*final* re: Returning to the Garden, etc.

2001-05-07

Richard Moore

Bcc: contributors.
Website: http://cyberjournal.org

Friends,

This finishes off our Garden series.  I want to thank
everyone for participating.  Tomorrow I'll be launching a
new thread on the movement, its culture, and its prospects.

all the best,
rkm

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From: •••@••.•••
Date: Thu, 3 May 2001 18:18:39 EDT
Subject: Re: re13: Returning to the Garden, mythologies, ideologies, etc.
To: •••@••.•••

very niceset of exchanges- a wonderful analysis about the
use, effect, impact of stories.

thanks for  continuing to do so much to awaken so many.

jim

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Date: Sat, 05 May 2001 02:13:53 -0500
To: •••@••.•••
From: Nan Hildreth <•••@••.•••>
Subject: Re: dialog re: A change of vision: returning to the Garden

    From: "John Bunzl"
    Date: Sat, 17 Mar
    Since now, generally speaking, the movement only
    sees symptoms,

An "anti-corporate" group here in Houston, Texas got
discouraged and quit meeting.  Reactive is no fun.

    >it should not surprise us that it is, largely, a reflection
    of those symptoms: a rag-tag and fragmented army of NGOs and
    activist groups each addressing a particular but independent
    aspect of the globalisation vortex.

Our movements are merging to a great river of change
according to demographer Paul Ray and psychologist Sherry
Anderson in Cultural Creatives.   They are woven together by
the Cultural Creatives.

Are you one?  Test yourself.
http://www.culturalcreatives.org/questionnaire.html

Typical Creatives belong to four different groups.  My
humble efforts are at weaving justice folks with
environmentalists with self-actualization fans with global
democracy activists.

For discouraged Jeff, the last chapter of Cultural Creatives
tells how we could win, complete with magnificent graphs.  I
loved it.  Believable.   I need to discuss it.   Anyone?

Will you all forgive us in Texas for the officials we elect?
Britain had Gandhi to humble it.  But we're hanging on to
the old dreams of fabulous instant wealth from dumb luck.

Will you pray for us here in Texas?   It's a tough place to
be an activist. Lots of pressure to conform or be cynical
and cop out.


============

Dear Nan,

I don't hold much store by the Cultural Creative analysis.
We have a world which is obviously going insane, and people
everywhere are responding to that in different ways.  The
response is not a 'social trend'; it's a natural response to
an emergency.  And 'voting blocks' have nothing to do with
it.  The revolution will reach far deeper than electoral
politics.

I suspect that the analysis comes from a liberal-chauvinist
world view, which tends to discount the potential for
revolutionary initiative from other segments. But, in
honesty, I must admit I haven't read Ray and I could be
totally off base.  I read Korten's rendition of Ray's ideas,
and I may be responding to the filter.

rkm

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Delivered-To: moderator for •••@••.•••
Date: Thu, 3 May 2001 19:14:44 -0700 (PDT)
From: Guy Berliner <•••@••.•••>
Reply-To: Guy Berliner <•••@••.•••>
To: •••@••.•••
Subject: reconciliation as part of progress

Hi,

Thanks to rkm for posting some excerpts from the
cyberjournal list to indymedia. It makes for interesting
reading. I wanted to say that I see the need for
reconciliation between different points of view as necessary
for progress.

I see a movement for authentic participatory democracy
gaining momentum in the world today. It's a hopeful sign.
But it will require also reaching out and engaging even
those who disagree, even those who hew to currently reigning
neoliberal ideologies at cross-purposes with the
democratization that we seek. A democracy must involve
everyone. That is the only way to answer those who fear that
embracing the collective good at the expense of the
neoliberal exclusive reliance on "the market" must lead to
some sort of Communist totalitarianism.

As part of this process, I agree with those who have said on
this list that an internal revolutionary struggle is as
necessary as an external one. Everyone is welcome to choose
what works for them. For me, Zen Buddhism provides my
preferred methods of internal revolution. Outwardly, I hope
this revolution will lead to more decentralized and self
reliant yet interconnected local communities. I, too, hope
that we can move towards a Wilberian ethos, in which human
consciousness evolves towards a more inclusive view of
reality, and that the positive and life-affirming elements
of modernity are preserved and enhanced, but that we become
more discriminating in choosing the shape of our social
organizations than present day market political economies
allow. In particular, the historic promise of socialism,
that the fulfillment of the potential of each be the
precondition for the fulfillment of all, must be honored,
and not left to mere chance. This requires an active social
commitment, and cannot be assumed to be an accidental
byproduct or "epiphenomenon" of some abstract world system,
whether capitalist or any other.

============

Dear Guy,

I don't know who posted the excerpts to Indymedia, but I'm
glad they did.

Your point about 'active social commitment' is right on the
mark.

regards,
rkm

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