Winter Solstice, 2007

Two weeks ago, the first snowfall of the season made sitting on Oma’s bench at Roche Harbor while listening to the bells all the more precious. As I sent the experience out into the cosmos and asked Oma to share in its wonder I suddenly had this warm feeling of Christmas. Then yesterday the skies cleared and I was treated to this breathtaking sunset. When you live along the 49th parallel as I do, the sun sets south of southeast on this, the shortest day of the year. Sure January 1st marks the beginning of a new year on our calendars and Christmas marks a celebration of home and family but today, the winter solstice marks that point in our orbit when hope springs eternal.

It is in this spirit of hope that I thought it might be fun share with you some of my learning adventures of the past year. In addition to my primary tasks of building a small footprint house with My Love and writing a book about Oma’s life I have also had the opportunity to face some challenges that have facilitated spiritual growth and a heightened awareness of my purpose.

 

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After having dismissed Christmas as simply a consumer driven shopping binge with disastrous consequences for our natural ecology, Bishop Spong has encouraged me to look for the Christ within and has infused new meaning into this celebration of love and light. Divinity is a human word trying to describe a human experience and when the biblical stories were written it was in the context of the dualistic good/evil paradigm of the time. In Spong’s words Jesus was so fully human that the divine could flow through him openly and fully. It was through his humanity that he demonstrated unconditional love.

Tom Harpur reminds me that the spark of the divine spirit is alive in every single one of us. He has opened my eyes to the importance of mythology in providing a framework of values; values that can guide us as we seek ways to live in harmony with each other and the eco system that we depend on. It is an empowering paradigm for social and political evolution, bringing hope that we can put aside our differences as we face the challenge of reconciling the explosion of the human race with the carrying capacity of the planet.

John Robinson has taught me that its time to start focusing on the positive. It’s not good enough to just complain about the problems in the world. Taking action, even in small ways, shining a light on the positive within my scope of influence. The old agenda to reduce negative impact is history, now its time to make our world better.

Using current technology, over 200 planets have actually been found circling stars in our region of the Milky Way Galaxy. While these planets are mostly gaseous giants, if the ultra expensive program to send humans to Mars can be scrapped, we will soon have the ability to “see” rocky worlds like our earth. As we find more of these planets, some of their orbits will bring them into position between us and their sun. This will allow us to measure the contents of their atmospheres by the way it filters the light of their parent star.

According to George H. Bell of Arizona State University the laws of probability suggest that a million solar systems are formed in the universe each hour. Although Einstein has taught us that physical travel to these places is impossible, discovering the presence of other civilizations may demonstrate that it is possible for species to survive the global progress trap that results from the development of technology.

A few years ago I learned about the success of mass transit in the city of Curitiba in Brazil. This year Enrique Penalosa showed me that we can learn from each other and take bold new approaches to old problems. He is the former Mayor of Bogota who implemented many of the solutions developed in Curitiba. He makes a good case for new solutions to transportation issues in the 21st century.

“Evolution for Everyone”, a book by Dr. David Sloan Wilson has given me a hopeful view of the humanity. With the help of a simple thought experiment he makes a convincing case that our species has evolved to be “good” and that there are certain fundamental attributes that universally define that goodness. His argument demonstrates how evolution has fostered music, dance, art and religion as part of our successful social fabric and builds a bridge between science and religion.

Mark Winston taught me that Bees not only have a social structure that works but they are also an equal opportunity employer. It seems that when bees start their working life they are relegated to mucking out the hive and house cleaning. Then as they mature or prove themselves in some way they graduate to the post of guardian, defending the hive against invaders. Only in their final stage are they actually allowed to leave the hive and search for pollen and nectar to feed the colony.

When I first learned about the reams of evidence uncovered by the Jersey Girls I was shocked and dismayed. But when I came to grips with the knowledge that 911 was an inside job, I recognized that in fact this is a bit of really good news. Turns out I am not living in a world of terrorist threats after all. The real terrorists of our age, making backroom deals for financial gain even if it involves some collateral damage, can be exposed and brought to trial.

By successfully staging 911 without getting caught King George has taught me that corrupt rulers still depend on the good will of the masses to accomplish their sinister aims. They know that we tend to ignore the lessons of history and that goodness is inherently vulnerable. Our inability or unwillingness to grasp the depth of their corruption is easily fortified by the systematic spreading of misinformation and fear. Only yesterday I read about a Harvard study that shows there is no evidence to support the notion that increased airport security measures have made air travel safer.

And finally I was really excited when I learned that Dr. Bruce Logan, an Environmental Engineer at Penn State University, has developed a way to generate hydrogen by giving microbes a little electrical boost. The microbes generate electrons and protons for hydrogen production by digesting almost any kind of biomass, and with a little extra voltage, the electron and proton combine to form hydrogen. This may be one of the most exciting technologies ever developed to produce a completely environmentally friendly transportation fuel. More info.

Here is wishing all of you and your loved ones a joyful new year filled with love, light and laughter.
For the love of Life
Thomas