Information about http://www.globalcommunity.org/timeline/39/timeline.pdf
Timeline Email Edition May/June 1998 - No. 39 …
Tags: author book, blips, cobblestones, curitiba brazil, dessert, donella meadows, east coast, global community, mac lawrence, mckibben, new vision, overpass, resurgence, richard brodie, shopping street, sister miriam, synchronicity, true stories, vehicular traffic, visionary mayor,Pages: 19
Language: english
Created: Wednesday, May 13, 1998 11:39:45 AM
Display cached document
Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
Page 6
Page 7
Page 8
Page 9
Page 10
Page 11
Page 12
Page 13
Page 14
Page 15
Page 16
Page 17
Page 18
Page 19
Timeline Email Edition
May/June 1998 - No. 39
A Publication of the Foundation for Global Community
http://www.globalcommunity.org
timeline@globalcommunity.org
Phone: (650) 328 7756 Fax: (650) 328 7785
In this Issue:
Hope, Human and Wild
Sister Miriam MacGillis
Synchronicity
Donella Meadows
Richard Brodie
Blips on the Timeline
©1998 Foundation for Global Community
TIMELINE
Hope, Human and Wild:
True Stories of Living Lightly To instill that hope, McKibben explores
on the Earth in detail three experiments which
by Bill McKibben provide "a vision of recovery, of renewal,
of resurgence." One is in Brazil and
another in India, but the story the author
Book Review by Mac Lawrence
begins his book with is, for him,
"dessert...for, as it happens, I live
Rua Quinze, the main shopping street in
surrounded each day by one form of that
Curitiba, Brazil, was scheduled to be
splendid new vision. I live on the East
widened for more vehicular traffic and
Coast of the United States."
crowned with an overpass. Instead, a
visionary mayor had the street closed to
traffic, paved with cobblestones, and
The East Coast of the U.S.
decorated with thousands of flowers.
While in most parts of the globe, forests
Curitiba is one of three stories of hope
are being devastated at an accelerating
described in the book Hope, Human and
rate since 1950, the exact opposite has
Wild by Bill McKibben.
happened on the East Coast. There the
forests were decimated in the early
Crusty, old David Brower, that legendary
nineteenth century. McKibben quotes
environmentalist, gave Bill McKibben
one observer at the time who wrote of
some advice. McKibben had written The
New Hampshire: "The forests are not
End of Nature, a book that describes the
only cut down, but there appears little
devastating impact humans are having on
reason that they will ever grow again."
the flora and fauna around the world,
Today, the author notes, "despite great
"ending," the author predicted, "the very
increases in population, 90 percent of
idea of wildness."
New Hampshire is covered by forest.
Vermont has gone from 35 percent
Brower's advice: write a follow-up book
woods in 1850 to 80 percent today, and
on "renewal, recovery, restoration." He
even Massachusetts has seen its
was right, McKibben realized after some
serious thought. The "appropriately woodlands rebound to the point where
they cover nearly two-thirds of the
depressing" reality presented in The End
commonwealth." One Agriculture
of Nature, while still true and
Department official observes that the
increasingly recognized, is only half the
landscape now looks much like it would
equation. As McKibben puts it in Hope,
have prior to the American Revolution.
Human and Wild: "If we can't prevent
Animals are returning, as well--wild
the environmental damage that is already
turkeys, deer, moose, bears, beaver; elk
underway, we can--if we act boldly--
and bison have been reintroduced;
limit it. But I no longer think fear is
coyotes have begun to fill the niche once
sufficient motivation to make such
occupied by wolves; there have been
changes, especially since they involve
reported sightings of cougar.
the most fundamental aspects of our
economies, our societies, and our
Of the East Coast, McKibben observes:
individual lives. To spur us on, we need
"So far we can claim neither humility
hope as well."
__________________________________________________________________________________________________ 2
©1998 Foundation for Global Community
TIMELINE
nor wisdom; our good fortune is mostly street. "Resistance to the plan was
accidental, and...new dangers of human unexpectedly fierce," McKibben writes,
carelessness and selfishness threaten even "and the loudest voice belonged to Jaime
the tentative recovery of this place. Still, Lerner, a chubby man who looks like
the hope represented by the East is real. Norm, the guy at the end of the bar in
It is transferable, too, to any other place Cheers." Lerner, the mayor of Curitiba,
that still has some open space and some had a different vision: he saw the central
rainfall: surely people on every continent street as a pedestrian mall. He knew that
can look at it as a hint of the grace of the store owners would love a mall once
nature if people back off, give it some it was built, but that he would have a
room and some time. The world, hard time persuading them to go for the
conceivably, will meet us halfway; the idea. "To prevent opposition," Lerner
alternative to Eden is not damnation." recalls, "I told my staff, `This is like a
war.' My secretary of public works said
Curitiba, Brazil the job would take two months. I got
him down to one month. Maybe one
The author's second beacon of hope is week, he said, but that's final. I said,
Curitiba, a city in the mountainous `Let's start Friday night, and we have to
regions in the south of Brazil. Here, finish by Monday morning.'"
despite a tripling in its population in 25
years, Curitiba has "solved urban It was an instant success with the store
problems we find intractable even in the owners, but an offense to the local
rich West." automobile club which threatened to
reclaim the street by driving their cars
On McKibben's first visit to Curitiba, he down it. What the car drivers found,
went for an evening stroll on streets however, was a street filled with dozens
closed to cars, strung with lights, lined of children busily painting pictures on
with small shops, punctuated with broad, long strips of paper, an event that has
leafy plazas. Buses rolled by, full, every been re-enacted every Saturday since.
few seconds. It was a place he later lived The transformation of Curitiba had
in with his family for a month "to see if begun.
its charms extend beyond the lovely
downtown," and to talk with police, McKibben goes on to describe the
merchants, urban foresters, engineers, wonders of Curitiba: Their bus system
and citizens--99 percent of whom were which "carries four times as many
happy with their town. passengers each day as Rio's subway
system and costs one-half of one percent
As the author describes it, the turning as much per kilometer." Their day-care
point for Curitiba may well have come centers, which are free to children three
when city planners, faced with the typical months or older, are open 11 hours a
problems that arise from explosive day, and serve three meals and a snack.
growth, decided to widen the main Their Childhood and Adolescence
streets of the city to add more lanes for Integration Program, which keeps kids
cars, knock down old buildings, and off the streets by involving them in
build an overpass over the main shopping tending vegetable and flower gardens.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________ 3
©1998 Foundation for Global Community
TIMELINE
Their program which gives a sack of Kerala's literacy rate exceeds 90
food to any slum dweller who collects a percent. Clinics provide free health care
sack of garbage. Their method of for children, and affordable health care
trimming grass in the city's parks, which for everyone else. One of America's
involves a shepherd and his flock of 30 leading authorities on hunger notes:
sheep. Their flood control system which "You don't see malnourished children.
features, not the usual massive You see children with shoes, neatly
channelizing in concrete viaducts, but pressed and washed clothes. It's not like
small dams throughout the city, which India at all." Another expert, using "a
allow the city's five rivers to turn into physical quality of life index," rates
manageable lakes during heavy rains. Kerala far higher than all of Africa, and
essentially equal to the far-richer
Curitiba, the author writes, "is the classic countries of South Korea and Taiwan.
example of decent lives helping produce
a decent environment." But is its success "Kerala has changed the rules of the
replicable? Lerner believes it is necessary game entirely," McKibben explains.
first to break "the syndrome of tragedy, They've shown that people really do not
of feeling like we're terminal patients. need to be rich to have a good life, that
Many cities have a lot of people who are economic growth is not the only way to
specialists in proving change is not well-being. As one observer notes:
possible. What I try to explain to them "Kerala is the one large human
when I go to visit is that it takes the same population on Earth which currently
energy to say why something can't be meets the sustainability criteria of
done as to figure out how to do it." simultaneous small families and low
consumption."
Kerala, India
There is no one reason for the miracle
At first glance, McKibben writes, the city that is Kerala. It is part history, part
of Kerala, located on the tropical tip of economics, part politics, part religion.
India, "looks little different from the rest The only figure that emerges as central
of the subcontinent." In fact, even for is that of Sri Narayana Guru, who is
India, Kerala is crowded and poor; the credited with shaking up the caste
average income per person is $330 per system, bulwark of the Hindu rulers from
year. Many families do not own beds; the eighth to the nineteenth century.
nearly half own only cooking utensils, a "Unclean castes had to stay outside the
wooden bench, and a few stools. temples: Ezhavas had to stand 12 feet
from the walls, and Pulayas 64 feet." A
But other facts tell a different story. A man from the top caste would have a
man in Kerala can expect to live nearly as man from a lower caste walking in front
long as one in North America, and 22 of him to give warning so that others
years longer than the typical male in the could get out of sight. A Brahmin could
rest of India. There are more females in not touch his children when they got
Kerala than males, as is the case in the home from school until they had taken a
industrialized world. Kerala's birthrate is shower.
falling faster than the birthrate in the U.S.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________ 4
©1998 Foundation for Global Community
TIMELINE
Sri Narayana, an Ezhava and around the edge of the beaver pond."
contemplative, performed religious rites Bill McKibben
not previously permitted and, under the
banner of "One caste, one religion, one Hope, Human and Wild:
God for man," began the fight for True Stories of Living Lightly
increased rights for the Ezhavas which on the Earth
resulted eventually in land reform and by Bill McKibben
increased educational and job Hungry Mind Press, St. Paul, MN.
opportunities. Today, McKibben writes, 1995. $15.00.
"Kerala is less caste-ridden than any spot
in the Hindu world."
There is also less gender bias toward
females. Women in Kerala have a longer
life expectancy than men, infant mortality
is lower for girls than boys, and there are
more female than male college students. The Universe and the
Unfolding Human Journey
McKibben ends his book with musings
about America--the direction it is going; Sister Miriam Therese MacGillis
what lessons can be learned from places
like Curitiba and Kerala and applied; how Sister Miriam Therese MacGillis is a
we can learn to live lightly on the Earth Dominican Sister. She founded and lives
without losing what we treasure; the on Genesis Farm in New Jersey, which
difficulties and possibilities for change. offers earth literacy programs and is a
One passage sums up his thoughts: "I pioneer in community-supported
suspect that the tyranny of desire cannot agriculture. Sister Miriam has a Masters
be overcome--that asceticism is, and in Art degree from the University of
probably should remain, a minor streak in Notre Dame, is an educator, and has
the character of our species. I don't even lectured in countries around the world.
think we need to `change' ourselves. All The following are excerpts from a public
of us have more than one kind of desire talk she gave recently at the
already within us; it's just that we've Foundation's Center in Palo Alto.
built our economy and society around
one particular set of instincts, and It's a great privilege to be able to pause
ignored the others. But we could find in our busy lives and have the luxury to
those others again; they are not so deeply grapple with some of the deep human
buried." questions that we are all living with at
different depths of our own souls, to
"Now we have the chance to back up--to search together for insights into the great
say that we will take our satisfaction not questions that are affecting us as a
from the pelt of the beaver and what it human species and as a culture.
will buy, but from the slap of the beaver
tail on the water and from the swamp First, I want to acknowledge that my
maples turning red in mid-August own work and thinking is deeply rooted
__________________________________________________________________________________________________ 5
©1998 Foundation for Global Community
TIMELINE
in the work of Thomas Berry, who saw. What we hear is very different
would, of course, give credit to a whole from what they heard. We are graced by
list of thinkers, mostly scientists, whose incredible discoveries that are starting to
lives have been engaged in a pursuit of come together to shape for us a
truth. Without perhaps understanding the comprehensive story that is available for
depth of their inquiries, these scientists the first time to the whole human species.
have been exploring some of the deepest This new universe story, this new
spiritual dimensions of the universe by cosmology, is still a model that we
trying to understand small pieces of the imagine and create, but it is based on the
miracle of existence: the geologist, most painstaking evidence. And this
fascinated by the story of stone, by the cosmology, this universe story, is inviting
activity of the Earth's crust; the lonely our generation of humanity, at a time of
scientist out in the wilds exploring the unparalleled crisis, to rethink some of the
mating dances of animals--or whatever basic assumptions that underlie the
piece of the whole marvel of the universe civilizational vessel in which we live out
engaged them. Today, we are able to our lives.
reflect on those findings in a way that our
ancestors never could because what has An insight that is critical to this
been explored and discovered is so new. rethinking is making a distinction
between what we come to understand
We also have the privilege of standing through direct sense experience and what
back and realizing that almost the totality we know on the inner plane. We have
of the foundation of Western culture-- this immense human-soul capacity by
our concepts of ethics, spirituality, law, which we know things instinctively,
government--are beliefs we have held intuitively, and which is a never-ending
for thousands of years. Most of the fountain of knowing, of wisdom, of
cultural foundation was discovered and connections. Out of this we touch
codified and institutionalized in a period mystery that is not verifiable in the
of time when all that we could know world of sense-knowledge. One way of
about the world around us was with our knowing is not better than the other; they
unaided human senses. In those times are simply two different modes. It's also
before lenses and amplifiers and the other important to recognize that the inner
inventions and technologies we have landscape, the world of imagination, the
today, we told ourselves what everything world of inner sensitivities, is itself
meant around us: Where did we come activated by our experience of the outer
from? How did we get here? Why are we world. Our imagination cannot create
here? We came to some pretty definite what our senses have not in some way
agreements, and those agreements have apprehended.
been foundational to the development of
most of our major accomplishments as a So we can see how the outer world of
civilization. our ancestors is what literally shaped the
development of their psyche. When we
Now, today, when our human senses live in different places, we are going to
have been expanded by technology, what be activated by what's there--climate
we see is very different from what they and altitude and topography and animal
__________________________________________________________________________________________________ 6
©1998 Foundation for Global Community
TIMELINE
forms and plant forms--according to our inherent, inner, transcendent dimension
geographic position. Our language and unique to the human that the nonhuman
art will be different, our buildings will be world does not have. What we have to
different, the symbols and stories we tell understand is that the major institutions
will be different. In every case, we will of our society--at least our Western
have made pretty strong commitments to society--are still committed to this belief
the certitude with which we hold our that there is a radical discontinuity
belief systems, given the context out of between the human and nonhuman
which they have grown. world. Which is why Thomas Berry
would say it's very, very important that
Now we are living at a time when we can as we look at the crises we are
put on lenses like the Hubbell telescope experiencing today, we also look at the
out there on a spacecraft which has ability of our institutions to deal
allowed the human eyeball to actually go adequately with them. He cites four
around to the other side of Mars. It major institutions.
allowed us to see into space at a depth
that was just absolutely mind-blowing. First is the economic institution of the
When the images came back looking like planet. Even though globalization of the
a fixed, star-studded night, we were told economy is a fact, it has its roots in the
that what we were seeing weren't stars, Western world, in the industrial process.
but galaxies. Such information from the This economy has as its purpose to
outer landscape demands of our inner enable humans as efficiently as possible
psyche the capacity to adapt to that to take the nonhuman world in its natural
reality, and opens up the soul for a state and change it through human work
profound experience of the awe and the and industrial processes into consumer
vastness of the universe. We are finally goods--goods that can be used by
being forced to go back to the very humans for a period of time, then put to
foundations of our cultural belief the waste heap quickly so humans will go
systems, pick them up, and without fear back and get the next batch. That's its
look at them. It's clear that the belief purpose. The nonhuman is there for the
systems must adjust. Not because they're human.
bad, but because the perception of reality
is such that they just can't suffice any The second institution is government.
longer. That's the kind of deep cultural Humans have sovereign rights and the
work we are being challenged to do. nonhuman world has no rights. The
whole jurisprudence of the Western
For 5,000 years, one of the certitudes world is formulated around that belief
about our Western world view has been system, so in the regulatory agencies
that there is a fundamental difference there is no voice for the voiceless, there
between matter and spirit. Matter is is only a voice for the humans.
matter and spirit is spirit. God has spirit,
angels have spirit, the departed have The third institution is the university--
spirit, and humans have spirit, but and education as a whole, because we
everything that is not human on the Earth know that it's all of a piece. The
is matter. This view holds that there is an university has the capacity to take the
__________________________________________________________________________________________________ 7
©1998 Foundation for Global Community
TIMELINE
next generation of humans and help begin to find language for. The vastness
develop all of those skills and tools and of it and the depth of it are beyond us.
competencies by which they enter and
continue the economic and governmental If this is true of any atom in the universe,
process. then the universe as a whole, from its
beginning until now, has had this deep
Fourth are the religious institutions of the interior dimension which has been
West. They, too, have a commitment to evolving along with the physical
this fundamental separation. As a result, complexity of the universe. There can't
they are preoccupied with the human be one without the other. The universe is
historic period and the written scriptures one. If spirit, psyche, consciousness,
of the traditional religions as the basis for intelligence, soul, shows up anywhere, it
how the divine reveals the divine. They is then a potential that has always been
are very short on seeing the universe there and is integral to the universe as a
itself, or the nonhuman world, as whole. It is not something that comes in
carrying the revelatory dimension of the from outside the universe into humans.
divine. In many fundamentalist
institutions, there is more commitment to That demands a tremendous adjustment
redeeming or liberating the human out of in how we think of ourselves in the
the world than to engaging the human in universe and how we think about our
a creative response with the nonhuman single planet of life which is the very
world. It doesn't mean that these context out of which our spirit, soul,
institutions are bad, it means that their psyche is derived. The Earth is one--one
perceptual frame of reference is such that single, living organism. Any culture
that's about the only way they can which would base its institutions, or base
function. And if you have this basic its activities and its professions on a
frame of reference, then people doing discontinuity from the human to the
what they are doing are acting ethically nonhuman, will wind up becoming
in terms of their relationship to the pathological. It will wind up so
nonhuman world. dysfunctional that it cannot be salvaged.
So we want to look at the differences So we are here at this last stage of the
between the old story, the old twentieth century where the redesigning
cosmological world view, and what and the re-engineering of the natural
we're observing now as we look at this world by good people acting ethically has
world of matter and spirit through the resulted in devastation to the very basis
lenses we have created. Since we have of our existence. Without examining
moved into the nucleus of the atom, those assumptions, we haven't a chance
since we have gone into inner space, into of leaving the future in any kind of state
the quantum realm, what physicists for our children and our children's
observe there does not fit our definitions children. It has to happen in us, in you, in
of matter. We are not looking into me, in all of us, in the six billion of us
objects. We are looking into a realm of humans who are the Earth thinking about
reality in which whatever is in there is itself. We created the culture and we can
self-acting. It is a mystery we can't even recreate and transform its inadequacies
__________________________________________________________________________________________________ 8
©1998 Foundation for Global Community
TIMELINE
and build on its strengths. That's why toward realizing the American Dream, a
we say that this moment when so much is personal crisis caused him to see how
being revealed to us is a moment filled unfulfilled he was, and he set out in a
with grace. It is a moment that gives us new direction.
insight, awe, and reserves of energy by
which we can begin to refashion and He ultimately left his law practice and
reinvent our human systems, so that we founded the American Leadership
can live in mutuality with the natural Forum, which develops leadership
world. capabilities among the rising generation
of leaders from all sectors of society.
"The over-arching principle of the
organization would be one of servant
leadership, serving with compassion and
heart, and recognizing that the only true
authority for this new era is that which
enriches participants, and empowers
SYNCHRONICITY: rather than diminishes them. It would
The Inner Path of Leadership encourage `transformational leadership':
by Joseph Jaworski leadership of strong commitment and
broad visionary ideas."
Book Review by Joe Kresse
After launching the Leadership Forum
In this fascinating personal story, Joseph and successfully running it for several
Jaworski, the son of Watergate years, in 1991 Jaworski received an
prosecutor Leon Jaworski, tells of his opportunity to join Shell Oil's scenario
odyssey from high-powered, "good old planning group in London. For the four
boy," Texas litigator to seeker of years he was there, the team he led
fulfillment and truth. His journey takes us developed two possible scenarios for the
from Watergate to wilderness future of the world over the next thirty
experiences, from Shell Oil's worldwide years. The book details these two
scenario planning team to a dialogue with scenarios, one called "Barricades," and
the physicist David Bohm, from personal the other, "New Frontiers." The Shell
crisis to deep discovery. The story is team felt that either of these two
organized in the form of Joseph scenarios is possible, and which one
Campbell's "Hero's Journey," with its comes to pass depends on decisions we
parts labeled Preparing to Journey, make in the next few years.
Crossing the Threshold, The Hero's
Journey, and The Gift. As indicated by their names, these
scenarios pose quite different futures.
While there is a bit too much name- The scenarios are based on the team's
dropping for me, it is nonetheless clear conclusion "that two interrelated patterns
that Jaworski's experience is genuine characterize fundamental change around
and applies to many of us who are caught the world: increasing liberalization and
up in trying to achieve "success" as the increasing globalization. One of the
world defines it. Having gone a long way reasons liberalization has spread so
__________________________________________________________________________________________________ 9
©1998 Foundation for Global Community
TIMELINE
quickly and widely is globalization. that inevitably accompanies desperation
Liberalization, in turn, speeds and hopelessness."
globalization by opening and freeing
flows of goods and knowledge. Woven throughout the book are
"synchronous" events that happened to
"But we also saw that continuing the author, moments in which "things
liberalization was not necessarily come together in an almost unbelievable
inevitable. There are two faces to the way, when events that could never be
liberalization revolution--two opposing predicted, let alone controlled,
forces that would drive the two scenarios remarkably seem to guide us along our
we saw unfolding for the world. On the path." Carl Jung defined synchronicity as
one hand, liberalization offers enormous "a meaningful coincidence of two or
opportunities to individuals, groups, more events, where something other than
companies, and societies to improve their the possibility of chance is involved."
lives. If these opportunities are seized Jaworski feels that being open and
and if they are realized, hope and paying attention to such events is one of
expectation will generate pressure for the crucial qualities of leadership needed
further economic and political change. A now.
positive feed-back loop is formed--a
"virtuous circle" occurs. In addition, he posits three fundamental
shifts of mind necessary to the creative
"On the other hand, liberalization can leadership he believes is so crucial for
threaten many people, who fear they our future. The first is a fundamental
could lose what they presently value-- shift in the way we think about the
their national, religious, and cultural world: "Our mental model of the way the
identity; their political power; their world works must shift from images of a
economic position. This could lead to a clockwork, machinelike universe that is
growing atmosphere of fear and fixed and determined, to the model of a
resistance and a resulting negative universe that is open, dynamic,
feedback loop. interconnected, and full of living
qualities."
"We saw the world at an important
turning point--what might be termed a The second is a fundamental shift in our
`hinge of history.' The liberalization understanding of relationship: "I saw the
might continue to spread into a world of world as fundamentally connected.
rapid and unsettling change, with vast Everything that I have studied since that
new competitive markets opening up in time has confirmed to me that
the developing countries....On the other relationship is the organizing principle of
hand, liberalization might be resisted and the universe. The physicist Henry Stapp
restricted, resulting in a world of describes elementary particles as `in
divisions and barriers--a world deeply essence, a set of relationships that reach
divided with huge disparities in wealth, outward to other things.' Once we see
with wide-spread poverty, urban crime, relationship as the organizing principle of
and the disregard for the environment the universe, we begin to accept one
another as legitimate human beings. This
__________________________________________________________________________________________________ 10
©1998 Foundation for Global Community
TIMELINE
is when, as Martin Buber said, we begin change in the future without
to see ourselves and others in an I and fundamentally new ways of thinking.
Thou relationship." This is the real work of leadership. And
this book is a good place to begin this
And the third is a shift in the nature of work."
our commitment: "Commitment begins
not with will, but with willingness. We This book is a good place to begin this
begin to listen to the inner voice that work! I recommend it highly.
helps guide us as our journey unfolds.
The underlying component of this kind of In the West we tend to think of
commitment is our trust in the playing leadership as a quality that exists in
out of our destiny. We have the integrity certain people. This usual way of
to stand in a `state of surrender,' as thinking has many traps. We search for
Francisco Varela put it, knowing that special individuals with leadership
whatever we need at the moment to meet potential, rather than developing the
our destiny will be available to us. It is at leadership potential in everyone. We are
this point that we alter our relationship easily distracted by what this or that
with the future. leader is doing, by the melodrama of
people in power trying to maintain their
"When we operate in this state of power and others trying to wrest it from
commitment, we see ourselves as an them. When things are going poorly, we
essential part of the unfolding of the blame the situation on incompetent
universe. In this state of being, our life is leaders, thereby avoiding any personal
naturally infused with meaning." responsibility. When things become
desperate, we can easily find ourselves
Jaworski now works with Peter Senge at waiting for a great leader to rescue us.
the MIT Center for Organization Through all of this, we totally miss the
Learning, and another treat this book bigger question: What are we,
offers is an introduction by Senge. In it, collectively, able to create? Peter Senge
he also describes the qualities of
leadership needed today: "The new
leadership must be grounded in SYNCHRONICITY:
fundamentally new understandings of The Inner Path of Leadership
how the world works. The sixteenth- by Joseph Jaworski
century Newtonian mechanical view of Berrett-Koehler Publishers,
the universe, which still guides our San Francisco.
thinking, has become increasingly 1996. $24.95.
dysfunctional in these times of
interdependence and change. The critical
shifts required to guarantee a healthy
world for our children and our children's
children will not be achieved by doing
more of the same. `The world we have
created is a product of our way of
thinking,' said Einstein. Nothing will
__________________________________________________________________________________________________ 11
©1998 Foundation for Global Community
TIMELINE
Science and Emotion forester Stephen Richardson, "I am
pleading with you to listen to
Should Guide Us science...and not get caught up in
emotion."
Donella Meadows
Shortly after Champion claimed that
OK, that's it. science was on its side, I listened to a
panel of three biologists and a
I've heard that "science vs. emotion" toxicologist discuss herbicide spraying.
taunt just once too often. Their conclusion was that science does
not know what the effects will be. No
Nuclear power proponents toss it out one knows exactly what herbicides will
like a grenade to silence people who are do to breeding places, food supplies, or
"irrationally" worried about radio- population balances of the creatures that
activity. This is an industry whose wastes live in the forest. We don't know how
will be deadly for thousands of years chemicals that drift or run off into
after the last "scientific" spokesman streams will affect aquatic life.
accuses the last worried citizen of Communities of soil microbes may be
unjustified "emotion." disrupted, but we're not sure how.
Probably, the panel said, these ecosystem
Food industry leaders have long accused impacts will be of greater concern than
us of hysteria when we object to toxicity to humans--but that's a guess.
additives and pesticides in our suppers.
But then, not wanting to eat poisonous They did list some certainties. The clear
chemicals is an emotional thing. One can cuts that precede the herbicides definitely
get quite worked up about it. cause huge losses of soil nutrients. Those
nutrients wash into and affect life in
The chemical industry is now aiming its waterways, already disrupted because
"emotion" charge at Theo Colborn, who clear cuts change runoff patterns. There
crusades against chemicals that is no doubt that wiping out all plants,
masquerade as hormones. She even temporarily, will disrupt
exaggerates, they say. She lets her populations of forest animals. And we
emotions distort the science, they say, as know that some of the chemicals mixed
they sweep off the table the hundreds of with herbicides to make them more
scientific papers she has collected. soluble, more sticky, or more stable are
actually more toxic to animals, including
The straw that has broken my patience is humans, than the herbicides themselves.
the testimony of foresters from the
Champion International logging Science helps spell out certainties and
company, fighting a proposed Vermont uncertainties, but it isn't the job of
law to ban aerial spraying with science to decide what to do. That takes
herbicides. "We are not a bunch of a little "emotion," maybe we could say
crackpots out making uninformed "values," or even "common sense." Is it
decisions," said Donald Tase, rational, given ignorance of the
Champion's district manager. Said consequences, to spray chemicals over
__________________________________________________________________________________________________ 12
©1998 Foundation for Global Community
TIMELINE
hundreds or thousands of acres? Is the shows the cockpit of an attack plane as
purpose for doing so--to turn a multi- you would see it if you were the pilot,
species forest into a plantation for the your leather-gloved hand at the throttle.
two kinds of trees that industry values to "TAKE COMMAND," says the headline.
make our toilet paper cheaper--worth In smaller print: "Using PURSUIT puts
any risk? How much risk? To whom or you in command of the most advanced
what? Who should decide? herbicide technology available." Another
ad shows a jug of herbicide draped with a
It would be helpful if, as we debate the cartridge belt. "Marksman drops Velvet
answers to such questions, we could Leaf like a shot."
admit that there is a little science and lots
of emotion on all sides. There are commercial pesticides named
Arsenal, Bravo, Clout, Force, Impact,
The public is indeed too ignorant of Karate, Lance, Lasso, Machete, Oust,
science and too leery of chemicals, Pounce, Prowl, Punch, Ramrod, Rapier,
though given past unfortunate Rodeo, Roundup, Scout, Sting, Stomp,
experiences with chemicals that Whip. What is being sold here? Science?
corporate and government scientists told Rationality?
us were harmless, we have a rational
basis for our leeriness. And there are So, fellow citizens, let us vow never to
plenty of scientists arguing on the side of permit that "science vs. emotion" put-
caution when public health and the down to be used against us again. Let us
environment are at stake. note that it most likely comes from
someone who is arguing not science, but
Corporations hire numerous scientists, self-interest, profits, power, and short-
but we know that their organizational term benefits for a few with long-term
purpose is not the search for truth, the costs for many. Let us use both our
stewardship of creation, or even the rational minds and our nonrational ability
welfare of the human race. Their goal is to sense right and wrong and argue for
to make money, which is perfectly the health of living communities with all
rational, until it gets pushed to the point the science and emotion we can muster.
of destroying life-support systems. That's
rationality gone over the edge into greed, Donella H. Meadows, a systems analyst,
domination, aggression--emotions. They author, and adjunct professor of
are emotions that stand in sharp contrast environmental studies at Dartmouth
to the fear, compassion, care, and other College, writes a syndicated article each
wimpy emotions associated with tree- week to "present a global view, a
huggers. They also are more, well, let's connected view, a long-term view, an
face it, testosterone-based emotions. environmental and compassionate
view." Timeline readers who feel that
I would hate to bring up that sexist point, these articles deserve the widest possible
but the chemical companies have done it distribution are encouraged to contact
for me in the marketing of their products. their local newspaper editor and suggest
A farming magazine I have seen the paper carry them. Meadows can be
advertises a herbicide called Pursuit. It
__________________________________________________________________________________________________ 13
©1998 Foundation for Global Community
TIMELINE
reached at The Global Citizen, Box 58, didn't wear a hat. That one act changed
Plainfield, NH 03781. men's attitudes about wearing hats."
A single event like that can send a meme
through all society. Here is another
example: When Clark Gable appeared
wearing no undershirt in It Happened
One Night with Claudette Colbert, Fruit
of the Loom stock went through the
floor. Men all of a sudden said Ha! We
don't have to wear an undershirt! Cool!
Memes: The DNA of
Human Culture For a variety of reasons, incidents like
these can send shockwaves through an
Richard Brodie entire culture.Wouldn't you like to be
able to predict when that's going to
Richard Brodie was the primary author happen? Wouldn't you like to be able to
of Microsoft Word, one of the world's cause that to happen?
best-selling computer programs. A
chance conversation at Microsoft, Inc., Tonight, I'm going to tell you a little
introduced him to the term "meme" and about the science of memetics. Memetics
inspired two years of intensive study is about how things get into our head.
which convinced him that the concept of For me, the most shocking part of
memetics represents a major paradigm learning about memetics is the notion
shift in the science of the mind. Memes that our ideas are not necessarily our
influence the way we live our lives. own. You can catch ideas like you catch
Cultural memes shape our society. An a cold--you can be infected by an idea.
understanding of memes is a powerful Thinking about it like that, don't you
aid for communicating a vision for the want to exercise control over what gets
future. Brodie's book on memetics, Virus in your head? I sure do.
of the Mind, was reviewed in Timeline,
March/April 1997. The following is from Memes are the DNA of human culture.
a public talk he gave at the Just as DNA is the recipe inside every
Foundation's Center in Palo Alto. organism that determines how that
organism is going to take shape, memes
A few years ago, I was walking down are the little bits and pieces of culture
Telegraph Avenue over in Berkeley on a that determine how a culture is going to
windy autumn day and I came across a take shape. There are many different
hat store. I got to talking with the owner, cultures across the world and with
and I asked him why most men don't today's communications, they are mixing
wear hats anymore. Well, he knew the and matching. What is going to happen?
reason. He told me exactly what had What memes are going to prevail? How
happened: "In 1961, there was an event are we going to shape the evolution of
that forever changed people's attitudes. culture in a way that we think is a good
John F. Kennedy was inaugurated and he way? You can use the science of memes
__________________________________________________________________________________________________ 14
©1998 Foundation for Global Community
TIMELINE
for good, or you can use it for evil. I Here's one example of mass meme
always like to ask, just like Maxwell communication. Remember when trash
Smart used to: "Are you going to use used to be worthless? Now it's like gold.
this information for the forces of Now we feel outrage if we see someone
niceness?" discarding something that is recyclable.
What caused that shift in attitude?
A meme is three things: It's a thought; Nothing in the world changed--we
it's your mental programming; and it's a changed. Our view on trash did a flip. I
replicator. People often say, "A meme is credit television with a lot of that. I
just a thought or idea, right, so why do remember the campaign with the Native
we need a new word for it?" A meme is a American. He's wearing a head dress
thought, but it's not just a thought. and rowing his canoe on this beautiful,
Memes are ideas, but they're not just unspoiled stream, and someone throws
ideas. Memes are the pieces of mental some litter from their car. It lands in
programming that make our mental the water right in front of him and he
computer run. When you're born, you turns his weathered face and sheds a
have certain hardware you're born with, lonely tear. Remember that? They're
and as you grow the hardware develops saying: "Don't be a litter bug!" That kind
and the software develops--through of campaign, effective memes like that,
your education, your religious training, reflect, refract, and create social change.
the things your family and friends tell
you, television, books, and so on. Those The future of mass communication is
little bits of mental programming are the even more exciting/scary nowadays. We
memes. They're the stuff lodged in there. now have the potential for billions of
And a meme is a replicator--just like a people all having home pages--all having
gene is a replicator. A meme is equal voice, all having virtually equal
something that spreads because it's good accessibility to the other billions on the
at spreading. What makes things good at planet. When you have a mix of cultural
spreading? That's the central question of ingredients like that simmering, it has
memetics. profound implications for what we can
expect in social change. Most people are
The old way ideas spread, back before looking at it as an economic opportunity.
mass communication, was pretty much I think it's an opportunity for social
one on one, or one on a few, such as change.
trades being passed down from master to
apprentice, or stories passed down by There is a new field of science known as
oral tradition. The new way of spreading evolutionary psychology which asks,
memes is mass communication. When "What is it about us as animals that
radio and television were invented, makes us have the psychology we do?"
instead of just reaching a few people at And it turns out that all animals have
once you could reach millions of people. four basic drives. You probably know
I think the recent Super Bowl had an what they are: feeding, fight or flight,
audience of a billion. Just think, a billion and mating. The things that catch our
people. attention pertain to these drives. Memes
that associate with them do really well,
__________________________________________________________________________________________________ 15
©1998 Foundation for Global Community
TIMELINE
and memes that don't, don't do nearly as like yourselves is when they say, "Well,
well. I just won't interfere. Live and let live.
People have a right to live their life as
This is a heck of a thing to think about. they see fit." There's a whole meme
It means that good ideas don't complex around that. But what is it
neccessarily catch on--ideas with good saying if you are not wanting to influence
memes catch on. How about truth? someone else? That's a real putdown of
People are always asking me about yourself. It's saying you don't really
truth--don't memes that are true have an think your ideas are valuable. I think any
advantage just because they are true? committed person who cares and has
No, they don't. The memes that catch on good will is probably going to make a
are ideas that catch your attention. Ideas positive influence on others. So don't
that make you feel good. Ideas that seem just sit there and live and let live if you're
to solve a problem. Ideas that speak to really passionate about something.
the four basic drives. Listen, those other guys are not sitting
around! The forces of evil and chaos are
How do you use what I'm talking about out there spreading their memes.
to communicate effectively? Here's a Organizations like yours provide a focal
story. You all know Colin Powell. He point for spreading "nice" memes.
was put in charge of this operation to
invade Panama so they could get rid of The way to communicate your memes is
Manuel Noriega, remember? That was to be what I am: I am an evangelist.
called Operation Blue Spoon, right? It Hallelujah! I am an evangelist for
was--until an hour after Colin Powell memetics. My job here today is to get
was put in charge. He immediately you all thinking about memetics, to get
changed the name to Operation Just you to shift your worldview to look at
Cause. Why did he do that? In his things that way. I want to do that
autobiography he says, "There was no because I think when people look at
way I was going to ask people to risk things that way, they make much better
their lives for a blue spoon!" And you decisions and have a lot more influence
know the really clever thing about calling over what happens in their lives. It's
it Just Cause? Even when you were always better to have happy, powerful
criticizing it, how could you say, "I'm people who have influence over what
really against Just Cause!" In the happens in life than people who are
abortion rights battle, same ideayou confused and don't understand why life
either have people calling themselves is happening to them.
pro-life or pro-choice. Nobody wants to
be anti-something because that makes So evangelize for what you care about.
you look like the bad guy. So think You want to get people's attention. Let
carefully when you are creating a label. me tell you, the most precious
commodity a human being has is his or
In this world there's one thing you ought her attention. When I designed my book,
to know: it's meme, or be memed. The Virus of the Mind, I said to myself,
biggest problem I have with enlightened,