hope vs fear
Jun. 21st, 2005 12:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chelidonA friend posted some very eloquent thoughts in her LJ about looking at the world out there, and trying to balance hope and fear. I'm attaching an edited version of my reply. There's a piece in there for me about actively building the world you want to live in, instead of reacting from fear, that preserves hope. I don't replace my oil furnace with a wood burner because I'm afraid oil prices are going to triple, I do it because even if they don't, I don't want to be burning oil -- I want to be part of a sustainable carbon-neutral cycle, where I can grow myself what we need to provide for our heat. I want to put in a microhydro generator not because I'm afraid utility electricity wil be unreliable or prohibitively expensive, I do it because I want to use the resources I have to make clean, sustainable energy, and take that much load off the earth. I don't make an oasis for family, friends and tribe because I want to build a walled compound armed against a hostile world, I want to build a place of beauty so that I and my friends and family can exist in a community of and surrounded by beauty, because that is the way I want to live my life.
For me, it's about hope, and planning for an uncertain future in ways which are based on building places of beauty and life rather than fleeing in fear from shadows and death. I may let fear add some urgency to my work, to kick myself in the butt a bit when I slack off, but I know that if I am controlled by my fears, I will not be building the world in which I want to live, I will be building walls against the world I am afraid of, and that's not sustainable, that doesn't get me where I want to go. I serve the impulse to build and create, not the impulse to hide and retreat. I choose to be for something I passionately believe in, motivated by love, rather than against something I hate, motivated by fear or paranoia.
I want to be as self-sufficient as possible, because I want to live as simply and lightly on the earth as possible, so I work in that direction. I want to know how to take care of myself and my family, and I want to have my family and my tribe around me, to live in a truly sustainable, spiritual community -- so I do what I can to build that. I strengthen my connections with other like-minded people, meet local farmers, artists, vets, doctors, builders, beekeepers, exchange cob recipes and yurt plans with friends, share songs and stories and practical skills. And these are all things I'd want to do anyway, no matter what happens in the world at large. And I hope (though I think I know better) that technology can still somehow save us from what seems to be coming, because I know that in times of economic and social turmoil, it is the poor, the young and old, the weak and the vulnerable who suffer the most. I hope we can avoid any kind of serious calamity, and I'll put my heart into transforming the world in constructive ways, ways which result in the greatest good for the greatest number of people. And I'll keep on building, as best I can, motivated as much as possible by beauty, balance, delight, and love beyond all reason.
And now I'm going to go be totally decadent and for lunch have a couple of the scrumptious cookies my son made me for Father's Day :> Cookies baked by my son give me hope.
For me, it's about hope, and planning for an uncertain future in ways which are based on building places of beauty and life rather than fleeing in fear from shadows and death. I may let fear add some urgency to my work, to kick myself in the butt a bit when I slack off, but I know that if I am controlled by my fears, I will not be building the world in which I want to live, I will be building walls against the world I am afraid of, and that's not sustainable, that doesn't get me where I want to go. I serve the impulse to build and create, not the impulse to hide and retreat. I choose to be for something I passionately believe in, motivated by love, rather than against something I hate, motivated by fear or paranoia.
I want to be as self-sufficient as possible, because I want to live as simply and lightly on the earth as possible, so I work in that direction. I want to know how to take care of myself and my family, and I want to have my family and my tribe around me, to live in a truly sustainable, spiritual community -- so I do what I can to build that. I strengthen my connections with other like-minded people, meet local farmers, artists, vets, doctors, builders, beekeepers, exchange cob recipes and yurt plans with friends, share songs and stories and practical skills. And these are all things I'd want to do anyway, no matter what happens in the world at large. And I hope (though I think I know better) that technology can still somehow save us from what seems to be coming, because I know that in times of economic and social turmoil, it is the poor, the young and old, the weak and the vulnerable who suffer the most. I hope we can avoid any kind of serious calamity, and I'll put my heart into transforming the world in constructive ways, ways which result in the greatest good for the greatest number of people. And I'll keep on building, as best I can, motivated as much as possible by beauty, balance, delight, and love beyond all reason.
And now I'm going to go be totally decadent and for lunch have a couple of the scrumptious cookies my son made me for Father's Day :> Cookies baked by my son give me hope.
