A Living Society
I believe that a living society prioritizes:
- Prosperity over Control
- Truth over Victory
- Connection over Status
And a dying society prioritizes the opposite.
If we all work towards prosperity, we will live in abundance. If we all work for control, we will die gripping the last loaf of bread.
If we all work for truth, then we will be victorious. If we all sacrifice the truth for victory, we will know it as hollow and empty.
If we nourish and cherish our connections we will be rich beyond belief. If we only seek status, we will never have enough.
The very bedrock of society rests on these principles. This is what parents teach their children. Churches teach their congregation. Businesses teach their employees. And in our generation, having been taught these things, we witness the opposite qualities being rewarded. We witness the corruption of all our institutions.
Those who seek status, victory and control build kingdoms, and we worship them and praise their success. Self help articles, books, and workshops are dedicated to how you can be like them.
We witness the marvels of flight, the spiraling concrete ribbons of freeways, sky scrapers, and space flight. Billions of people pulled out of poverty by the abundant energy of fossil fuels. The global economy, and the internet.
We witness the strip mining of mountains. Oil spills and pipeline ruptures. Rising mountains of trash. Wireless radiation, the chemical poisoning of our water and food supplies. The desperation and despair of the youth, ever more frantic in their search for meaning and purpose.
Is progress good? Bad? Or is it just a choice?
Can we appreciate the virtues that have brought us here, but also leave room for what is next?
What would our world look like if we adopted these priorities?
- Prosperity over Control
- Truth over Victory
- Connection over Status
What if we could start a conversation about where we are going? What if everyone alive today were invited to participate in that conversation? Could we together make sense of what is happening? Could we form a positive vision, that is worth striving for? What would that feel like to have something worth getting out of bed in the morning for, to know that you are a part of a great work, that you are placing your bets on the thriving of our species, and working to make it happen?
The revival starts in our own hearts. Just opening to the possibility, that maybe a brighter future is possible. What would that look like for you? And we need to find each other… those of us who are willing to hold this vision long enough for others to catch on. We need to support each other in fellowship, expressing our gratitude, our faith and our trust. We need experiments… we need the ideas and the yearnings that have sat latent to come forth, so that we can breathe new life into them and see what emerges. It’s time to let go of the “I can’t.” and embrace the “I will.”
