about "Leaving a World Worth Inheriting" to visit his website. He  certainly does have a considerable understanding of the first "E", but the main purpose of his message is to educate others about energy and environmental issues. Nature truly does "bat last' and although I feel that this site does a great job of creating greater awareness about our economic and energy crises, it misses the biggest show stopper of all that is also at our doorstep. And that is the destruction of our natural resources and our once healthy natural environment. I would say that his message compliments books such as The Ascent of Humanity and the works of Carolyn Baker and others. And everything there is free to read and to share.